Cake with Shrimp and Edamame/Shrimp and Edamame Bread

I have fallen in love with edamame a couple of months ago. These bright green, kidney-shaped young soy beans are the healthiest and one of the most delicious snacks I know. In Japanese edamame (枝豆) means twig bean and it designs not only the beans themselves but the simple snack of boiled edamame, often served in izakaya bars. Young soy beans are also eaten in China and Hawaii, but the Japanese seem to be particularly fond of them.

Apart from their big advantages as a light, rich in protein snack, edamame beans can easily be blended into all sorts of preparations and their lovely green hue embellishes every dish. I love mixing them with rice, stir-fried dishes or putting them in soups. When a couple of days ago I started to look for an original New Year’s Eve snack idea, edamame instantly came to my mind. I decided to make a Japanese version of the French savoury cake I wrote about ten days ago (click here), adding also shrimp, sesame seeds and “moisturising” the cake with silken tofu instead of the usual quark cheese.

I must say I was very pleased with the results of this surprisingly easy experiment. Apart from the beautiful, bright, Spring colours, this French-Japanese cake is moist, light, delicately flavoured and, in spite of being boiled and baked, edamame add a slightly crunchy note. If you still have time to buy edamame and shrimp, this might be a good idea for an original New Year’s Eve appetiser. It will certainly go well with a glass of white wine, champagne,  shochu or sake.

Happy New Year, my dear friends!

Preparation: 1h15

Ingredients (for a 30 cm x 10 cm (about 12 x 4 inches) baking dish or two 4 cm x 30 cm (about 1,6 x 12 inches) dishes):

200 g (7 oz) silken tofu (or 200 g quark cheese/fromage blanc + 125 ml milk (approx. 1/2 cup) )

50 ml oil (approx. 1/5 cup)

250 ml flour (approx. 1 cup)

1 flat tablespoon salt

4 eggs

1 package baking powder  (16 g/ about 0.5 oz)

200 g (7 oz) cooked edamame beans 

200 g (7 oz) cooked and shelled shrimps or prawns, cut into pieces (unless they are very small)

(2 tablespoons sesame seeds)

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Mix the eggs, the tofu (or the cheese+milk), the flour, the baking powder and the oil in a food processor until the batter is smooth (if you use the cheese you don’t need a food processor; a spoon is enough to combine everything). Season with salt. Add the edamame beans and the shrimp. Stir delicately.

Grease a rectangular 30 x 10 cm baking dish or line it with baking paper.

Pour the cake preparation. (Sprinkle with sesame seeds if you like them.)

Bake one hour or until the cake is golden brown. Let it cool down. Serve it sliced and then cut into 2 or 4 bite-sized pieces or, if using as a sandwich alternative, simply cut into slices.

46 Replies to “Cake with Shrimp and Edamame/Shrimp and Edamame Bread”

  1. Very creative and convenient. Instead of serving crostini’s with different toppings your cakes combine everything into one. Easier to prepare and eat. I still need to try the savoury cake. If not tomorrow then definitely next year:)
    Your loaf baking pan is narrow and tall, unlike the ones available here.
    Happy New Year to you too, wishing you and your family all the very best.

    1. Thank you so much, Mr. Three-Cookies. I had been baking savoury cakes in a classical rectangular cake dish you probably have too (20 x 10 cm), but when I saw a funny narrow baking dish during Summer sales (30 x 4 cm) sold for 2 euros, I bought it and only about a month ago realised it was perfect for mini savoury cakes. I have never seen anything similar since then. Thank you and Happy New Year once more!

  2. what an interesting cake! it’s my first time coming across this as i somehow missed your previous recipe so i’m glad i didn’t miss this one! i love using edamame when i fry rice to texturise is a little more.

  3. I love this Japanese variation on your savoury cake Sissi. Edamame is my ‘go-to’ bean – I always have a bag in the freezer and toss it in to various dishes. I don’t boil it though – I find just running it under hot water from frozen does the trick. This bread looks so gorgeous and easy to achieve! I love the addition of tofu as well… I’m going to make it for my boys as an after school snack one day. I now have an official backlog of Sissi recipes to make… but that’s only a good thing 😉

    Happy New Year Sissi! Very best wishes for 2012 –

    1. Hi, Kelly. Thank you for the kind words! I think I have seen edamame on your blog more than once 😉 I add edamame very often to rice: this way the rice bowl seems bigger, but is healthier, lighter and cheats the stomach and the eyes 😉 (I do the same with frozen peas)
      I do hope you try making this cake one day and that your boys like it. Thanks for the hot water trick. Happy New Year to you too!

