They have embraced many Western desserts and made them uniquely their own in many ways. I love a good Japanese sponge cake—moist, light and airy, and not overly sweet. A while back I received an email from Eliane, an LFM reader, who asked me to share a Japanese sponge cake recipe. At the time, I didn’t have a favorite recipe, but told her that I would work on it. After a bit of looking around and not finding anything I was happy with, I turned to a trusted recipe source, my friend Noriko. She came to my rescue with a recipe that she uses all the time. She wrote that the recipe is “from a cookbook that I ‘borrowed’ from my mom when I got married. She’s been using this recipe since I was really little, and I always use this recipe whenever I make Japanese Strawberry Shortcake.” There’s a reason that Noriko’s mom, and now Noriko, use this recipe–it’s delicious. To pay homage to her favorite way of using the recipe, I decided to make a Japanese Strawberry Shortcake. Unlike the American concept of strawberry shortcake (sweet biscuits/scones topped with strawberries and whipped cream),a Japanese strawberry shortcake is a layered sponge cake with a strawberry and whipped cream filling, and whipped cream frosting. This cake is a favorite choice for birthdays and Christmas, and in fact is often called a Christmas Cake. I know it’s not Christmastime, but the strawberries in Southern California are currently ripe and beautiful, so it seems especially appropriate to be making this cake now.
First you make the cake, which is a simple process of beating egg whites and sugar together until stiff and glossy, and then gently folding in the rest of the ingredients. The folding is the key—if you treat the batter gently, your cake will be light and fluffy. I have converted the measurements into ounces and tablespoon measurements, but have also provided the original metric measurements as well.
After the cake is made you make your whipped cream. I like to make stabilized whipped cream. Stabilized whipped cream is more stable that normal whipped cream. This prevents the whipped cream from weeping (bleeding water after being whipped). The advantage to this, is that it makes a much better frosting and filling (it lasts longer and doesn’t make the cake soggy) and has a beautiful pillowy texture. Stabilizing only takes a couple minutes of extra work. You have to soften a bit of unflavored gelatin in cold water, and then melt it over low heat until the gelatin dissolves. It’s quick and easy and makes a huge difference! I also like making a simple syrup (sugar water syrup) to brush on the cake layers. I think it takes the cake to a whole new level and keeps things nice and moist.
After your whipped cream is ready, all you have to do is cut up some fresh strawberries and slice your sponge cake into slices (2 or 3),
build your strawberry shortcake,
and then frost it!
The end result is a beautiful layered cake that is light and delicious. All I can say now is thank you Noriko!
Japanese Strawberry Shortcake
Makes one 7 or 8-inch layered cake
For Noriko’s sponge cake:
4 large eggs, white and yolks separated
4.2 ounces (120 grams, 9.5 tablespoons) granulated sugar, sifted once
3 tablespoons milk, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4.2 ounces (120 grams, 14 tablespoons) cake flour, sifted 3 times
1.2 ounces (22 grams, 2.3 tablespoons) butter, melted
For the stabilized whipped cream frosting:
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
4 teaspoons cold water
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the simple syrup:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
8 – 10 ounces fresh strawberries
To make Noriko’s Sponge Cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (170 to 180 degrees Celsius). Line a 7 (18cm) or 8-inch circular cake pan with parchment paper, or grease the cake pan with butter, then lightly coat the pan with flour.
2. Add the sugar to the egg whites, and beat the egg whites until they are stiff and glossy.
3. Add the egg yolks to the egg white mixture, and gently whisk until the yolks are incorporated.
4. Add the milk, vanilla extract, and flour (in that order) to the batter and gently fold them into the batter with a spatula. Fold in the melted butter until it is well combined.
5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan, and get rid of any air bubbles in the batter by dropping the pan on a counter once or twice. Bake the cake for 25 to 30 minutes. The cake is done when it is golden brown and springs back when pressed lightly. Let the cake cool completely on a wire rack. Run a blade around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake, and remove.
To make the Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting:
1. Put the cold water in a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the surface of the water and let stand for 5 minutes (do not stir). Place the saucepan over low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon just until the gelatin dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat and cool to room temperature.
2.In a mixing bowl, combine the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla and beat until slightly thickened. Then, while beating slowly, gradually pour the gelatin into the whipped cream mixture. Then whip the mixture at high speed until stiff.
To make the Simple Syrup:
1. In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and water. Bring the water to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
To assemble the cake:
1. Reserve 6 to 1o strawberries for decorating the cake. Slice the remaining strawberries into thin slices (about 4 slices per strawberry).
