Lychee Cake with Strawberries
I tested this lychee cake nine times to get the perfect plush lychee chiffon cake packed with floral lychee flavor. The cake is soaked in a delicate rosé syrup, filled with strawberry-lychee filling, and layered with Chantilly frosting. Think of it as a lychee-strawberry version of the Whole Foods berry chantilly cake!
This recipe is based on a traditional Jamaican lychee cake recipe that's incidentally highly guarded by Chinese Jamaican bakers. For a strong lychee flavor in this lychee rosé cake, we use lychee extract, and instead of adding rose water, the cake is soaked with a pink rosé simple syrup to complement the floral flavors.
For an even more decadent cake, you can swap the Chantilly frosting for homemade Italian meringue frosting.
Recipe Overview: Lychee Cake with Strawberries
✅ Recipe Name: Lychee Cake with Strawberries
🕒 Ready In: 3 hours & 5 minutes, but only 30 minutes active prep.
👪 Serves: 12
🍽 Calories: 575 calories (estimated)
🥣 Main Ingredients: lychee extract, lychee, strawberries, flour, sugar, eggs, rosé, heavy cream, and mascarpone cheese.
👌 Difficulty: Medium
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Why You'll Love This Chiffon Cake
- It's an even more elegant twist on a traditional Jamaican lychee cake recipe!
- It's incredibly soft and moist! Seriously, I could let my knife just fall, and the cake would slice with ease!
- You can use canned lychee for convenience since fresh lychee can be hard to find.
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Key Ingredients
Lychee. Lychee extract is used in the cake, and lychee fruit in the filling. It's important to use a quality lychee extract. The best one I've tried is this Butterfly lychee extract by Jans Food.
While I highly recommend using lychee extract for a strong flavor, if you can't get your hands on a good extract, replace the rosè simple syrup with lychee syrup (from the can) to infuse as much lychee flavor in the cake as possible.
Cake flour. Has less gluten than all-purpose flour, so the cake will have a softer texture.
Strawberries. Used in the filling after being reduced. You can use either fresh or frozen strawberries.
Oil. Tenderizes the crumb and makes sure the cake stays soft even after refrigeration.
Heavy cream. Used in the Chantilly frosting, but also an important source of fat in the cake.
Warm heavy cream in the cake batter helps to gelatinize the starch, making the cake moist and soft. It also ensures a smooth texture and even rise since it ensures the sugar is completely dissolved.
Mascarpone cheese. Stabilizes the Chantilly frosting so it holds the cake layers together and keeps the lychee-strawberry filling contained.
Rosé or pink Moscato for the simple syrup. If you want to keep the cake alcohol free, many liquor stores also have alcohol-removed rosé and moscato options.
How to Make Lychee Cake
- Step 1: Whip the egg whites with the sugar until glossy.
- Step 2: Add the egg yolks, lychee extract, and the oil.
- Step 3: Add the dry ingredients and heavy cream, then pour into baking pans and bake.
- Step 4: Soak the lychee cake layers with rosé simple syrup.
- Step 5: Make the strawberry-lychee filling.
- Step 6: Make the Chantilly frosting.
- Step 7: Alternate layering the lychee cake with Chantilly frosting and strawberry-lychee filling.
FAQs
No. Lychee fruit has an extremely delicate flavor that's lost once exposed to the extended heat needed to reduce the syrup and concentrate the flavor.
A good lychee extract is the best option for this cake, though if you have difficulty finding one, I suggest using the lychee syrup from the can in place of the rosé/moscato simple syrup
No, you can use either fresh or canned lychee. Either option will give beautiful results.
Yes. Since the frosting is comprised of whipped cream and the filling contains fresh fruit, any leftover lychee cake should be refrigerated. To prevent it from drying out in the refrigerator too quickly, wrap it in plastic wrap, then store it in an airtight container or ziploc bag.
Yes, but it would have to be refrigerated. Since the refrigerator can dry out cakes, I recommend preparing all the elements for the lychee Chantilly cake in advance and then assembling it the day of serving. If not serving within 2-4 hours, refrigerate until ready and bring it out 30-60 minutes before serving so it can come to room temperature.
