I created something I have never made before. I received an order for a Birthday Cake by one very enthusiastic customer of my sweets when they were served at the Kimono shop in Notting Hill, London. There were two options for a Japanese sweet cake. One of them is a traditional Japanese sweet in a cake shape and the other one was a cake with a traditional but sponge-like Japanese sweet as a base with some Japanese decorations. Japanese sweets I often make are mainly made with beans, sugar and rice flour so that they are vegan. I could happily make the traditionally Japanese vegan sweet into a bigger cake shape, however, I have been thinking to try making a very western looking cake but actually a Japanese sweet.

Japanese Birthday Cake

I suggested the latter option to the client and she agreed with it, so here is the Japanese Birthday Cake I made for her.

I used a sponge-like sweet as a base which is made of bean paste and rice flower mixture risen up with the whipped egg power. It looks quite like a western sponge but has lots of smaller air bubbles and the very moist texture. In order to make it into a birthday cake I created two layers of the base and used some raspberry flavoured sweet bean paste between them. It was covered with sheet of Japanese sweet and placed several flower decorations on top.

The client told me that her favourite colour for flowers is yellow, so I prepared flower decorations in yellow, orange and white colours and also placed three fresh raspberries to add the contrast and balance to the colour scheme.

The cake ended up a little bit busier than the image I had it in my mind. I would like to improve it when I have another chance to make a similar cake.

It is Vegetarian and Gluten free.