My son’s birthday is coming and I asked him what kind of cake he likes. Straightaway, the answer is Strawberry Cake (hmmm, it was much later that I realised that he meant he wants the Strawberries minus the cake). Anyway, Strawberry Shortcake has been our family’s traditional birthday cake. So I started my search early for the most perfect Strawberry Shortcake recipes until I stumbled upon the “Bake the perfect Japanese Strawberry Shortcake” by Chef Higashiguchi Tomoko of Patisserie Glace (Her World), I decided to adopt his recipe for the sponge cake portion.
I put one drop of Strawberry Red flavor coloring into the sponge cake to give it a pinkish-red swirl rather than the normal yellow-looking sponge cake.
For the sweet syrup and fresh cream, I decided to use Strawberry Jam (that contains strawberry meat) rather than just normal sugar, to give it a different flavoring and look.
When the cake is ready for serving, my son gorges twice slices of the cake at one go (he ate until even the fresh cream completely disappeared from his plate. I must say I am amazed and amused.). The shortcake is very soft and moist, and the fresh cream is super yummy. Adding more fresh fruits can’t go wrong as well. Though I have halved the sugar, the sponge cake tastes slightly sweet, but with the sweet syrup and fresh cream, overall the cake still taste sweet and delicious!
I am super glad the cake turns out as perfect and delicious as I have envision it to be, as I wanted nothing more than the most perfect cake in the world for my little boy.
I left one small piece for photo taking the next day as everyone is rushing to eat the cake quickly, I had no time to take photo. But all my hard work and efforts are worth it! Enjoy!
Beating the eggs mixture until light and fluffy.
This is the baked sponge cake.
To assemble, first layer, spread the sweet syrup, then the fresh cream followed by the fresh strawberries. Repeat for second layer.
Strawberry Shortcake Recipe (6″ Cake Tin)
Preparation time: 40 mins. 3 – 4 pax.
Ingredients:
4 small eggs (or 3 medium size eggs)
30 grams castor sugar (original recipe 60 grams)
1 tbsp warm milk
60 grams All-purpose flour (sifted twice)
20 grams unsalted butter (melted)
1 1/4 cup whip topping cream
1 tbsp strawberry jam
1 – 2 punnet of strawberries
2 tsp strawberry jam + 2 tbsp hot water
Method (Sponge Cake):
- Pre-heat oven to 180 oC.
- Line the cake tin both the base and the side(s).
- Use a egg beater to whisk the whole eggs and sugar over double boiler of hot water (or slightly simmering water). Once the sugar has melted and the surface of the bowl (containing eggs and sugar) is warm, remove from the heat.
- Continue beating the egg batter until it turns pale white, light and fluffy. Add warm milk to the egg batter and continue to beat for another 1-2 mins.
- Fold in the sifted flour to the egg batter in 3 batches. After each batch, use the spatula to lightly and quickly fold the flour into the batter. In the final batch, make sure the flour are well mixed with the batter, no more white specks of flour are seen. But do not over mixed.
- Add in the melted butter to the egg batter and mix well using the spatula.
- Pour batter into cake tin and put into oven and bake for 18 mins or until the skewer comes out clean,
- Once it is bake, take out the cake from the cake tin and let it cool down on the wire rack.
Method (Fresh Cream):
- Beat the whipping cream with 1 tbsp strawberry jam (you can increase to 2 tbsp of jam if you want more jam sweetness). Beat until cream is stiff. Put into the freezer compartment of the fridge to firm up for a while.
Method (To Assemble):
- To make the sweet syrup, combine the 2 tsp strawberry jam with 2 tbsp hot water and mixed well. (This replaces the sweet syrup can be made with 60 grams of sugar in 3 tbsp hot water plus 1 tbsp rum (optional)).
- Cut the cooled down sponge cake into 3 layers. For the first layer, spread the side facing upwards with sweet syrup. Then spread one layer of fresh cream, followed by strawberries on top of the fresh cream. Then repeat this for the second layer.
- For the last layer on top, spread the cream on the top and sides of the cake, put into freezer compartment to freeze for 4 hours.
- Before serving, decorate the cake with strawberries and / or other fruits.