Japanese Strawberry & Raspberry Shortcake

I love this cake, my family love this cake too
Who doesn't?
Who can resist such a temptation?
A soft velvety sponge cake wrapped and layered in smooth light whipping cream with sweet tangy strawberries in between
Even before I started baking in my own kitchen, I always bought from bakeries :)
This heavenly cake I made was the second recipe I tried, you may view the first one HERE
I liked the first one I made, but this one...I looooovvveee!!!
Everything is much better, the taste, the texture, it has class I must say

Recipe is from Rima's site
Even though I couldn't make it as pretty as hers (it's a challenge to come close to it!), I was very happy and definitely will stick to this recipe, it's a keeper! :)
I added raspberries too while still using strawberries too, first layer at the bottom was with strawberries and the second cream layer was with raspberries
Arranged the remaining fruits on top of the frosted cake and that's it :)

What you need:

For the cake:

145g cake flour

15g corn flour

1 egg

5 egg yolks, whisk slightly with fork

150g unsalted butter

65g fresh milk

5 egg whites

100g castor sugar

1/4 tsp salt

250g fresh strawberries

170g fresh raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 160degC
2. Grease and line 8"square pan, wrap bottom with aluminium foil
3. Heat butter and milk til melted and combined, do not boil
4. Off heat and add in sifted flour, mix with wooden spatula
5. Transfer to bigger bowl, add eggs, continue to mix til smooth
6. In another bowl, beat egg whites on low speed til frothy, add salt and followed by sugar in 3 additions, beat til soft peak
7. Pou 1/3 of egg whites mixture into egg/butter mixture, fold in gently, pour the rest and continue to mix gently
8. Pour batter into pan, bake au bain marie for approximately 45minutes or til skewer comes out clean
9. Remove from oven, after 5 minutes trasnfer to cooling rack

For the stabilized whipped cream:

2 tsp gelatin powder

8 tsp cold water

2 cups whipping cream, cold

1/2 cup ising sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1. Chill mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for 10 minutes
2. Put cold water in small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over surface of the water and let stand for 5 minutes
3. Place saucepan over low heat, stir continuously with wooden spoon just until the gelatin dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat and cool to room temperature
4. Remove mixing bowl and beaters from freezer. In the mixing bowl, combine whipping cream, sugar and vanilla and whip til slightly thickened. While beating slowly, gradually pour the gelatin into the whipped cream mixture
5. Then whip the mixture at high speed til stiff

For sugar syrup:

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1 tsp kirsch gel

1. Combine in a small saucepan, bring to boil, stir in sugar til dissolved
2. Let cool

To assemble:

1. Reserve some strawberries for decoration (the pretty ones!)
2. Dice the balance, mix with a little sugar, set aside
3. Reserve some raspberries too for decoration and halve the balance
4. Cut cooled cake into 3 parts
5. Place 1 layer cut side up, brush with syrup, spread cream, arrange diced strawberries and spread again with cream
6. Repeat with the 2nd layer (but this time with raspberries), put the 3rd layer cake on top, brush with syrup and layer thinly with cream
7. Chill for 30 minutes at least
8. Spread another layer of cream on top of the cake and chill for another hour, garnish with berries

This is in fact the first time I baked cake and decorated it with fresh raspberries, I have been wanting to do it for long, but always beaten up by the price so ended up with strawberries

But hey, once a while won't hurt huh? LOL

How I love this red bright sweet tangy full of antioxidant properties little fruits :)

I guess my once a while treat will be getting more often LOL

I'm submitting this layered cake to Aspiring Bakers #18 Layers Of Love (April 2012) hosted by Sweet Samsations

And I'm linking this with:

* Sweet Treats Thursday

* Sweet Tooth Friday

* Sweets For A Saturday #66