Asian Birthday Cake

I grew up always eating Asian cakes. The first time I had an American cake, I was completely taken aback of how sweet and dense it was! Although I do enjoy the cream cheese filling of some American cakes, I can do without the super sweet or buttery frosting, and the dense sweet cakes since it’s guaranteed that I have a sugar crash (low sugar tolerance).

An Asian cake is made with a fluffy, lightly sweetened, sponge cake made from a whipped airy batter. The frosting is more like a stabilized subtly sweet whipped cream. The fillings usually include either taro, coconut, durian, or cut up fruits. It is much lighter and doesn’t put you into a diabetic sugar coma if you help yourself to an extra serving and have I mentioned how delicious this cake is?

Sponge Cake Batter Ingredients:

• 5  room temp eggs separated
• 4 tbs whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup sifted cake flour
• 3 tbs vegetable oil

Sponge Cake Batter Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Whip your egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff peaks form (~ 10 mins)
   1. If your egg whites come in contact with any of your egg yolks or oils, it will not whip. Stiff peaks means you can flip your bowl upside down and it stays put
   2. I use a paddle attachment
3. In a bowl, stir together your egg yolks, milk, sugar, vanilla extract until combined.
4. Add in sifted cake flour and stir until combined.
5. Add in vegetable oil and stir until combined.
6. Add in 1/3 of your whipped egg whites and FOLD this in. Continue with the rest of your egg whites. Be careful not to stir or over-fold. You want to keep your batter airy.
7. Put batter in 8 inch cake pan or cupcake molds.
8. 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Insert a toothpick or skewer down the center to see if its clean when you take it out for readiness.
9. Let it rest inverted on a wire rack.

Some people eat these without any frosting since they’re super delicious warm and fluffy. Others opt to drop raisins in the batter before baking for a sweet alternative twist!

For the whipped cream:

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
• 2 cups cream
• Vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Put your paddle and mixing bowl into the freezer for a good 10 mins to chill
2. Sprout your gelatin in 1/4 cup of cold water (not hot water, cold water!) You want this mixture to sprout, not set.
3. Whip your 2 cups of cream on medium.
4. When your cream is close to being stiff, add in your powdered sugar. I air on the less sweet side and use only 1/3-1/2 cup but feel free to add sugar to your preference. Mix for about ~10 seconds.
5. Add in your gelatin mixture and allow it to combine and whip until stiff consistency that’s good for frosting.

I like to use this whipped frosting for the center as well. I chop up fresh strawberries and whatever fruit I have and mix it in with a bit of this frosting to reserve for the filling. The rest is used to decorate and frost the cake!