The longer the lychee cake has been in the refrigerator, the longer it will need to get to room temperature.
Top Chantilly Cake Tips
- Use a kitchen scale! Grams are a precise measurement and prevent you from using too much flour, which can happen when using measuring cups because of packing. If you insist on using measuring cups, be sure to spoon the flour into them and level off the excess with a knife.
- Don't overwork the batter after adding the flour. This can cause extra gluten to develop, even when using cake flour.
- Make sure the bowl & whip are completely clean and grease-free for the egg whites. The egg whites contribute to the leavening for the lychee Chantilly cake layers, and they won't whip to full volume if there is any fat present.
- Wrap the cakes in plastic wrap while they're still warm. This locks in moisture that would otherwise escape as steam. Wait until the pan is cool enough to handle bare-handed, then apply the simple syrup and immediately wrap the lychee cake layers.
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Lychee Cake with Strawberries
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat oven to 325℉.
- Add the egg whites to the bowl of the stand mixer and whip on high speed until frothy.3 large eggs
- Once frothy, continue whipping on high speed while gradually pouring in the sugar. Once all the sugar has been added, add the lemon zest and continue whipping until the egg whites are glossy and form firm peaks.290 grams granulated sugar, ½ large lemon
- Still on high speed, add the egg yolks, oil, and lychee extract. Whip until completely combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl if needed.3 large eggs, 115 milliliters neutral flavored oil, 1 teaspoon lychee extract
- Stop the mixer and sift in all the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed until just combined.330 grams cake flour, 1½ TABLEspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Add the warm heavy cream and mix again on medium speed until evenly incorporated.445 milliliters heavy cream
- Prepare 3 eight-inch cake pans with baking spray and a parchment paper round on the bottom. Divide the lychee cake batter equally among the 3 pans and bake on the center rack of the oven for 18-22 minutes or until the cake spring back easily when lightly pressed.
- Add the pink Moscato to a small bowl along with the sugar and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.80 milliliters pink Moscato or rosé, 2 TABLEspoons granulated sugar
- While the cake is still warm, use a toothpick or skewer to poke holes into each cake layer, then spoon the Moscato syrup over the cakes. This will be about 3-4 tablespoons of syrup per cake layer.
- Add the diced strawberries and sugar to a medium saucepan. Cover, and allow it to reduce over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until it starts to froth, then uncover and allow to reduce for an additional 8-10 minutes until it resembles a chunky syrup.280 grams strawberries, 2½ TABLEspoons granulated sugar
- Add the powdered gelatin and stir until evenly incorporated½ teaspoon unflavored powdered gelatin
- Remove from the heat and add the diced lychee. Transfer to a heat-resistant, lidded container and refrigerate until ready to assemble the cake.180 grams lychee fruit
- Add the cold heavy cream to a large mixing bowl along with the confectioner's sugar and vanilla extract. Whip on high speed until it forms soft peaks.495 grams heavy whipping cream, 115 grams confectioner's (powdered) sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- Once the heavy cream has reached soft peaks, add all the mascarpone cheese and whip again until stiff peaks form. This should only take 10-20 seconds.340 grams mascarpone cheese
- Place the first cake layer on a plate or desired cake stand.
- Using an offset spatula, spread a layer of the Chantilly frosting on top of the cake layer and create a well in the middle. Spoon the strawberry-lychee filling into the created well.Repeat with the second layer, then top with the final cake layer.
- Decorate the cake as desired. I opted for a naked cake, topping with a final layer of frosting and piping rosettes on top.
- Decorate with strawberries & lychee.
Nutrition
Notes
- Do not substitute the cake flour for all-purpose flour. The cake will not be as light and tender.
- Don't open the oven before 18 minutes. This sponge cake is extremely light, so opening the oven prematurely could interrupt the rise and cause the cakes to sink.
- A note on scaling this recipe: I recommend measuring in grams for this recipe, but have provided the closest imperial (cups) estimation. In some cases, however, this measurement includes a second unit (for example, 1 cup + 2 tablespoons). Please note that if you use the built-in scaling calculator in the recipe card, measurements with 2 units won't scale correctly, so those measurements should be calculated by you separately.
