Strawberry Shortcake

It was a dear colleague's birthday on 12 Nov so few of us decided to do a mini celebration in the office. The unofficial baker that is me took up the challenge to bake her a cake.
I always wanted to bake a strawberry shortcake Japanese style. The sponge layer must be cottony soft with the right amount of whipped cream in between. From Monday I was Google-ing a few recipes and saw the recipe from Rima's blog that look super duper awesome. It was simple and quick too. Right..this is the one

Strawberry Shortcake
145g cake flour
15g cornflour
1 egg
5 egg yolks
150g butter
65g fresh milk

Meringue
5 egg whites
100g castor sugar
1/4 tsp salt

How?
- Preheat oven to 160C. Prepare a 9"square pan and wrapped the bottom layer with aluminum foil.
- Heat milk and butter in a small pot until warm. Do not let it boil. The butter will be melted by then.
- Remove pot from heat and add in sifted flour and cornflour. Mix. It will be lumpy at this stage.
- Transfer mixture to a bigger bowl and add in lighted whisked egg and egg yolks.
- Mix the batter until smooth.


- This is how the batter should look like.
- In another clean bowl, beat egg white until frothy.
- Add in salt and sugar in 3 addition.
- Beat the egg white till soft peak.
- Add 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the egg batter and mix well. Add the remaining egg whites and fold gently.
- Pour cake batter into prepared tin.
- Bake it using bain marie method for 45 minutes.


I am using another larger square pan and fill it with water to steam bake the sponge cake.

Whipped Cream
2 tsp gelatine powder
8 tsp cold water
2 cup whipping cream, keep cold
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

How?
- In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatine on the surface of the cold water. Let rest for 5 minutes.
- Place pan over low heat and stir constantly until gelatine dissolves. Remove pan from fire and set aside to cool.
- Using a clean bowl and chilled beaters, beat whipping cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract till it thickens.
- At low speed, gradually pour in gelatine mixture and beat till stiff peak.

To assemble the cake

- Cut the cake horizontally. It is easier to cut with less cake crumbs if the cake is chilled. I chilled the cake for about 3 hours but 30 minutes is suffice.

- Brush some syrup (mixture of sugar and water) on the cut layer cake.

- Spread some whipped cream on the cake followed by cubed strawberries. Cover with another thin layer of whipped cream.

- Place the other layer of cake on top and brush with syrup.

- Spread a thin layer of whipped cream and chill the cake (this steap is known as crumb coating).

- After 30 minutes - 1 hour, cover with another layer of whipped cream, smoothen it or piped with design.

- Decorate as you wish.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SERENE!