Christmas Cake with Strawberry Santas
クリスマスケーキ（いちごサンタ）
By Aoi, licensed nutritionist · From a Japanese preschool lunch menu
In Japan, Christmas cake almost always means strawberries and whipped cream, and this is a preschool-kitchen version that little ones can help decorate. The cake is a simple stir-together batter made with oil and milk instead of butter and eggs, baked in muffin tins or as a sheet, then dressed up with whipped cream. The strawberry Santas, with their whipped-cream faces and cocoa-drawn eyes, are the part children remember, and they are just as happy sitting beside the cake as on top of it.
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Ingredients
Amounts for 1 child (1 serving). An adult counts as 2 servings.
One serving here is 1.5× the portion served to a child in a Japanese preschool, sized for Western appetites. An adult counts as two servings. Tap an ingredient to check it off.
Ingredients
- 37.5 gflour
- 30 gstrawberries
Seasonings
- 2.3 gbaking powder
- 9 gsugar
- 7.5 gvegetable oil
- 37.5 gmilk
- 12 gheavy cream
- 2.4 gsugar
- 3 gunsweetened cocoa powder
- 0.8 gsugar
- 5.3 ghot water
Directions
- 1
Put the flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl and whisk well until there are no lumps (or sift them together).
- 2
Add the vegetable oil and milk and mix until combined.
- 3
Pour the batter into muffin tins or onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F) for about 25 minutes. Let cool.
- 4
Combine the heavy cream and sugar and whip until it holds its shape.
- 5
Make the strawberry Santas. Cut the stem end off each strawberry, then cut it crosswise about two-thirds of the way up. Stand the wider stem-end piece cut side up, pipe whipped cream onto it, and set the pointed top piece on as a hat. Mix the cocoa powder, hot water and sugar into a sauce and use it to draw a face on the whipped cream.
- 6
Plate the cake, pipe on whipped cream and top with the strawberry Santas (or set the strawberry Santas alongside).
Nutrition
| Per | 1 serving | 1 adult serving | Your total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 337.5 kcal | 675 kcal | 337.5 kcal |
| Protein | 5.6 g | 11.1 g | 5.6 g |
| Fat | 15.3 g | 30.6 g | 15.3 g |
| Carbohydrates | 47.6 g | 95.1 g | 47.6 g |
| Fiber | 2.1 g | 4.2 g | 2.1 g |
| Salt equivalent | 0.5 g | 0.9 g | 0.5 g |
| Calcium | 118.5 mg | 237 mg | 118.5 mg |
| Iron | 0.8 mg | 1.5 mg | 0.8 mg |
| Potassium | 331.5 mg | 663 mg | 331.5 mg |
| Energy | Protein | Fat | Carbs | Fiber | Salt equiv. | Calcium | Iron | Potassium | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 serving | 337.5 kcal | 5.6 g | 15.3 g | 47.6 g | 2.1 g | 0.5 g | 118.5 mg | 0.8 mg | 331.5 mg |
| 1 adult serving | 675 kcal | 11.1 g | 30.6 g | 95.1 g | 4.2 g | 0.9 g | 237 mg | 1.5 mg | 663 mg |
Values are per serving (1.5× the Japanese preschool portion); an adult serving is double. They were calculated by a licensed Japanese nutritionist using the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan. "Salt equivalent" is sodium × 2.54, the standard Japanese measure. Allergen flags cover egg, milk and wheat only and come from the nutritionist's records. Soy sauce and miso are made with wheat but are usually allowed on Japanese wheat-free school menus, so check with your doctor.
