Raindrop Cake Recipe - 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.
Equipment
- 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)
Instructions
- 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.
- Soak 6 balloons in cold water.
- 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.
- Remove the agar agar mixture from the burner, let cool under room temperature for about 10 minutes until it's warm instead of hot.
- 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.
- Using a funnel, pour the agar agar mixture into a flip top water bottle.
- 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.
- Slide the balloon off of the nozzle, then tie it. How to tie a balloon.
- Keep the water balloons in refrigerator for 3 hours to overnight until they are fully set.
- Meanwhile, prepare some brown sugar syrup (see how to make brown sugar syrup in this post), roasted soybean powder, or Biscoff biscuit powder.
- 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.
- 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.
Video
Notes
1. This recipe is vegan and low in calorie (if you ignore the brown sugar syrup).
2. You can substitute the agar agar powder in this recipe with 1 oz (4 envelops) of unflavored gelatin powder.
3. Raindrop cakes made from Chinese jelly powder are going to look more clear and transparent than those made from agar agar powder. Chinese jelly powder is also vegan, made from glucose, konjac flour, carrageenan (extracted from red edible seaweeds), and potassium chloride. It 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 the picture and ask if they have it!
3. For the raindrop shape, I used balloons, you can also use sphere silicone molds.
4. The balloons could be slippery when you try to tie them. You'd better fill and tie the balloons over your sink to prevent water splashing.
5. You can barely taste the fruits or cherry blossoms in a raindrop cake. The fillings are mostly for decoration purpose. Feel free to skip the fillings if you are not able to insert them into the balloons.
6. Traditionally, raindrop cakes are served with brown sugar syrup, which you can easily make at home by following this recipe, and roasted soybean powder, which I didn't have at home. So I grinded some Biscoff biscuit into powder as a substitution. That combination tastes just perfect to me.