Are you looking for the perfect April fool's prank? Make this realistic ramen cake and trick all your friends and family. A soft sponge cake with layers of fluffy cream, sweet potato mousse and a tea jelly.
With March coming to an end we know what is coming 😈 APRIL FOOLS. I never prank anyone, but this day is an exception. And what is a better way to prank someone than making a nice, hot, steaming bowl of ramen.
I remember seeing this cake way back when I started high school and thinking... that is GENIUS. The key point of this cake is the soup. The transparent, glistening soup increases the realism by 1000%. Not only is this a clever prank this tastes amazing too. This is essentially a sweet potato mousse cake with black tea jelly!
There are too many steps... Is there a way to make this easily?
OF COURSE! I am a little extra and ended up making everything from scratch, but this cake can be made using store bought ingredients.
Simply use:
- Store bought sponge cake: This can be sponge cake, pound cake, chocolate cake... whatever your heart desires. The cake will be covered by the toppings so you can choose anything
- Store bought whipped cream: If you can't be bothered to whip some cream feel free to use canned whipped cream
- Get creative and find your own toppings: I made my toppings i.e. the egg, fish cake, etc. However a trip to the grocery store and you can probably find some "ramen toppings". I've seen versions where they make chashu from a marbled cookie, egg with a egg shaped gummy candy, chopped up green candy for spring onions...
Tips for creating the most realistic ramen cake
There are a couple of tips to creating this cake in the most realistic way possible.
- Freeze the noodles: This is the most important step. Freezing the noodles prevents the sweet potato mousse from combining with the tea jelly and creating a murky soup
- Adding the toppings before the jelly has set: This is important as it will give the illusion that the ingredients are floating in the soup rather than sitting on top of it
- Make sure everything has set: The jelly is one of the most important components. Ensuring that is has set will create the biggest surprise when they go for that 'soup' and scoop into a cake!
Let's Get Baking!
If you're ready to see some shock from your family and friends after they try your cake then let's get baking! If you liked this recipe make sure to leave me a rating and comment down below. I'm so excited to see these recreations... if you make these don't forget to tag me on instagram @catherine.justdessertsau and hashtag #cattycakes so I can see and share your recreations! Thank you for stopping by, until next time... happy caking!
Ramen Cake (April Fools Cake Prank)
Are you looking for the perfect April fool's prank? Make this realistic ramen cake and trick all your friends and family. A soft sponge cake with layers of fluffy cream, sweet potato mousse and a tea jelly.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 90 minutes
Ingredients
Yoghurt "Egg"
- ½ tsp Gelatin powder
- 2 tsp Water (I)
- 2 tbsp Plain yoghurt
- 3 tsp Sugar
- 2 tsp Water (I)
- Yellow food colouring
Sweet Potato "Noodles"
- 150 g Cooked white sweet potato
- 3 tsp White sugar
- 2 tbsp Milk
Cake
- 12 g Sugar (I) (1 tbsp)
- 40 g Flour (⅓ cup)
- 25 g Milk (1.5 tbsp)
- 25 g Vegetable oil (1 tbsp 2 tsp)
- 2 Eggs
- 30 g Sugar (II) (2 tbsp 1 tsp)
Cream
- ¾ cup Thickened/ Heavy Cream
- 3 tbsp Sugar
Ramen "Soup"
- 2 cup Black tea
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Gelatin powder
- 1 tbsp Water
Decorations
- Sesame seeds
- Compound white chocolate
Instructions
Yoghurt "Eggs"
- Combine the gelatine and water (I) in a small bowl. Set aside to bloom
- In another bowl combine sugar and yoghurt.
- Melt the gelatine in the microwave (10 seconds) or over a hot water bath and add to the yogurt
- Pour into an egg shaped mould and allow to set in the fridge for 3 hours (should make 3)
- Using a teaspoon remove a circle from the centre of each egg half and place the remains in a bowl
- Add a drop of yellow food colouring and water (II), melt in the microwave (10 seconds) or over a hot water bath, cool
- Pour into the cavity of the egg and place in the freezer to set for 1 hour
Sweet Potato "Noodles"
- Mash the sweet potato with a fork
- Add the sugar and milk, mix until smooth and well combined
- Place into a piping bag fitted with a small noodle sized piping tip (or fill a ziplock bag and cut a hole in the corner)
Sponge Cake
- (Feel free to use store bought sponge cake!) Preheat the oven to 160C/320F and line a 25 x 30 cm pan (10 x 12 inches) with baking paper
- Heat the milk in a small saucepan until steaming
- Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl whisk the egg yolks, oil and sugar (I) together
- Slowly add the hot milk to the egg yolk mixture and whisk
- Sift the cake flour into the milk/yolk mix and whisk until combined
- In a large mixing bowl whisk the eggs and sugar (II) until stiff peaks
- Fold the meringue mixture into the yolk mixture ⅓rd at a time until just combined
- Pour into the lined cake tin and bake for 25 minutes
- Remove and cool before cutting out 4 circles that fit your choice of bowl
Cream
- Combine the sugar and cream in a mixing bowl and whip until stiff peaks
Ramen "Soup"
- Combine the gelatine and water, set aside to bloom
- Add sugar to black tea and stir until sugar has dissolved
- Melt the gelatine and add to the tea mixture. Mix well and set aside for use.
Assembly
- Choose two small/medium bowls to serve your "ramen" in
- Pipe a blob of cream in the bottom of each bowl, top with a layer of sponge cake
- Add a layer of cream on top of the sponge, then another layer of cake, cover with remaining whipped cream (everyone's bowl will be a different size. If you find there are gaps whip up a little more cream and fill them in)
- Pipe 'noodles' of sweet potato mousse over the cream, then freeze for 2 hours
- Prepare the black tea jelly and pour over the noodles
- Top with 'egg', white chocolate decorations and sesame seeds, set in the fridge for at least 3 hours
- Serve with chopsticks!
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Catherine!!!
After finally realizing this was actually a cake, it seemed impossible (for a amateur like myself) to make, and more like something one would see on a Netflix baking show 😂 But looking through your recipe and instructions it doesn’t look to difficult to make! As always your creativity and skills never cease to amaze!!! Can’t wait to give this one a try! Your awesome!!! Stay safe and can’t wait to see what else you create!
As always,
Kindest regards
KStep
Hi KStep!
Hope you had a great Easter break. The recipe for this one is a little more complicated, but I wanted to do something a little bit fun for April fools! If you ever end up making this it'll be 100% worth it 😆 Thanks for stopping by as usual!
Catherine
Would love to see how you do this via a video!