Strawberry Whole Wheat Cream Puff Cake / Pie / Tart

Recently, while browsing around some links at a linky party, I stumbled across this Strawberry Cream Puff Cake recipe, which the blogger got from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  [They call it a cake, but to me it seems to be closer to a tart, but who cares anyway, right?!]  I absolutely adore strawberries... and cream puffs... so I had to try it.  Fortunately I had an excuse as we were invited to have dinner at a friend's house and she asked us to bring dessert. 

I altered the recipe a little to make it slightly more health-conscious (I love doing that to desserts!).  I used whole wheat pastry flour, raw honey* and stevia as sweeteners.  [Just an aside -- did you know sugar is so much more fattening than fat?  Very interesting, and true. *Update: originally I used agave in this recipe, but have since learned it is highly processed and contains more fructose (the component of sugar that makes it fattening and bad for your liver) than high-fructose corn syrup.]

In the original recipe it called for orange zest in the cream cheese mixture, but I didn't have any oranges so I just omitted it.  It also said to lightly grease the pan, which I did, then had a very difficult time getting the thing out in one piece.  So use more grease, or grease and flour.  Something like that.   But anyway it was a big hit.  Everyone loved it!  (I had fun taking pictures of it, too!)

Here is my version of the recipe:

Strawberry Whole Wheat Cream Puff Cake
adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Cream Puff Base
5 Tablespoons butter
2/3 cup water
1/8 teaspoons stevia extract powder
2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 eggs

Cream Cheese Mixture
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup raw honey

Topping
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 teaspoon raw honey

For the cream puff layer, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Bring the butter, water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add the flour all at once and stir quickly until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir the mixture until smooth.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat until the mixture is shiny with a satiny sheen.  Don't over beat.

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch spring-form pan (or a 9-inch circle cake pan).  Spread the mixture on the bottom and one inch up the sides of the prepared pan.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Remove from the oven and prick with a toothpick 10-12 times.  Return to the oven and bake 5-10 more minutes until golden brown but not over baked.  Cool completely.

For the cream cheese mixture, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Gradually add the honey until well blended.  Add the remaining ingredients and beat until stiff peaks form.  Spread onto the cooled cream puff shell.

Mix the sliced strawberries with the honey and place on top of the cream cheese mixture. 

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