  4. I agree. It’s very easy to fall in love with edamame! Their flavor, color, texture, and everything, including the fact that they are cheap!

    And, your recipe even includes silken tofu! I hope someone makes me your cake some day!

    It’s not customary in Japan to say, “Happy New Year!” today (Dec. 31). We say, “Yoi o-toshi o” (Good year), instead.

    So, Yoi o-toshi o to you, Sissi!

    1. Thank you so much, Hiroyuki! I totally agree with you! I also mix edamame with rice to make the same volume in the bowl, but healthier and with less calories 😉
      If you lived closer I would send you an edamame cake with pleasure 🙂 Yoi o-toshi o, Hiroyuki-san!

  5. Sissi, this looks like such an interesting and wonderful variation of your original savoury cake! I love eating edamame also, they are yummy yet so healthy! I’ve cooked them with shrimp before, it’s actually a recipe my Mom cooks quite a bit, so even though you are using them in a completely format, but I can imagine how delicious it must be!

    Happy New Year!

  6. I LOVE edamame too… I always order some when we order sushi… to be honest I care more about the little beans of wonderousness than I do about the sushi 😀

    Another beautiful cake Sissi – and I love the additions… shrimp and edamame – awesome 😀

    1. Thank you for the compliments, Charles. Frankly, I have never had it in a Japanese restaurant here… I thought it was only served in izakayas which obviously don’t exist here.

  7. I always have a bag of edamame in my freezer. Like you said … a great snack just boiled and sprinkled with salt.
    This looks so dainty and pretty, Sissi. It reminds me of those colorful fruit and nut biscottis. I wonder what it’ll be like if you were to re-bake those slices. Will it crust up and turn into a savoury biscotti? Sorry, didn’t mean to change anything, just having one of my crazy brainwaves. I’m definite this is yummy already on its own. Just curious.

    1. Thank you so much, Ping. What a creative idea! I must say I love soft cakes (both sweet and savoury), so I wouldn’t test your re-baking, but it sounds very intriguing. Maybe it would be best to use dried shrimp? Please let me know if you make savoury biscuits one day this way!

  8. Sissi, this is very interesting! I`ve never heard of savory cake before, but your cake totally looks delightful! You`re right, this can be a very wonderful snack.
    Edamame is great for sweets too. Sendai (where I live here) is actually famous for its zunda, which is sweetened edamame paste. Here I found a very good blog showing how to make zunda-mochi:
    http://foodlibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/05/zunda-mochi-from-sendai-japan.html
    Happy New Year, Sissi! Have a very very wonderful year 2012!

    1. Thank you so much, Arudhi. I have never heard of edamame in sweet version, thanks for the link! Happy New Year!

    1. Thank you so much, Shilpa! I’m so happy to hear from you and wish you lots of happiness and joy, as well as energy and new blog ideas for the New Year!

  9. Very interesting combination and it looks so good! I could imagine beignets with nearly the same ingredients too.
    I wish you a happy new year with lots of new recipes and ideas. Have fun today and not too much “work” in the kitchen!

    1. Thank you so much, Kiki! I have already planned a lazy night without any cooking 😉 Happy New Year!

  10. This cake looks so pretty and interesting. I love edamame. Happy New Year, Sissi! It was great to meet you in 2011 through our blogs. Happy blogging in 2012!

  11. I love to eat edamame just steamed and salted, but your savory cake is quite tempting! Love the shape of your pan…great find!

  12. ooh another savoury cake! definitely a welcome twist to the rich sweets I’m seeing around lately! still can’t get around the idea of them being cakes though, so I relate them to “kueh” i.e. cakes in the southeast asian sense, which are sometimes sweet but often times savoury too (:

    1. Maybe it would be easier to get used to the idea if you pronounced them the French way 😉 (“kek”). I have never heard of kueh. I must make some research!

  13. Happy New Year, Sissi :)! I am not that fond of edamame, but my mum loves it!! She always orders boiled edamame everytime we visit a Japanese restaurant. I usually just use edamame for garnish, because they indeed look pretty. Enjoy the rest of your holidays :)!!

  14. I’ve missed to comment on this post! I love how colorful this looks. I’ve never seen edamame in cake before, and you are so talented… savory and nutritious cake sounds good and make us guilt-free (a bit?).

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