Alpaca Japanese Strawberry Shortcake
October 07, 2016
This Alpaca Strawberry Shortcake is made from Japanese sponge cake, fresh strawberries, and filled with cream. The beauty about Japanese strawberry shortcakes is that very few ingredients come together to form a light and airy sponge. It is probably one of the most popular classic cakes in Japan, and it's an easy cake for beginner bakers.
Decorated this cake like an Alpaca - a special request for a birthday girl. I find Alpacas sooooo adorable, and have even made Alpaca macarons before, so I was thrilled to bake this cake. The "fur" is made from mini marshmallows, and other facial details are drawn with cream. Its ears are actually strawberry slices coated with cream. You can also use biscuits for the ears.
I'm glad the birthday girl and her friends enjoyed the cake. It's one of my favourite cake flavours, so hope you like it too!
ALPACA JAPANESE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE Recipe by Sumopocky
9 inch cake pan
Ingredients
[For Sponge Cake]
9 Eggs
360g of Caster sugar
27ml of Condensed milk
315g of Cake flour
90ml of Unsalted Butter (melted)
90ml of Milk
[For Cake Syrup]
150ml of Hot Water
120g of Sugar
[For Cream]
680ml of Heavy cream
4 tbsp of Caster sugar
1.5 tsp of Vanilla essence
Red food colouring
Black food colouring
400g of Strawberries
1.5 cup of Mini marshmallows
Directions
[For Sponge Cake]
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F). Then, in a metal/heatable bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, and condensed milk over a pot of simmering water until the sugar has completed dissolved.
2. Remove the bowl from heat and use an electric mixer. Beat till the mixture becomes whitish and foamy.
3. Sieve in the cake flour and fold in with a spatula.
4. Pour in the melted butter and milk, and fold till combined.
5. Line the baking pan with parchment paper and pour in batter. Drop the cake pan to remove air bubbles.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for around 40 - 45 minutes. Use a toothpick to check if it's done (it should come out clean after piercing the cake). Once baked, remove from oven and tap against the table a few times to prevent shrinking. Let it cool before frosting.
1. Mix the sugar in hot water until everything has dissolved. Set aside for use later.
[For Cream]
1. In an mixer, beat heavy cream, sugar and vanilla essence on high speed till medium peaks form.
2. Scoop out 3 tablespoon and add red food colouring to get light pink. Transfer to a piping bag with medium round tip.
3. From Step 1, scoop out 6 tablespoon and add black food colouring to get black. Transfer to a piping bag with medium round tip.
4. Transfer the rest of the batter in Step 1 to a piping bag with a large round tip.
[For Assembly]
1. Wash and slice strawberries length-wise. Set aside. Leave 2 slices for the alpaca's ears.
2. Slice the sponge cake into 3 layers. Level the cake layers if needed.
3. Spread a bit of cream on a cake base, and place the first layer of cake. This prevents the cake from slipping.
4. Drizzle the cake layer with sugar syrup. Then, cover with a thin layer of cream. Arrange strawberry slices along the circumference of the cake. Add some to the center too. Cover with another layer of cream.
5. Repeat step 4 for the middle layer. Place the last layer on top.
6. Cover the cake with a thin coat of cream and let it freeze for about 15 minutes (this is called crumb coating). Then, cover the cake with another layer of cream and scrape off excess using a spatula and bench scraper. Remember to leave some to decorate the cake.
7. When you are happy with the frosting of your cake, it's time to decorate it like an alpaca! Insert the strawberry slices at the sides of the cake for its ears. Cover with white cream.
8. Sprinkle mini marshmallows on the top 1/3 of cake for alpaca's fur.
9. Using the white cream, pipe out a dome for where the snout is supposed to be. Draw on blusher with pink cream, and other facial details with black cream. And it's done!
Enjoy!
2. Slice the sponge cake into 3 layers. Level the cake layers if needed.
3. Spread a bit of cream on a cake base, and place the first layer of cake. This prevents the cake from slipping.
4. Drizzle the cake layer with sugar syrup. Then, cover with a thin layer of cream. Arrange strawberry slices along the circumference of the cake. Add some to the center too. Cover with another layer of cream.
5. Repeat step 4 for the middle layer. Place the last layer on top.
6. Cover the cake with a thin coat of cream and let it freeze for about 15 minutes (this is called crumb coating). Then, cover the cake with another layer of cream and scrape off excess using a spatula and bench scraper. Remember to leave some to decorate the cake.
7. When you are happy with the frosting of your cake, it's time to decorate it like an alpaca! Insert the strawberry slices at the sides of the cake for its ears. Cover with white cream.
8. Sprinkle mini marshmallows on the top 1/3 of cake for alpaca's fur.
9. Using the white cream, pipe out a dome for where the snout is supposed to be. Draw on blusher with pink cream, and other facial details with black cream. And it's done!
Enjoy!
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