Matcha Japanese Christmas Cake Recipe (Matcha Strawberry Shortcake Recipe)

My matcha Japanese Christmas cake is a great quick alternative to the traditional fruit cake (and perfect for fruit cake haters).

In Japan, Christmas cake usually means a light and fluffy strawberry shortcake rather than a heavy fruit cake. For this recipe, I've added matcha to both the sponge and the cream to make a matcha strawberry shortcake / matcha Japanese Christmas cake.

The sponge is a genoise sponge, which is super light, moist and fluffy. It's made by whipping whole eggs with sugar until really thick and foamy.

You can also watch how to make this on my YouTube channel:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Genoise Sponge Cake:

4 eggs
145g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
2 tbsp matcha
Pinch of salt
15g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp milk

Ingredients for Soaking Syrup:

50ml water
50ml caster sugar

Ingredients for Filling and Topping:

400ml whipping cream
3 tbsp matcha
2 tbsp caster sugar
500g strawberries (half sliced, half kept whole for the top)
200ml more whipping cream
1 tbsp more caster sugar
Icing sugar to dust (optional)
Edible gold leaf (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line two 8" round baking tins with a little vegetable oil and baking paper.

2. Place the eggs and sugar together in a very large bowl, and beat with an electric whisk until the egg and sugar mixture is super thick, foamy and voluminous, like a mousse. This will take about 10 minutes.

3. Sift in the flour, matcha and salt, and very gently fold together until just combined. Then fold in the butter and milk, divide evenly between the two cake tins.

4. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until puffy and a toothpick poked into the centre of one comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.

5. While the cakes are cooling, make the soaking syrup by mixing the sugar and water together in a small saucepan, bringing to a simmer, and bubbling for three minutes. Set the syrup aside to cool, too.

6. When the cakes and syrup have cooled, whisk the 400ml of cream, matcha and 2 tbsp sugar together until it forms fluffy peaks (be careful not to overwhip until it starts curdling and separating into butter). If the cakes are a little domed, use a knife to level the tops out. Then brush both cake rounds with the syrup, using it all up evenly between the two.

7. Sandwich the cake slices together with a little matcha cream and sliced strawberries on a serving plate. Cover the cake with the rest of the matcha cream.

8. Whip the remaining 200ml cream with the 1 tbsp caster sugar until fluffy, and use it and the remaining whole strawberries to decorate the top of the cake.

9. Chill in the fridge for four hours so the cream sets and it's easy to slice. If you like, just before you serve, dust with a little icing sugar. And, if you're feeling extra-fancy, stick a few flakes of edible gold leaf on the peaks of the cream, too.

Enjoy, and have fun.