Welcome to a simple yet elegant guide on how to create stunning Square Cake Decorations. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned baker, this guide will help you bring your cake to life with a beautiful layered design. Let's get started!
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Sponge fabric
- 82g caster sugar
- 150g whole eggs
- 82g light flour
- 12g unsalted butter
- 12g Taihaku sesame oil
- 20g milk
For the decoration:
- 200-250g fresh cream
- 1 tablespoon condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Vanilla paste, vanilla beans, or vanilla extract, as needed
- About 2 packs of small strawberries
Preparation
1. Set Up Your Oven: Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
2. Prepare Your Flour: Shake out your flour.
3. Set Up Your Mold: Set a baking sheet in a 15cm square mold.
Sponge Part
1. Prepare Your Mixture: Combine milk, butter, and Taihaku sesame oil (or salad oil) and heat in a double boiler or in the microwave until the butter melts.
2. Separate Your Eggs: Crack the whole egg into a bowl, heat it over a hot water bath at about 40 degrees, loosen it, and beat it with a hand mixer. Add the caster sugar in two parts and whisk until it becomes fluffy, then turn the speed to low at the end and adjust the texture.
3. Combine Your Ingredients: Add the sifted flour to the whisked eggs and mix by scooping up from the bottom. Once mixed, add the warmed mixture and mix.
4. Pour Your Batter: Pour the batter into the mold all at once and bake in the preheated oven at 170℃ for 20 to 25 minutes. If it starts to brown too much during baking, cover it with aluminum foil to prevent it from browning. Check for doneness by inserting a bamboo skewer. If it's baked, remove it from the oven and drop it from a high place to prevent shrinkage. Once it has cooled down, remove it from the mold and place it upside down to cool. Cover it with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
5. Slice the Cake: Slice the cake when it is completely cool. If you have a cake slicer, slice it at the second part from the bottom (it was about 1.3cm long). Take 3 pieces from 1cm to 1.5cm depending on the height of the baked cake.
Decorations
1. Prepare Your Fruit: Remove the stems from the strawberries. Use the ones that look like beautiful women as decorations, and cut the ones that will be placed inside in half. The amount of strawberries that can be decorated will vary depending on the size, so please check the number and prepare accordingly.
2. Prepare Your Cream: Add sugar, condensed milk, and vanilla paste to fresh cream and whisk while cooling. If it's too loose, the snow will fall, and if it's too stiff, it won't fit between the strawberries. Ideally, it should be glossy and have sharp edges.
3. Spread Your Cream: Spread a thin layer of cream on the sliced cake and arrange the strawberries. Place it while imagining cutting about 1 cm from the circumference. Once all the strawberries are lined up, add enough cream to cover the strawberries and place the sponge on top. Arrange the next layer in the same way and press lightly from above. Let it rest in the refrigerator for a few hours.
4. Cut the Cake: Be sure to warm up the knife before cutting in small movements. Please clean it every time you use it. Cut off about 1cm from the outside with a warm knife. Please taste the scraps.
5. Decorate Your Cake: First, dry the strawberries and sprinkle with them. Arrange the strawberries and pipe the cream between them. A circle or star is also fine. Finally, decorate with powdered sugar, selfies, cake picks, etc.
Enjoy your beautifully decorated Square Cake! It's easy so please try making it.