Strawberry Shortcake: Pretty, Bright and Delicious

Today we're introducing strawberry shortcake, a cake so pretty and bright it's simply adorable. Best of all, it's absolutely delicious.

Strawberry shortcake is a hugely popular Japanese-style cake. Its light, soft sponge with fresh cream melts in the mouth, and fresh, sweet, fragrant strawberries make it extra special. It's a cake you'll never tire of, and chilled it's even more delightful. If you love baking, you'll want to know how it's made. You can definitely do it, so let's get started.

Strawberry Shortcake Ingredients

For the Sponge

• 4 eggs
• 55 g Japanese cake flour (Nisshin brand)
• 55 g plain fresh milk
• 55 g unsalted butter
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lime juice
• A pinch of fine salt
• 55 g fine sugar
• 6 Koi Monori strawberries
• 7 Yubeni strawberries
• Hot water for baking the cake

Equipment

• 7-inch (2-pound) round cake tin
• Baking paper
• Cake slicer
• Cake turntable
• Spatula
• Cake scraper
• Piping bag with a round tip
• Pastry brush

Cream and Syrup

• 500 g whipping cream
• 50 g fine sugar
• For the rum syrup: 100 g sugar, 50 g water, 1 tbsp rum

How to Make Strawberry Shortcake

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C with top and bottom heat, and line the inside of the tin with baking paper.
2. Make the rum syrup: put the sugar and water in a pot over medium heat and bring to the boil until the sugar dissolves. Add the rum, simmer briefly, turn off the heat and leave to cool completely.
3. Make the sponge: separate the yolks and whites into two mixing bowls and sift the flour once. Melt the milk and butter together in the microwave and leave until just warm (the warm milk-butter mixture helps the flour combine more easily). Add the vanilla to the yolks, sift in the flour again, then add the warm milk-butter mixture and whisk by hand until smooth. Set aside. (Don't overmix or the sponge will be dense.)
4. Add the lime juice and salt to the egg whites and beat on low speed until coarse bubbles form, then gradually add the sugar until it's all in. Keep beating until the whites form a dense, fine foam. To test, turn off the mixer and lift the whisk: the whites on the whisk or in the bowl should form a pointed peak with a slight curl.
5. Gently fold one-third of the whites into the yolk mixture, then pour it back into the remaining whites and fold gently with a rubber spatula until smooth. Pour into the tin, smooth the top and run a skewer across the surface to release air bubbles. Tap the tin on the table 2–3 times to remove large bubbles. Place the tin in a baking tray, pour in hot water to about 1 cm deep and bake for 45 minutes until cooked (a skewer inserted should come out clean). Remove from the oven, take the cake out of the tin, peel off the paper and let it cool completely on a rack.
6. Make the cream: whip the cream with the sugar until fluffy with medium-stiff peaks, then refrigerate.
7. Prepare the strawberries: hull them and cut them in half.
8. Slice the cake into 2 equal layers. Place the first layer on the turntable and brush it all over with the rum syrup. Spread with whipped cream and cover with the sliced strawberries, then spread a thin layer of cream on top. Add the second layer and cover the whole cake with cream. Arrange strawberries on top and pipe the remaining cream around the cake to decorate as you like. Chill in the main compartment of the fridge for at least 2 hours to let the layers set, then cut and serve. Pure bliss!

So what do you think of this strawberry shortcake? We hope you enjoy baking it and have as much fun as we do.