Food Lorists: Japanese Christmas Cake

Japanese Christmas Cake

Labels: Recipes Posted by Yann_Chef on at 1:02 a.m.

Traditionally, Christmas is not celebrated in Japan as most of the population is either Buddhist or Shintoist. But, when the country opened to the world towards the end of WWII, the Japanese adopted some aspect of Western culture such as the celebration of Christmas.

For the sponge cake:

3/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp butter

For the topping:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 tbsp sugar
Various fruits (strawberries, peaches, cherries, what ever fills your imagination)

Whisk the eggs in a bowl. Place the bowl over warm water in another large bowl and whisk further. Add sugar little by little. When the egg mixture becomes light yellow, sift the flour and add to the egg mixture. Mix the flour lightly by lifting the mixture at the bottom of the bowl to the top of it then turn the bowl a little bit clockwise and repeat until all the flour has been incorporated. Mix butter in warm milk. Add this mixture into the batter and stir gently.
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius, 350F. Line the inside of a 18cm/ 7inches sponge mould with some parchment (greaseproof paper). Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 25-35 min. Remove the cake from the pan and cool it on a rack.
Cut the cake in half horizontally. Whip the heavy cream and sugar in a bowl. Take half of the whipped cream and mix with the chopped fruits. Spread some of the cream on top each slices of cake. Then, put some of the fruit-cream mixture in between each slice of cake. Reconstitute the sponge and spread the rest of the whipped cream on top and around the cake.
Decorate the cake with colorful fruits and Christmas decorations.