2. Slice the sponge cake horizontally into 2 layers.
3. Place one sponge layer cut-side up on a cake board or serving plate and lightly crush the surface with the simple syrup. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream over the cake layer and arrange the strawberry slices over the surface. Spread an additional layer of whipped cream over the strawberries. Brush the cut-side of the second layer with the simple syrup and place it over the first layer. Frost the sides and top of the cake with the remaining whipped cream. Decorate as desired and garnish with the reserved strawberries.
{ 87 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
Thanks for posting this!
I love this cake. I used to get it all the time in Japan. And sometimes at the Japanese bakery here in NYC.
I’ve never made stabilized whipped cream before — sounds great!
I used this recipe to make a roll cake with brigadeiro coffee filling and it is D-I-V-I-N-E!!! Thanks for posting this for us, Rachael.
Have a great friday ;)
I tell Kitty to bake a Shorttsake for me.
Gorgeous! It looks so perfect!
Mmm, delicious and beautiful cake! Can I haz bite??
“it’s so fluffayyyyyyy i’m gonna dieeeee!” hahaha. that was the first line that popped into my heard when i saw your strawberry shortcake! strawberry shortcake should totally be flufffay and soft enough to sleep in!!:) your’s look pillowy:)
I just made this for tonight’s dessert. It was so easy and looks like it was so much more hard work than it really was to prepare. Will hopefully wow the MIL tonight.
Thanks for this recipe! I’m planning on making it for my mom for her birthday on Sunday. I had a question though. For the last step during assembly, you have “lightly crush the surface with the simple syrup”. I’m assuming you mean brush, since that’s what you have for the other layer? Also, the cake looks pretty high, do you think I will need a tall cake pan for this?
Who knew I was making Japanese Strawberry Shortcake all this time? I love this kind of cake. It actually seems easier to me to make it this way rather than the biscuits. But i’ve never made stabilized whipped cream. Will have to give that a try.
I chance upon this reciepe & so eagar to try it out! will attempt to make it next weekend.. hope i can get all the ingredients in Singapore!
Thanks for the recipe. I made it last weekend. It was hit. The sponge cake was so light and soft, the frosting was not too sweet. We loved it. Anyway I had to made the frosting so many time because the gelatin was lumpy after I poured it in the whipping cream. And I couldn’t wait until room temperature because it became jelly thing. Is it hard to deal with gelatin? How do I fix this problem? By the way l would make it again. Thanks :)
The cake looks so fantabulous!!! it looks so delicious too!
May I ask a question? In making the whipping cream, did you used mixer or hand mixer to mix the cream, sugar, and vanilla? MIne turned out to be too liquidy and not that thick. And is there any tricks to make the cream the same as your in the picture?
Thanks!! :)
i just made this cake for my daughter’s bday tomorrow
i dont know yet how it tasted. but i have trouble icing it. my whipped cream icing is not enough for my 8inch pan and it’s melting so fast
any ideas fujimama? i live in indonesia, do you think because of the warm weather?
This looks fantastic! I’m planning on making this for my friend’s birthday but I need to make the cake and the whipped cream one day in advance and keep it refridgerated. If I frost the cake and refridgerate it for one day, do you think it will affect the flavor?
Great recipe and instructions! It was my first time weighing my ingredients vs. just measuring them. The cake had a delicious taste (a little tough, not as tender as I would have liked… I think I baked it a little too long), the whipped cream, oh, jumping up and down good! Thank you for the wonderful recipe and giving this beginning baker a needed confidence boost! (I didn’t have strawberries so I substituted canned peaches that I drained very well then sliced thinly using my food processor. Wonderful!)
I noticed that when I baked the cake, a thin layer of meringue formed on top. I baked the cake until it was a light golden brown. I cracked the top and the cake under it was fully cooked. Wondering if this has happened to anyone. I folded the ingredients just like the recipe instructed.
Just finished eating a giant slice of this cake and it was fantastic. The husband and I don’t like overly sweet desserts and so this hit the spot. The cake was nice and fluffy and the lightly sweetened whipped cream emphasized the strawberry flavor instead of overwhelming it. Perfect.
really, very happy uncovering the contents of your blog and the first recipe i tried right away is this recipe from your friend Noriko, ohhhh-la-la-la, made this twice in one week time, so i said to myself i really owe you a heartfelt comment of thank you very much! loving this recipe, that my Japanese friend asked me right away to teach her how to bake this instead of buying from the store which is of totally no-difference, this recipe is just as close to that of the nearby pattiserie we often buy strawberry shortcake. so glad you shared this to the world!
This looks amazing & so YUMMY!
