For the cake
Remove the stems from the strawberries. Clean, wash, and let drain. Coarsely mash the berries with a fork or cut into small cubes. If desired, add a little sweetener.
Place the (vegan) zwieback in a plastic bag, close, and use a rolling pin to crush to a fine flour.
Combine the zwieback flour with the vegetable butter or margarine and the sugar in a skillet und toast briefly.
Set approx. 10 g (⅓ oz) of margarine to the side to grease the baking pan.
Grease the baking pan (springform pan if possible, 26 cm Ø) and alternately layer the zwieback mixture and the strawberries, making sure to press the zwieback mixture down firmly around the strawberries. The first and last layers should be zwieback mixture. Make sure that the last layer is also pressed down firmly.
Let the cake stand in the refrigerator overnight so that the flavors can meld.
For decorating
Before serving, place the cake on a plate (with a springform pan) or loosen the edges and let fall onto a plate and then decorate with chopped hazelnuts.
Hazelnuts can be easily chopped using an electric coffee grinder, which you can purchase for a reasonable price. But don’t chop them too fine. I also use a coffee grinder to make gluten-free Erb Muesli. You can also wrap the hazelnuts in a paper towel and tap gently with a wooden hammer or hammer.
Detailed Nutritional Information per Person for this Recipe
The majority of the nutritional information comes from the USDA (US Department of Agriculture). This means that the information for natural products is often incomplete or only given within broader categories, whereas in most cases products made from these have more complete information displayed.
If we take flaxseed, for example, the important essential amino acid ALA (omega-3) is only included in an overarching category whereas for flaxseed oil ALA is listed specifically. In time, we will be able to change this, but it will require a lot of work. An “i” appears behind ingredients that have been adjusted and an explanation appears when you hover over this symbol.
For Erb Muesli, the original calculations resulted in 48 % of the daily requirement of ALA — but with the correction, we see that the muesli actually covers >100 % of the necessary recommendation for the omega-3 fatty acid ALA. Our goal is to eventually be able to compare the nutritional value of our recipes with those that are used in conventional western lifestyles.
This strawberry cake isn’t baked and can be prepared quickly from fresh strawberries and zwieback.
Zwieback is very seldom vegan: Most recipes for strawberry cake include fewer natural ingredients and also animal products such as shortbread cookies and butter or even cream cheese, quark with sweeteners, and gelatin. This cookbook includes many natural ingredients and only vegan. It is a nice contrast. However, zwieback is not normally vegan (contains eggs and dairy products)! You can find vegan zwieback, but because of large differences between brands we have used “normal” zwieback to calculate the nutritional information.
Spreadability: According to Wikipedia (translation from German entry): “There are a number of processes to obtain soft margarines from primarily liquid oils. For example, the industry uses emulsifiers and/or thickening agents such as gelatin, pectin, alginate, and milk protein. And many companies use the process of hydrogenation to solidify oils. Organic margarines, however, may not contain chemical additives and donʼt undergo the process of chemical hydrogenation. They are manufactured using special emulsion processes that include the use of water or steam or the addition of semi-solid fats (e.g., palm oil or coconut oil).”
Tips
Weight of hazelnuts: 30 hazelnuts are equal to about 20 g.
Number of cake layers: We recommend a total of 5 layers, as shown in the cookbook.
Best size for the springform pan: A springform pan with a diameter of about 26 cm works best.
Alternate preparation
Variations: If you make the recipe multiple times, you might like to vary it by using raspberries or another fruit or by adding ingredients such as chopped peppermint leaves.
