Strawberry Shortcake, Japanese Style

If you pick up any baking books written by Japanese authors, chances are, the first recipe that appears at the basic cake making section will be a Strawberry Shortcake.

This is different from the Strawberry Shortcake recipe that you will see in cookbooks written by American authors. A strawberry shortcake is a scone or biscuit which is cut in half and then filled with whipped cream and sweetened strawberries. To the Japanese, a strawberry shortcake is a layered sponge cake with strawberry filling and whipped cream frosting, and is a favorite Christmas or birthday cake in Japan.

It is a very simple cake to make, at least for someone like me who has not been to any baking class or workshops, I am able to get the sponge cake right, most of the time. It is no surprise that I kept going back to the same recipe, see here and here.

I made the same cake again for Valentine's Day this year. We usually don't celebrate the occasion, but since we didn't celebrate our past two wedding anniversaries, I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to bake a layered cake to mark this special day...when the Chinese Lunar New Year falls on the same day as Valentine's Day. I doubt we will still be around to celebrate the next time these two festivals coincide.

I baked the sponge cake first thing in the morning. Since I have made it several times, it was an uneventful and a straight forward task. The challenge came when I started to assemble the cake. I had used up too much whipping cream to fill the layers, after frosting the entire cake surface I was left with no cream to pipe any rosettes.

I spent the next half an hour fiddling with the cake...trying my best to spread the whipping cream as smooth and even as possible so that it will still look presentable without any piped swirls or rosettes. As stated in most cookbooks, the more swipes you make across the frosted surface, the uglier it will get. In the end, I gave up and simply used the back of a spoon to create some swirls, haphazardly. This is the worst frosting I have done, even the sides looked horrible. Fortunately, those Korean strawberries which I bought on sale were very fresh and looked very pretty, they really made up for my lousy skills.

Despite the blunder I made, the cake tasted good, light and refreshing. The sponge layer was soft and airy, and the strawberries were sweet...it was indeed a delightful treat and fitted the occasion to a T :)

Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients:
(makes one 18cm sponge cake)

for the sponge layer:
100g cake flour
3 eggs, room temperature
90g caster sugar
20g unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the filling:
1 pack of strawberries (about 250g)
300ml non-dairy whipping cream
2 tablespoons caster sugar
4 tablespoons hot boiling water


Method:

To make the sponge layer:

1. Sift cake flour for 3 times, set aside. Line bottom and sides of an 18cm (7 inch) round pan with parchment paper, set aside. Pre-heat oven to 170degC. Position rack at the lower bottom of the oven.
2. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar on HIGH speed for about 5 to 7 mins, until the batter turns pale, becomes thick, double/triple in volume and is ribbon-like (the batter should leave a ribbon-like trail when the beater is lifted up). Turn to LOW speed and whisk for another 1 to 2 mins. Whisking at low speed helps to stabilise the air bubbles in the batter.
3. Sift over cake flour into the batter in 3 separate additions. With each addition, use a spatula, gently fold in the flour until well blended. Take care not to deflate the batter.
4. Add the melted butter, fold in gently with spatula until well blended
5. Add in fresh milk, vanilla extract and fold in gently with spatula until well blended.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30~35 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Unmold and invert onto cooling rack, cool completely.

To Assemble:

1. Dissolve caster sugar in hot boiling water, set aside to cool.
2. Reserve 10 strawberries for decorating the cake. Slice remaining strawberries into thin slices (about 4 slices per strawberry).
3. Slice sponge cake horizontally into 3 layers.
4. Whisk non-dairy cream with an electric mixer till stiff peak.
5. Place one sponge layer cut-side up on a cake board or serving plate and brush the surface with the sugar syrup. Spread on some whipped cream and arrange the strawberry slices over the surface. Spread over with some whipped cream.
6. Brush both sides of the 2nd sponge layer with the sugar syrup and place it over the first layer. Repeat with whipped cream, strawberry slices and whipped cream.
7. Brush the cut-side of the 3rd layer with the sugar syrup and place it over the 2nd layer. Frost sides and top of cake with whipped cream. Decorate as desired and garnish with reserved strawberries.

Recipe source: adapted from 点心达人, 轻松学 / 小川智美著