Raindrop Cake – Strawberry & Cherry blossom filling

Pop the balloon 🎈 and enjoy this purely beautiful raindrop cake filled with cherry blossoms 🌸 and strawberries🍓.

You can easily make this vegan low-calorie traditional Japanese dessert at home with agar agar powder or gelatin powder.

Pairing with brown sugar syrup and roasted soybean powder, this jiggly ball is going to melt in your mouth like a refreshing and sweet raindrop.

What’s Raindrop Cake?

Raindrop cake (mizu shingen mochi, 水信玄餅) is an evolution of the traditional Japanese dessert called shingen mochi (信玄餅).

This jelly like dessert looks so clear, translucent, and delicate. Besides “raindrop cake”, it also has a beautiful name called “angel’s tear“.

The classic raindrop cake is made from two ingredients: mineral water and agar agar powder. Therefore this dessert is vegan and has almost no calories.

The cake itself almost has no taste, cuz it’s just water and agar agar powder. So it is always served with brown sugar syrup and roasted soybean powder. The cake tastes sweet and refreshing with these toppings.

To make raindrop cakes even prettier and fun to eat, nowadays people have been packaging them up like big water balloons, and fill them up with cherry blossoms and fruits.

Tips for Making Raindrop Cake

1. Agar agar powder

Agar agar powder is a gelatinous substance derived from red algae that has often been used to make jelly-like dessert.

Can I use gelatin instead?

Yes, you can.

Both agar agar and gelatin can be used for setting liquid into jell-o texture. Gelatin is derived from animal skins and bones. Agar agar can be a great vegan substitution of gelation.

Traditional Japanese raindrop cake is made from agar agar powder. But you can also substitute 1 tsp of agar agar powder with 1 oz gelatin powder.

When using agar agar powder, make sure that you fully mix the powder and water before you turn on the heat. Also, make sure you bring the mixture to a boil and keep it boiling for at least 5 minutes until the mixture turns clear.

2. Chinese jelly powder

I have tried to make raindrop cakes with two deferent brands of agar agar powder. Both of them can make jiggly and round raindrop cakes. However, they were not as translucent as those store bought ones. So I decided to give Chinese jelly powder a try.

Raindrop cakes made from Chinese jelly powder turned out to be more clear and transparent than those made from agar agar powder.

Chinese jelly powder is also vegan, made from glucose (a simple sugar), konjac flour (the powdered root of the konjac plant), carrageenan (extracted from red edible seaweeds), and potassium chloride.

Although this type of jelly powder is kinda overpriced on Amazon – $12.85 for 5 bags. I bought mine from my local Asian market at $0.99 for each bag. Most Asian markets in US should have this type of jelly powder. Show them this picture and ask if they have it!

3. Cherry blossom & fruit fillings

The cherry blossoms and fruits in raindrop cakes are mostly for decoration purpose. Feel free to skip them if you find it too troublesome to insert them into the balloons. 

These edible cherry blossoms are always pickled in salt. So make sure you soak them in cold water for 10 minutes, rinse and drain them well before using. Otherwise your dessert will taste salty.

I also inserted a small strawberry into a balloon to make a strawberry raindrop cake. That turned out to be so pretty!

If your strawberries are too big, you can dice it into smaller pieces or cut it into flower shape with a mini cookie cutter.

An easy trick to insert soft fruits like strawberries without crushing them is to freeze them for 30 minuets until they turn solid.

4. Balloons or Silicone mold

If you are going to use balloon to create the raindrop shape, make sure you soak and wash the balloons carefully before filling the agar agar mixture. Otherwise, your raindrop cake will taste like … balloons.

The balloons I randomly bought from Amazon were pretty sturdy, none of them broke while I stretch them hard.

However, the opening of the balloons could be slippery after you fill them with the agar agar mixture. So you’d better tie them over your sink to avoid making a mess.

A much easier method to avoid water splashing is using some sphere silicone molds instead. It will also be much easier to fill the silicone molds with cherry blossoms and fruits. But you won’t be able to enjoy the fun of poking the balloon and watching the delicate raindrop cake falling from the balloon.

5. Water agar agar ratio

For 4 cups of water, you will only need 1 tsp of agar agar powder to settle it. The raindrop cake will be hard and white if you add too much agar agar powder:

To make raindrop cake with gelatin powder, you will need to dissolve 1oz (4 envelopes) of gelatin powder with 1 cup of cold water. Then bring 3 cups of water to a boil, then add the water-gelatin mixture to the boiling water, stir to mix well. So the ratio will be 1oz of gelation powder to 4 cups of water.

6. Raindrop cake toppings

Traditionally, raindrop cakes are served with brown sugar syrup and roasted soybean powder.

This is how you make brown sugar syrup at home:

1. Add ¼ cup of brown sugar and ¼ cup of water to a saucepan, heat over medium heat.
2. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, keep it boiling for about 1 minute until it’s sticky and thicken.
3. Transfer the syrup to a container, set aside to cool down.

I didn’t have roasted soybean powder at home, so I grinded some Biscoff biscuit into powder as a substitution of roasted soybean powder.

Equipment you will need:

• 6 Balloons 
• 1 Saucepot
• 1 Flip top water bottle (I used a ice mountain natural spring water bottle)

Ingredients:

• 4 cup water
• 1 tsp agar agar powder (or 20g Chinese jelly powder, which is also vegan and can make your raindrop cakes much more transparent than regular agar agar powder ones.)
• 6 dried edible cherry blossoms
• 2 small strawberries
• 8 small pineapple chucks (Or any other fruits you like)
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 3 tbsp roasted soybean powder (Or you can grind 5 Biscoff biscuits into powder to substitute the soybean powder)

Step-by-step Instructions:

1. Soak 6 dried edible cherry blossoms in cold water. Cut some pineapple or any other fruits you like into small cubes. Wash and pat dry 2 small strawberries. Optionally, cut the strawberries into flower shape using a mini cookie cutter. Keep the strawberries in the freezer of 30 minutes.

2. Soak 6 balloons in cold water.

3. Add 4 cups of cold water and 1 tsp of agar agar powder (or 20g Chinese jelly powder, this powder can your raindrop cakes look more clear and transparent) to a small saucepot. Stir until the agar agar powder and water are well combined. Turn on the heat to medium high, bring the mixture to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, keep stirring over medium heat for 5 minutes until the mixture turns transparent.

4. Remove the agar agar mixture from the burner, let cool under room temperature for about 10 minutes until it’s warm instead of hot.

5. Meanwhile, insert the cherry blossoms and fruit fillings into the balloons. I stretched the opening of the balloons with a mini cookie cutter, then inserted the fillings with my little finger. You can also use a straw or a chopstick.

6. Using a funnel, pour the agar agar mixture into a flip top water bottle.

7. Carefully slide a balloon’s opening over the bottle’s nozzle, use your left hand to tightly hold the balloon’s opening, use your right hand to squeeze the agar agar water into the balloon. Fill the balloon until it’s about the size of an orange.

8. Slide the balloon off of the nozzle, then tie it. How to tie a balloon.

9. Keep the water balloons in refrigerator for 3 hours to overnight until they are fully set.

10. Meanwhile, prepare some brown sugar syrup (see how to make brown sugar syrup in this post), roasted soybean powder, or Biscoff biscuit powder.

11. Hold the raindrop cake balloon over a plate, use a pair of scissors to cut off the knot of the balloon, remove the balloon from the raindrop cake.

12. To serve, drizzle some brown sugar syrup, roasted soybean powder, or some Biscoff biscuit powder on top of the cake.

To Store

• You can let the raindrop cakes can stay in the balloons and keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days.

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