This was a request from Beth for a recipe for the cake at the end of Buono!’s “MY BOY” PV. Have a look at the PV first if you’ve never seen it.

Now, really, the PV doesn’t do a great job of showing off the insides of the cake, so I’m kind of making this up. But, I’ve made a lot of cakes similar to this, and I know the type that’s popular in Japan, so this’ll be a lot like that.

You have a few options here. For the cake itself, white cake is your best bet. You can either make it from a mix (which is cheap and perfectly acceptable), or you can make it from scratch (which is my preferred method for all cooking). Here’s a recipe that it rather easy. If you want a cake just like the “MY BOY” cake, you’ll probably want to buy one or two heart-shaped pans. (These will be available in most grocery stores around Valentine’s day, and may be available in specialty shops and higher-end grocery stores the rest of the year as well.)

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (cake flour can be used, but isn’t necessary)
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar. Add in the eggs and the vanilla and mix again. Sift in the flour and baking powder. Mix again. Add the milk and stir (or beat) until the batter is smooth. Pour into a pan sprayed with cooking spray (or rubbed with butter) and cut out a circle of parchment paper to lay in the bottom if you have it. (Your cake will eventually be two layers, but you can either bake it in two pans, or bake it in one and cut it in half later.)Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until cake springs back to touch.

Let your cake cool, regardless of how you made it. Now it’s time for the fun part! Icing!

In Japan, you’ll be hard pressed to find a cake that doesn’t have whipped cream as an icing/frosting. That is what is used here, very obviously. Again, you have a few options. You can usually go to a grocery store bakery and ask to buy some of the whipped cream icing that they use. They usually have a way to sell it by the pound. However, I don’t really like the taste of it.

Another simple option is a product called “Dream Whip”. It’s a packaged mix that you add milk and vanilla to, but makes a pretty tasry end product with enough stability to spread on a cake. (Cool Whip is also an option, but I find it tends to soak into cake a bit too much.)

Your third option is to make the whipped cream yourself. Here’s a simple recipe.

1 cup heavy whipping cream (ultra pasteurized is best)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon granulated white sugar

Incorporate the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and chill the bowl and the beaters in the refrigerator for at least half an hour. Beat (starting at a low speed and moving up to a higher speed as the cream starts to have stability) until your cream has stiff peaks. This means that with the mixer off, you can touch the beaters into the cream and lift them back out and you’ll have a point that doesn’t flop back down. The cream should hold it’s shape. Be careful not to overwhip your cream though. It *will* turn into butter. This will make about 2 cups of whipped cream. If you want more for decoration or for other things, simply double the recipe (or 1 1/2 it?). (If your whipped cream goes kind of flat, chill in the refrigerator for 1 1/2 hours or freeze in its bowl for 45 minutes, along with the beaters. Simply rewhip.)

Once you have your cake and whipped cream, you’ll need strawberries. Half a pound should be enough for this cake. Cut the white and stem portion off and discard. Cut the rest in half. Try your strawberries before adding them to a cake, though. If they’re not sweet enough, toss them in a bowl with a tablespoon of sugar. Some of the juice will come out in this case, though.

To assemble… If you did your cake in two layers already, you’re good to go. Otherwise, using a long serrated knife (like a bread knife), make a cut through the middle of the cake to make two layers. Do this slowly and carefully. Lift your top layer off (again, carefully) and place off to the side. (I like to put it on a piece of parchment paper, but a plate would work well enough.) If your cake layers are not even, but have a lump in the middle, just shave off the lump with the same knife. (You can crumble these bits into a dish with some strawberries and a bit of the whipped cream.)

Place your first cake layer on the plate you plan to serve it on. Add about 1/4 of your whipped cream to the center (or about 1/2 cup). Smooth it out with an icing spatula, or the back of a spoon. Using about half of the strawberries, place them on top of the whipped cream. Place your second layer of cake on top of the first. (If you cut your layers a bit uneven, you can simply line them up the same way here and no one will notice.)

Add the rest of your whipped cream to the top of the cake. (Or about 1 1/2 cups. Reserve some for decoration if you’d like, though, unless you made extra.) Using your spoon or spatula, work the icing from the center of the cake to the edges. Work it until the icing is falling over the edges. Smooth this down to the bottom and use your icing spatula or a butter knife held perpendicular to the plate to gently smoothe out the icing on the sides. (You can smoothe out the top first, but it isn’t necessary.)

Place the rest of your strawberry slices on the top of the cake. If you’d like more decoration, place more of the cream in a Ziploc-style bag. Cut off a bit of one corner. Hold this corner perpendicular to the top of the cake and do dollops of cream along the top and bottom edge (hold the bag at a 45° angle for the bottom edge), between the strawberries, etc.

Refrigerate for at least half an hour before serving.

Since this isn’t a cake my husband and I enjoy, I haven’t bothered to make one for this, but I’ll try to do so soon to show some pictures. I’m sure I’ll have a cookout where it’ll be appropriate and people will devour it.

{16 May 2009} {Tags: , , , , , }