I have been looking for a good stabilized whipped cream for frosting for a while! I will definetly try this one. Just one question, how far in advance can i make the cream & refridgerate before frosting the cake?. As i need to make a sponge cake for Saturday th 14/05/2011. Love to hear from you!
Hi,
I tried making the stabilized whipped cream frosting.. But, I am confused as to how the gelatin can be poured into the whipping cream. After I dissolved the gelatin and cooled it down (step 1), it turns into a jello texture.. Did I cool it for too long?
Thank you,
Eva (:
Hiiii, i jst tried ur recipe and i loved how the sponge cakes turns out (thanks)
But i failed in making the whipped cream 2 times :( The first time, my whipped cream never gotten into stiff peak and at the end it became separated from the water and looked like a bad milk. My second attempt, i stopped when it jst soft peak but when i put it on the cake it started to crumble (not smooth) again looks like a bad milk. Pls give me some advice how to fix it. Tkss
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! If I can make it look nice enough I can make it for my friend’s birthday, since she too likes Japanese Strawberry Shortcake!
Love the step by step pictures! Gorgeous pics.
SO I used this recipe as my first fom-scratch-cake, and I freaked out when I forgot to put the butter in the batter. But, for the first try, I have to say, this is really good. I have to really thank you for this recipe! It helped out a lot. And the frosting, I failed the first time, cause I don’t know what to do much. But I succeeded in making a good frosting the second time. And instead of frosting in the middle, I used strawberry glaze and it tasted awesome. THANK YOU!!!!! ありがとうございます～
I am in the process of making this cake NOW…it’s in the oven. So glad to have found a recipe for Japanese Strawberry Shortcake with the metric measurements converted! I’ve looked at pictures of these cakes on the internet for a couple of months now, thinking to myself how different from other cakes they look…so light, and silky looking. I hope mine turns out!
hi lafujimama! I shall make this and post mine on my blog, thanks for sharing this recipe!! awesome!
I tried this recipe and it came out pretty bad. I am human of course, so I could have messed it up somehow, but I did everything step by step to the letter, and have baked many cakes successfully before. The cake came out flat, doughy, and not very good tasting. The whipped cream was ok in taste, but weeped, even with the gelatin mixture added, heavily. It was pretty much a disaster.
Again, this could have been my technique. This was my first time trying to make a shortcake. I mean no disrespect to this recipe either. I am just giving my two cents to anyone who may decide to try this recipe, since most of the comments seemed to be from people who hadn’t attempted it yet.
My husband doesnt like sweets but when I went to Dallas and for his birthday our family friend bought the japanese cake and gave it to him he fell in love it is the first sweets i have seen him horde! hahahahahahaha I cant wait to try this to see if it is anything like the one that was given to him :)
Hi Fuji Mama! The cake looks really pretty and yummy~ Just wondering how long we can keep the cake before it turns bad? Since it’s fresh creaaam..yumz
Made this twice, and both times came out brilliant! :) Thank you so much.
Thank you! Thank you for this recipe! I’ve been looking all over the internet for a detailed recipe on this cake. I wanted you to know that you helped make my family’s Christmas special this year.
I featured the cake I made on my blog. http://artdelightful.blogspot.com/2011/12/to-holidays-and-family-bondings.html
Tried this recipe :( followed it exactly and it didn’t turn out good. I may have done something wrong down the line, but I very careful.
Hi Fujimama, We made this cake using your recipe with my 11 year old daughter for Christmas here in AZ,(We moved from Japan this summer, my first to live in US) and our family all loved it!! It tasted just like the cake from a Japanese bakery shop. Thank you for sharing your recipe. Phoenician
Hi I tried this recipe the other day and it was delicious!! I had one problem though and I was wondering if you had any idea on how to fix it. The cake came out really dense and heavy. I noticed it shrank away from the pan a considerable amout after it came out of the oven. I had to make this in 2 batches, could this be the problem? Or is it my technique? Any help is appreciated!!!
I just made this cake, gluten-free, for my brother’s birthday. It turned out beautifully!
Hello Noriko,
My name is ben hall. I’ve made your wonderful cake before and things turned out great :). but now my question to is, do you possibly know how to make the icing thicker? because everytime i seemed to try, it would just seem to come out a little thick but not thick enough. So can you help?
I cannot say in words how frustrated I am… this came out dense and thick. Not spongy and light AT ALL. Followed the instructions with the exception of accidentally adding cold milk. WHAT THE HELL DID I DO WRONG?!?!?!?!?!!?!? /rips hair out
← Previous Comments
{ 11 trackbacks }