Japanese Strawberry Cake (2024)

Learn the secrets to making the real-deal Japanese bakery-style strawberry cake – it’s super light and fluffy, with a light cream frosting that’s not too sweet. You’ll feel like you’re biting into a cloud as you enjoy the freshness of the ingredients.

Japanese-style strawberry cake has a special place in my heart. Growing up in China in the early 90’s, we had very limited access to baked goods. All of my birthday cakes came from the bakery of a famous local Russian restaurant. The cake was on the denser side, and the cream frosting was quite thin. When I was in elementary school, some fancier bakeries opened and my mom started to buy baked goods from them. I cannot remember exactly where these bakeries came from, but their style was definitely learned from Taiwanese and Japanese baking. I was hooked on the lighter and fluffier cake immediately.

After graduation from college I spent two years in Japan. For my first birthday there, I used the money earned from working part-time in a ramen shop to buy a tiny strawberry cake to share with the rest of the staff at the ramen shop. Coincidentally, the wife of the boss of the ramen shop made a small cake for me that day, and she told me “you should never buy your own cake on your birthday!” lol But man, that strawberry cake was the best one I’d ever had. It was extremely light and fluffy, and not too sweet. I could taste the freshness of the milk, flour, and cream like no other cake could have achieved.

Why this recipe

A few years back and quite early in my life as a blogger, I posted a strawberry cake recipe I learned from a Japanese recipe site. I liked the result a lot, but it was nowhere near the perfect Japanese-style strawberry cake from a bakery.

Fast forward to this year, I decided to improve the cake recipe together with my sous chef Lilja, who’s way more experienced in baking than I am, attempting to get a better result. The project has lasted many months and involved extensive testing with different formulas. We finally have a winner!

This recipe:

• Uses beaten egg white and minimal flour to create a super fluffy texture
• Uses a water bath to bake the cake, for the super delicate texture
• Brushes syrup between the layers with macerated strawberry for a bit of sweetness
• Features a not-so-sweet frosting to bring out the flavor of the fruit
• Has a stabilized cream frosting so you can easily store and transfer the cake

To sum up, the cake is so light, moist and fluffy that you’ll feel like you’re biting into a cloud. It’s truly like the bakery-style Japanese strawberry cake with that delicate texture and taste.

Ingredients

The ingredients for this recipe couldn’t be more simple. You can get all of them from a regular grocery store.

Bakeries often use a commercial stabilizer to make whipped cream frosting that stays good on the shelf for longer. To make stabilized whipped cream with common ingredients, we found that gelatin is the best option. By using this ingredient, you’ll help your cake stay perfect for a few days in the fridge.

Equipment you need

• 8” round cake pan
• A deep pan or baking dish that is almost as tall as the cake pan and can fit the cake pan in it
• Parchment paper
• Stand mixer (or hand mixer)
• Spinning cake stand (you can make one by placing the cake pan upside down, and top it with a flat plate or the removable bottom of a pie pan)
• Offset spatula

Cooking process

Prepare the cake part 1

1. Sift the cake flour into the milk butter mixture
2. Mix well
3. Add the egg yolks
4. Mix until smooth

Prepare the cake part 2

1. Whip the egg whites until frothy
2. Continue whipping as you add the sugar
3. You should get a medium-peak texture
4. Add some of the whipped sugar into the egg yolk mixture you just made, and mix well
5. Add the mixture back to the mixing bowl
6. Stir gently to combine
7. Pour the mixture into a lined cake pan
8. Bake in a water bath until cooked through

Make the macerated strawberries

1. Add the sugar to the sliced strawberries
2. Let sit so the strawberries become sweeter
3. Let the macerated strawberries dry a bit before using

Make the stabilized whipped cream

1. Sift the confectioners sugar into the heavy whipping cream
2. Dissolve the gelatin in water
3. Whip the cream until soft peaks form, then add a small amount into the dissolved gelatin
4. Add the gelatin mixture into the whipped cream and whip again

NOTE: You can make regular (non-stabilized) whipped cream as well and I’ve included the method in the recipe below.

Assemble the cake

1. Use a knife to loosen the sides of the cake pan. Flip the cake pan onto a rack to remove the cake. Peel the parchment paper off and let the cake cool.
2. Slice off the brown part off the cake
3. Use toothpicks to mark halfway between the layers, then cut the cake into two layers
4. Brush the syrup onto each cake layer and place the top layer onto a cake stand
5. Add the cream to the cake and spread it on evenly
6. Add as many strawberries as you can onto the cake
7. Add another layer of cream and spread it out
8. Top with the other layer of cake
9. Keep adding cream to all sides and smooth it out
10. Decorate the cake with more strawberries

Once done, you’ll need to store the cake in the fridge for an hour if using the stabilized cream, so the cream will set fully.

Important notes

Use gram measurements

It’s important to have precise measurements for this recipe in order to make it work. I highly recommend a kitchen scale to measure all the cake ingredients.

Precise oven temperature matters

It’s important to know your true oven temperature by using an oven thermometer because many ovens run hotter or colder than the temperature you set.

When I was baking the cake using my new oven, it failed at first because I realized later that my true oven temperature was 15°F lower than the actual temperature (my oven came with an embedded thermometer, but I added three thermometers later to test it out).

We ended up changing the cake formula a little so it’s less sensitive to oven temperature, but it’s still super helpful to know your true oven temperature. If your temperature is off by a lot, the cake might not rise properly.

If you’re using a toaster oven, you should bake this cake at 325°F (150°C) because the cake will be closer to the heat source.

Do not over-whip

If you over-whip the egg white, the cake might not rise. It’s important to whip to medium peak stage and not firm peak.

Use hot water in the water bath

Using hot water in the water bath helps the cake to rise properly. We tried many times with and without, and found out using hot water directly instead of preheating cold water in the oven tremendously helps the cake to rise.

Afterthoughts

Making the bakery-style Japanese strawberry cake is a bit of a challenge and you will need a little bit of time and patience. But the result is extremely satisfying and rewarding, if you like strawberry cake as much as me. I hope you enjoy it!

More Classic Asian Desserts

• Hong Kong Egg Tart (香港蛋挞)
• Chinese Egg Cake (鸡蛋糕)
• Tofu Pudding / Douhua (豆花)
• Pineapple Buns (菠萝包)

Lilja Walter is a part of the Omnivore’s Cookbook team and worked closely with Maggie to develop and test this recipe.