#top cake

If you’re a regular watcher of anime, reader of manga, or player of video games, chances are you’ve seen this type of cake before - it’s even in the very emoji for cake! This is the Japanese take on strawberry shortcake: a light and airy sponge cake with a filling of sliced strawberries and whipped cream in the middle, covered with whipped cream frosting and topped with whole strawberries! It is the one cake you will typically see in Japanese media, and a taste of this iconic cake is enough for anyone to see why!

It’s no wonder, then, that the sprite for the Broken Cake (and likely the fixed Top Cake) would resemble a Japanese strawberry shortcake, given how Toby Fox was influenced by JRPGs growing up, EarthBound being his biggest inspiration. Wouldn’t surprise me if he was an anime fan, too, I know I am! And it was not just anime, manga, and video games, but also my admiration of Japanese culture and cuisine, that drove me to try making these cakes for the first time many years ago!

That’s right, I’ve had experience with Japanese-style strawberry shortcake. But I’m no pro at sponge cakes, and have never been able to get their texture perfect (hard to keep it light and airy when you need to fold the flour and a few wet ingredients into the whipped egg whites, which will mess with the density). Luckily, I still get a cake that’s moist and will certainly make your taste buds spin in delight!

For me, this is a seasonal recipe, because I only make this kind of cake once a year, during local strawberry season. It’s just better with fresh strawberries picked from a local farm as opposed to those crunchy, underripe California strawberries you find at the grocery store, which are bred for longevity. Our farms in Oregon specialize in sweeter, softer and juicer berries - albeit at the cost of a shelf life! Because of this, the cake needs to be eaten fast. And with how good it is, it disappears as quickly as it should.

In the past, I used a different recipe, but I sadly lost it, so I went with a new recipe this year, which is the one that’ll be featured in this week’s episode. It worked just as well as the old one, though I still need plenty of practice with sponge cakes (and my new stand mixer).

Normally I just make one sponge cake, level it, and have a single layer of filling. This time, I made two sponge cakes, just in case I failed on the first try. Both cakes turned out well, and so I got two delicious cakes, allowing for twice the strawberry filling between three layers of sweet cakey goodness!

The featured recipe is for just a single sponge cake. You could double the recipe, but that could mess with the end result, so I did one at a time, starting the second while the first baked in the oven. It may not be the most efficient, but it might yield better results.

For these cakes, you need to brush a layer of syrup in between the sponge. Instead of regular simple syrup which is typically used, I used homemade strawberry syrup to give it even more strawberry flavor! This time around, I also mixed in some syrup with the sliced strawberries for the filling, something that’s also not normally done (and I usually don’t do either), but given the lack of longevity on these local berries, it adds extra “strawberriness” to the filling, though I’m not sure if that affects the sliced berries in any way. It also makes the filling a little jammier and adds more sweetness to a cake that isn’t overly sweet, but of course, we don’t want this TOO sweet, in contrast to most American cakes and sweets.

We got a recipe for the syrup, too. Be sure to make the syrup before you make the cake, so it’ll be chilled and ready to use upon assembly. Gee, this rambling is already going on too long - on to the recipe!

First up, the syrup.

SIMPLE STRAWBERRY SYRUP:

2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Optional: 1-2 tsp cornstarch, mixed with about 2 tablespoons water

Wash, hull, and slice fresh strawberries, measuring 2 cups, and add to saucepan.

Add sugar and water to saucepan, combine and bring to a boil over medium or medium-low heat (depending on your stove’s setting).

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Optional: Stir in a small amount of liquid cornstarch mixture until it’s the consistency you want (don’t add too much or even all of it or your syrup will be too thick).

Remove from heat and pour your hot syrup into a blender.

Blend on Puree until smooth.

Pour through a mesh strainer into a bowl and squeeze to get as much of the pureed pulp into the bowl as possible, trapping most of the seeds and some of the remaining pulp in the strainer.

Let cool, then pour into containers for storage and keep refrigerated. Goes great on pancakes, French toast, vanilla ice cream, and in cocktails.

Now that our syrup is made, it’s onto the most important part of our cake: the sponge cake itself!

TOP CAKE:

(Makes 1 sponge cake, double or repeat the recipe for two)

4 large egg whites

1 cup (200 g) sugar

1 cup + 2 tablespoons (146.2 g?) cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp (45 g) melted butter

1 tbsp (30 ml) hot water

1 tsp (15 ml) vanilla extract

Grease and flour cake pan or line with parchment paper (cut parchment paper into rounds and strips to fit round cake pan if using parchment paper). Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C). Optional: Wet a baking strip and position it around your cake pan; this is to ensure an even bake and to avoid a dome top.

Get all ingredients out together and sift some cake flour into a bowl before measuring (as recommended on the package of Swan’s Down cake flour). Measure 1 cup and 2 tablespoons and sift cake flour again with the baking powder - sift them together twice!

Separate egg whites from yolks and pour whites into the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit stand mixer with the whisk attachment.

Whip egg whites until foamy, then slowly add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, while whipping. Whip eggs and sugar until stiff and glossy (but not too stiff), stop when the egg mixture falls off the whisk in a thick ribbon that doesn’t sink in a few seconds.

Melt butter and heat some water. In a small bowl, combine melted butter, hot water, and vanilla.

Carefully fold flour into egg whites with a rubber spatula until no streaks of flour remain, along with the wet ingredients. Fold it like you’re kneading dough, or in the direction of an 8. Stop immediately when ingredients are fully incorporated.

