My 1st Decorated Cake!!

I received this 'assignment' from my dear friend about 2-3 weeks before the actual day of celebration. I didn't think she was serious about it until 1 week before... and I started getting stressed, flipping books and browsing through websites for recipes and designs. I finally settled for a recipe for Japanese-style Strawberry Cake from the book, Okashi: sweet treats made with love by Keiko Ishida.

I starting making the cake at 10pm on a Saturday night. Things were not going well right from the start...the recipe for making the sponge cake was entirely different from the normal ones. It required me to warm the egg mixture and beat it with an electric mixer until light and fluffy... but... no matter how long I beat, it only seemed like it was in the ribbon stage. I wondered if it was a problem with the translation and continued with the next step anyway. The end product did not really rise and was heavy... tastes like 'ji1 dan4 gao1' if you know what that is.

By the time I finished this cake, it was close to 12 midnight and I was trying to find a trusted recipe for a sponge cake. I took out my recipes for my baking classes and got down to it immediately. The cake was supposed to be baked in 35 minutes... but it did not! After waiting for an hour, I decided to take it out anyway and... I realised it was underbaked!!! Another failed sponge cake!!! That was about 2am.

Determined to make a cake for dearest 'Meili'... I searched for a sponge cake recipe from my trusted blog by Happy Homebaker. The same problem surfaced... the cake took longer than the time indicated. When I finally took out the cake after about an hour, I realised it was actually still slightly underbaked. I figured it will still be edible and continued....

Another hiccup in the process... the vanilla cream... this had a milk component which made use of gelatine sheet. The 1st time I made the milk component, I allowed it to cool for too long until it hardened. After which, when I finally got my vanilla cream right the 2nd time, I happily put it in my fridge while cutting up my strawberries... BUT... I forgotten that there is gelatine!!! When I remembered, my cream has all hardened... Fortunately, my 3rd attempt went smoothly....

After putting the whole cake together, the decoration started at about 6am. Phew! It was a challenge to do all the pippings for the very 1st time but I am definitely satisfied with the end product which was completed at about 8am (including the cleaning up). That was when I got my beauty sleep and woke up in the afternoon for the full month celebration!

So how was the taste of the cake which took 2 failed sponge cakes and 2 failed vanilla cream?? I did not managed to taste it as I left early and did not allow my friend to cut the cake when there was many people around. Apart from the sponge cake, I tasted all the other stuffs that made up the cake separately (strawberry, vanilla cream, whipped cream, toasted almond flakes & buttercream) and I think they taste good. Meili's mum, friends and relatives who tasted the cake said it was good too. It was worth the effort afterall... Haha... :)

So here's the recipe

Get the sponge cake recipe from Happy Homebaker

The rest of the recipe is adapted from 'Okashi: sweet treats made with love' by Keiko Ishida ... Here it goes:

Ingredients:

For Vanilla Cream:

Whipping cream (150g)

Castor Sugar (15g)

Vanilla Extract (1/2 tsp)

Gelatine sheets (4g, soaked in ice water to soften)

Fresh whole milk (20g)

For Sugar Syrup:

Castor Sugar (25g)

Hot Water (50g)

For Whipped Cream:

Fresh cream (200g) - I used whipping cream

Castor Sugar (15g)

Vanilla Extract (1/2 tsp)

For Buttercream (Half the quantity is required for my design):

Unsalted Butter, softened (400g)

Egg whites (140g)

Icing sugar (140g)

Orange or cherry liquer (1 tbsp)

Others:

Strawberries (1 punnet)

Almond flakes, toasted (60g)

Method:

Slice the sponge cake horizontally to make 2 layers.

Stir castor sugar with hot water to make sugar syrup and set it aside to cool.

Make vanilla cream. Whip cream in a chilled bowl until stiff peaks form. Place milk, sugar and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Add softened gelatine and mix well. Let milk mixture cool to about 30 deg. Add milk mixture to whipped cream and fold until just incorporated.

Brush one side of each of the sliced sponge cake with the sugar syrup. The brushed side will be the 'inner layers'.

Slice strawberries lengthwise. Spread vanilla cream onto the cake layer that was brushed with sugar syrup. Top with sliced strawberries. Spread another layer of vanilla cream. Place 2nd layer of cake over and press down lightly. Chill in the refrigerator for a few minutes to set.

Make whipped cream. Whip vanilla, sugar and vanilla in a chilled mixing bowl until stiff peaks form. Cover cake with whipped cream. Cover the side of the cake with toasted almond flakes.

Make buttercream. Beat buttercream until pale and creamy. Using a clean bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add half the sugar and continue beating. When agg whites have achieved some volume, add remaining sugar and continue to beat until egg whites are glossy and stiff peak form. Add meringue to butter and mix thoroughly. Add orange or cherry liquer and fold in well. Add in desired colouring and mix well. Decorate as you wish.