Strawberry Birthday Cake 草莓生日蛋糕

You don't think I am going to leave you in the lurch with just a sponge cake recipe, do you? Well, here's the final product - A Strawberry Birthday Cake. As I have mentioned earlier, this cake was intended for my niece. She adores strawberries. So this is what I came out with - loads of strawberries and cream. If you like strawberry cakes as much as she does, this one is for you!

I am not much of a cake decorator. If you rate me at a scale of 1 to 10 I think I marginally passed at 5. Therefore, I always prefer simple decorating techniques or design that could cover my flaws. This cake is as simple as it could get, decorated with only two ingredients - strawberries and cream. But it does look like a million bucks, don't you think?

I came out with my own version of a whipped cream for this Strawberry Birthday Cake though. Most recipes would ask you to whip the whipping cream and then apply. But in our current climate, it wouldn't hold out long before it becomes a mushy mess. Some recipes suggested to stabilized the whipping cream with gelatin. In didn't work for me either (I might give this another try later). The powdered whipped topping lasted longer but the taste was much to be desired. So I combined these two items. The result was a more stabilized thick cream, just the way that I wanted. But really, if you are consuming the cake right out of the fridge, by all means just use whipping cream.

I made a mistake by using generic strawberry jam for this cake. It was a tad sweet and way too bland. I suggest you use preserves for added flavour. Alternatively, chop some fresh strawberries and mix into the jam.

Strawberry Birthday Cake 草莓生日蛋糕

Ingredients

250 g whipping cream
150 g powdered whipped topping (optional)
3 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
50 g cold water
8 - 10 strawberries, cut into roses
6 - 10 strawberries, sliced thinly
1/2 cup strawberry jam/preserves
1 7-inch sponge cake (recipe here)


Decorating Instruction

Cut cake into three layers. Cut strawberries. Add whipping cream, powdered whipped topping, icing sugar and cold water to a cold mixing bowl and whip until it becomes stiff.

Apply a layer of strawberry preserves followed by a layer of cream. Repeat for the second sponge layer.

Crumb coat the whole cake with whipped cream.

Put strawberry roses in the middle of the cake (to make the roses, you could google strawberry roses). Line strawberry slices around the cake. Finally, pipe some cream at the edges for decoration.