Asian-style Birthday Cake

I made this two weeks ago for Oppa's birthday. I usually only make cakes for big occasions and this was definitely an important one. When I had asked him what he wanted, he said he wanted the Asian-style birthday cakes that you usually see in Asian bakeries but then said it was probably too complicated and he'd rather go with chocolate instead. So to surprise him, I spent three days making this beauty. Without any fancy mixers either! Hand-beating egg whites and whipped cream makes quite the arm workout.

But the final product was so worth it!

Three layers of light fluffy cake, with sliced fresh fruit and custard filling, finished with homemade whipped cream frosting and glazed fruit. It's very light, fluffy, and not too sweet either - perfect for summer!



And here it is with the candles all lit!



Everything about the cake was absolutely delicious and everyone at the party loved it.

Asian-style Cake with Custard and Whipped Cream
adapted from Pocket Daydreams

Sponge Cake

Ingredients
3/4 cups of flour
0.8 cups of sugar, split into 2 even portions
6 large eggs, room temperature, separated into yolks and whites
1-1/2 tbsp canola oil
1-1/2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 9″-diameter baking pans
Simple syrup (1 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp water)

1. Preheat oven to 340⁰F. Line and grease bottoms and sides of cake pans.
2. Separate eggs very carefully because any yolk in the whites makes beating the whites much more difficult. Mix first sugar portion (0.4 cups) with the egg yolks and beat until slightly thick and pale yellow. Stir in the vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they are starting to form peaks. The egg white will still be drippy.
4. Add the remaining portion of sugar (0.4 cups) in three separate additions while continuing to whip egg whites. Continue until stiff peaks form. Egg whites will cling to the beaters with no dripping.
5. Combine 1/2 of the meringue with the egg yolk mixture, folding carefully to minimize volume loss.
6. Gradually add flour and mix.
7. Add oil and milk to the batter.
8. Fold in the remaining half of the meringue carefully.
9. Divide batter into the two greased pans. Tap pan to make sure the batter is even.
10. Bake for about 20-25 minutes at 340⁰F until tops are a light brown.
11. While cake is baking, prepare simple syrup by combining 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp water in a small saucepan. Stir until sugar dissolves as it just begins to boil.
12. Remove cakes from oven and let it cool in the pan to room temperature. The cake shrinks as it cools so loosen edges from the pan to allow it to shrink evenly.
13. Once cooled, remove cakes from pan.

Custard

Ingredients
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup of milk
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

1. Mix the sugar, flour, and salt in a medium saucepan. Stir in 3/4 cup of milk and mix until smooth.
2. Bring mixture to a boil at medium heat, whisking constantly. Do not scrape off any clumps that form on the sides and bottoms as it will leave clumps in your custard.
3. Cook another 2 minutes and remove from heat. At this point the mixture should have thickened up dramatically.
4. Mix together egg with remaining 1/4 cup of milk, then combine with the mixture in the saucepan, whisking vigorously to combine. Return to heat and cook until just about to boil. There will be a lot of lumps at first, but just keep whisking until most of the lumps have disappeared.
5. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Whisk until no lumps remain. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap directly touching the surface of the custard to prevent any skin from forming on the custard.
6. Chill at least 2 hours in the fridge or overnight if desired.

Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients
1 tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin
1 cup (1/2 pint) of chilled heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tbsp of confectioner’s sugar

1. Freeze your beaters and mixing bowl until they’re nice and cold.
2. Soak gelatin powder in the cold water for about 5 minutes to let it absorb the water. End result will be clear and mushy.
3. Place bowl in a small pot of simmering water and stirring until clear. Let cool but do not let it get cold.
4. Prepare a bath of ice and cold water.
5. Place your well-chilled bowl in the ice bath and pour heavy cream into the bowl.
6. Beat cream at high speed until the beaters leave a trail in the cream and has a nice coat on the beaters.
7. Slowly sprinkle sugar and vanilla around the cream.
8. Add the melted gelatin all at once while beating until cream thickens and clings onto the beaters.
9. Put in refrigerator while you start assembling the cake. This should be just enough to frost and decorate the cake without too much extra.

Assembling the Cake

1. Brush a thin layer of simple syrup on the bottom layer.
4. Spread a layer of custard onto the top of the cake layer. Add prepared fruit pieces on top of the custard. I used strawberries and honeydew. Cantaloupe would be delicious as well. Cover with some more custard.
6. Place the second cake layer on top.
7. Brush simple syrup on top of the second layer. Also brush the edges if they seem dry.
8. Frost the cake with the whipped cream topping by first frosting it with a crumb coat and then set it in the fridge for a few minutes. The crumb coat prevents crumbs getting pulled from the cake and into the frosting as you frost the cake.
9. Finish frosting rest of cake. Decorate with glazed fruit.

Glazing Fruit

1. Prepare the gelatin by soaking 1/2 tsp of gelatin powder in 2-1/2 tsp of cold water for about 5 minutes to let it absorb the water. Place bowl in a small pot of simmering water and stirring until clear. Let cool but do not let it get cold.
2. Dry fruit and roll in the gelatin and placed it on a plate to gel. Roll in second coat if one coat isn’t shiny enough.
3. Put in the fridge to set.

Enjoy!