Oh, it’s nice to have a little rain today. I know it is not as hot or humid as how Japan is at the moment, but it has been very hot here in London. It is also in the height of Wimbledon Season here and the British People’s minds are also heating up in cheering British male No.1 player Andy Murray and the female player Johanna Konta. Both of them just got through to the quarter-final yesterday. Hooray!

Anyway, where there is an event, there is also a famous food or drink, isn’t there? For instance if the event is RHS Flower show, it is a Pimms and if the event is Wimbledon, it is certainly ‘Strawberries and Cream’. It sounds so stylish but it is actually just some fresh strawberries serving with cream on top, but people love to have it in the court side or ‘Henman’s Hill’ whilst cheering for their favourite players.

So, as an homage to this Wimbledon season I wanted to arrange this traditional British dessert into some Japanese sweet, but how …. ?

Strawberries and Cream Cup

This is the outcome of all my thinking about ‘Strawberries and Cream’. It is made of a traditional Japanese Sweet called ‘Nerikiri’ and I shaped it into a very western looking sweet. I placed three small strawberries and some cream in a cup which is also made of Nerikiri pastry and of course you can eat the whole thing including this cup.

These strawberries are miniature size about 2.5cm in length. For making them I used Nerikiri Japanese pastry that is mixed with some fresh strawberries, so that it has the natural scent and flavour of the real fruit. As you can see in the photo I made two types. They are the same in the shape but there is some differences in the flavour.

The first type is this one with a slightly yellow cup.

The reason this cup is slightly yellower than the other one is because ‘Kinako’ is mixed in to the Nerikiri pastry. Kinako is toasted Soy Beans Powder which we often use traditionally for Japanese sweet making. It gives a wonderful aroma to this sweet.

There are two layers inside the cup and the first one is strawberry Jam at the bottom. The second layer is a ‘Cream White Bean Paste’. Actually this is the first attempt I used Dairy product in Nerikiri Sweet. Sweet White Bean Paste is already very soft and has a gentle sweetness so there was no problem by mixing with the dairy cream as a Japanese sweet.

On the contrary the other type with the white Cup is served with some Strawberry Bean Paste Cream. The cup is made of the plain Nerikiri Pastry. The simple flavour and the visual match better with the Cream with extra flavour. It creates some contrast between the pastry cup and the cream part too.

Thes sweets are Free from Gluten and Egg.

So which one is your favourite?  😀