Japanese Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients

  • 6 large eggs
  • 165g caster sugar
  • 170g cake flour
  • 60g unsalted butter
  • 30g full cream milk
  • 800ml thickened cream
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla essence
  • 40x strawberries

Tools

  • Digital Kitchen Scale
  • Hand Held Whisk
  • A saucepan and bowl for a bain-marie
  • Stand mixer
  • Two 18cm cake tins (lined with baking paper)
  • Large rubber spatula

Directions

  • Line both cake tins with baking paper
  • Wash strawberries, slice 30 of them in half; keep 10 whole. Air dry the berries.
  • Preheat fan-forced oven to 150oC (170 degrees celsius in a standard oven)
  • Melt 60g butter and 30g milk in a small saucepan. Keep lukewarm.
  • Place the 6 eggs and 165g sugar into a bowl. Whisk by hand over a saucepan of simmering water until sugar crystals have vanished and the mix is warm. Stop when it starts to become bubbly.
  • Place the egg and sugar mixture in a the stand mixer bowl. Whisk on High (speed 8-10) for 5-8 minutes. The mixture should cool down. Stop at the “ribbon stage”. The batter should be thick, pale and hold a shape for 3 seconds when the whisk is lifted.
  • Sift 85g of cake flour (half of it) over the egg and sugar mixture. Gently fold (cut, scoop, fold) the flour through the mixture. Make sure you reach the bottom of the bowl as flour tends to gather there. Be very gentle to keep the air in!
  • Sift the remaining 85g of cake flour and gently fold again until no dry flour is visible
  • Take a large scoop of the cake mixture and gently combine with the lukewarm butter/milk mixture. Gently fold this through the batter, remembering to scoop to the bottom of the bowl (only 3-4 times).
  • Divide the batter equally between the two cake pans.
  • Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. Check with a skewer before the 40 minutes has passed.
  • Make the Syrup: Mix 90g water and 50g sugar in a small saucepan. Boil to dissolve then cool.
  • Once baking is done, remove the cake from the tin and remove lining as soon as possible.
Directions for assembling the cake
  • Let the cake completely cool for a couple of hours. When cake is cool enough, start making the icing.
  • Whisk 800g thickened cream, 100g sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence in the stand mixer until firm peaks form. Start on medium-high (speed 6). As the whisk leaves trails in the cream, slow the mixer down to speed 4. The test: lift the whisk. The cream should stand straight up in a point and not flop over. If it flops, keep whisking for another 30 seconds.
  • Place one whole sponge on cake turntable. Brush with syrup, paying extra attention to the dry edges.
  • Spread a thick layer of cream on the sponge. Press in the halved strawberries.
  • Add a thin layer of cream over the berries to level it out.
  • Place the second whole sponge on top. Brush with syrup again, paying extra attention to dry edges.
  • Frost the top and sides with cream. Decorate the top with the 10 whole strawberries.
Storage directions
  • Place the cake in a dedicated cake carrier or a very large airtight container.
  • Refrigerate the cake and store it on the middle shelf in the middle of the fridge.
  • Best if eaten in a couple of days.
  • Do not freeze.
Variations

Can substitute strawberries with

  • mango
  • crisp seedless green grapes
  • kiwi fruit
  • whole blueberries