How to make Japanese Strawberry Shortcake (recipe with video)

After a loooong wait, it’s finally strawberry season in Europe again. For a baker like me, going grocery shopping these days almost feels like a kid walking up to the Christmas tree the morning after Christmas Eve. All the colorful, fresh and juicy fruits – especially berries – would be waiting for me to transform them into amazing desserts of endless options.

This cake that I’m introducing today was inspired by the Japanese Strawberry Shortcake, which can be found in all cake shops along the streets of Japan. It’s basically a foam cake or sponge cake, but the Japanese people call it shortcake for some unknown reason. Regardless of what it’s called, this cake is very well known for its extremely light, fluffy texture and the heavenly perfect combination of fresh strawberries and whipping cream. It’s so good that I can’t help recreating it at least several times every strawberry season. I also added a few drops of red food coloring to the batter; the final product is so damn cute that I just fell in love all over again. And I guarantee your guests will, too.

Ingredients

A. Sponge cake

• 4 egg yolks (18 – 20 gr each) – at room temperature
• 20 gram (1.5 Tbsp) sugar
• 40 ml (2 – 2/3 Tbsp) milk
• 40 gram (3 Tbsp) oil
• ½ tsp vanilla extract – optional

A few drops of strawberry essence – optional

• ¼ tsp red food coloring
• 30 gram (1/4 cup) all purpose flour
• 30 gram (3 Tbsp) corn starch
• 4 egg whites (30 – 35 gram each) – at room temperature
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ Tsp cream of tartar
• 60 gram (4.5 Tbsp) caster sugar – sifted

B. Topping and garnish

• 200 ml (3/4 cup + 1.5 Tbsp) whipping cream (35 – 40% fat) – chilled
• 23 gram (1.5 Tbsp) sugar
• 150 gram (~ 5 oz. sliced fresh strawberries)
• 100 gram berries to garnish

* Note:

• If you don’t have red food coloring or strawberry essence, you can substitute part of the milk with strawberry syrup. Natural food coloring, such as beetroot, gives a nice color, but if you use too much your cake might taste like beetroot.
• Topping cream can be substituted for whipping cream. Topping cream is an artificial cream, so it doesn’t have as much of the rich taste as whipping cream does, but if you prefer a “lighter” cream then you can use it.
• If you want to use cake flour, substitute all the 60 gram flour in the recipe with 45 gram cake flour + 15 gram corn starch.

Method

1. Add egg yolks and 20 gram sugar into the bowl, whisk briefly until the sugar dissolves. Add red food coloring and strawberry essence, mix well.
2. .........................................

for full recipes please see : www.ricenflour.com

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