Pour batter into the cake pan and bake for 35 minutes. Don’t check the cake until about 30 of those minutes have passed, then you can rotate the cake if you need to in order for it to bake evenly.

When your cake is done, set it out to cool on a rack. Let it cool completely before trying to remove it from the pan. It’s best to leave it for another 6 to 8 hours before dividing and frosting; do this by wrapping it in either plastic wrap or beeswax food wrap and covering it. I make my cakes late at night so they can cool and rest overnight, then I frost and decorate the next day.

For a second cake, repeat steps 1 through 8.

We got the syrup, we got the cake, that leaves us with the final ingredients for assembly: sliced strawberries, whole strawberries, and whipped cream frosting.

CAKE ASSEMBLY:

Big fresh strawberries, about 6 or 8

2 cups sliced strawberries

1/2 cup strawberry syrup + more for spreading inside cake

2 cups heavy cream

4 tablespoons powdered sugar

Find yourself 6 or 8 nice big, pretty strawberries to go on top, carefully clean with a damp paper towel, and cut off the stems. Set those aside.

Now wash and dry a ton more strawberries for the two layers of filling. Hull and slice them up for at least another 2 cups so there’s plenty of strawberry in this cake, and mix them with some syrup, about half a cup.

To make the frosting, combine 2 cups of heavy cream with 4 tablespoons powdered sugar - you don’t need a lot - and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Using a cake leveler (I recommend using these cake leveler devices by Yorwe; you simply position a bread knife in between these little devices and follow the instructions for a perfectly even levelled cake), with your cake and leveler flat on a clean surface, bring your knife to the side of the cake, perpendicular to the cake’s surface. Carefully saw your cake in half horizontally until you have successfully transformed your single sponge into two layers of cake. Repeat for the second sponge - and keep one of the four layers for snacking since only three will be used.

Make sure your bottom layer is on a cake platter and put them on a turntable because it’s time to assemble and decorate! Brush strawberry syrup on top of your bottom cake layer, and underneath your second. Add a layer of whipped cream and spread evenly, then add a layer of strawberries, spread, and then spread on another layer of whipped cream. Top with your second layer of sponge and repeat: spread syrup, whipped cream, strawberries, whipped cream, and them spread syrup on the bottom of your top layer of cake.

Now all that’s left to do is frost the outside. I highly suggest using a large piping bag and a frosting spatula for this so your frosting is even and beautiful. This is where you will want to spin your turntable as you pipe and smooth the whipped cream frosting. Fill your piping bag fitted with a wide tip by standing the bag up in a glass. When it’s nice and full, pipe whipped cream along the sides of your cake and spin the turntable while smoothing it out with your icing spatula. Repeat until the side of your cake is coated in a nice white layer of whipped cream and you can’t see the underlying cake or filling.

Do the same on top of your cake until it’s nice and even. Make sure you have enough whipped cream to pipe some extra decorative blobs on top and on the sides, I suggest using a smaller, fancier piping tip if you have one.

Finally, top the cake with your fresh strawberries and wipe down any messes you made on your cake platter while decorating so everything looks fancy! I’d say it looks social media worthy now! Share this cake with your friends and let your taste buds spin!

Sources:

Marina, “Simple Sponge Cake Recipe”, Let The Baking Begin (letthebakingbegin.com) Link: https://letthebakingbegin.com/simple-yellow-sponge-cake-recipe/

Yorwe Cake Leveler, 2 pcs, 5 layers, available on Amazon.com. Buy here!

Stone, Robyn, "Simple Strawberry Syrup Recipe", Add a Pinch (addapinch.com) Link: https://addapinch.com/strawberry-syrup-recipe/

Bruzek, Alison, "Japan's Beloved Christmas Cake Isn't About Christmas At All", npr.org. Link: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/12/16/369830094/a-christmas-cake-that-isn-t-about-christmas-at-all

There is no shortage of recipes online for Japanese strawberry shortcake, or Christmas cake! I'll share some right here. Each is different and unique too - everyone does it a little bit differently! I think it's important to share some sources from Japan, since that's the country of origin for this episode's recipe! Here are some of my faves:

Cooking With Dog, "How to Make Christmas Cake (Strawberry Sponge Cake Recipe) | Cooking with Dog", YouTube. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmLkPBut8nI (This has a different recipe - I'd love to try using this one, even though I don't have a convection oven! It looks like it takes a LOT of practice and seems even more challenging, though - but Chef is a pro!)

Chen, Namiko, "Japanese Strawberry Shortcake いちごのショートケーキ", justonecookbook.com. Link: https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-strawberry-shortcake/

Kimono Mom, "Make Christmas Cake w/ Daddy & Mommy | Vlog Recipe | Strawberry Short Cake", YouTube. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4dw82cFFz0 (Sometimes things go wrong - in fact, it happens a lot when cooking! What does Kimono Mom do when she has cream that froze solid? Watch the video to find out!)

Yumiko, "JAPANESE STRAWBERRY SPONGE CAKE (STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE)", japan.recipetineats.com. Link: https://japan.recipetineats.com/japanese-strawberry-sponge-cake-strawberry-shortcake/

Shihoko, "Strawberry Shortcake cake – Japanese version", chopstickchronicles.com. Link: https://www.chopstickchronicles.com/japanese-birthday-cake/