VERY JAPANESE CAKE - Matcha –Black Sesame Mousse Cake

Ever since I started baking home-made cakes for friends' birthday, matching the right cake with the right person is getting more challenging these days as I have started to running out of ideas. For my friend Eliz's birthday last month, we decided to throw her a surprise party with a Japanese sashimi theme. Going along that theme, I wanted to bake a Japanese flavor cake with Japanese ingredients. And usually the first cake came to mind is my favorite matcha red bean mousse cake! In the past years, I made this cake so many times that I kind of bored myself from making. So this time I wanted to make something new. I surfed the web a bit and found this VERY Japanese cake - Matcha Black Sesame Mousse Cake combining 2 of my favorite flavors together. I knew right away this is the cake I wanted to bake and perfect.

This cake reminds me of my trips to Japan and my love for Japanese pastries. I can't wait to share!

Black sesame cake
Ingredients
• 1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
• 2 table spoons back sesame paste
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup, plus 2 tablespoons canned unsweetened coconut milk
Procedures
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350F.
2. Grease one 8-inch round cake pan, line bottom with parchment paper, duct cake pan with flour, and tap out excess.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
4. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until they are fragrant, about two minutes. Grind (or pound) the toasted black sesame seeds in a spice grinder until they are the texture of damp sand. Combine grounded sesame seeds, sesame paste, eggs and vanilla in a 1 cup measuring cup, stir to combine, set aside.
5. In a bowl of standing mixture (or use a hand-mixer), beat butter and sugar on medium-low speed until sugar is moistened, about 30 sec. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, add sesame mixture (from step 4) in two additions, beat until combined.
6. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with coconut milk (in 2 additions), beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Remove bowl from mixture, stir batter by hand with a rubber spatula to ensure there are no streak of flour left on the bottom of the bowl. Pour batter and spread evenly in the prepared cake pan.
7. Bake cake until toothpick inserted into center of the cake comes out clean, about 25-35 minutes. Cool cake and slice cake horizontally in half into 2 even layers.

Matcha Mousse
Ingredients
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup (2 oz) granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• ½ cup coconut milk, plus 2 tablespoon
• 2 tablespoon water, 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon matcha powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cup (14 oz) heavy cream, divided
• 1 tablespoon superfine sugar
Procedures
1. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar, and salt until smooth and fully combined, set aside.
2. Combine 2 tablespoons coconut milk and water in a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over top and let bloom for 5 minutes, then steam it over boiling water (about 2 minutes). Combine water with matcha powder in a separate small bowl, stir to combine, set aside.
3. Add ½ cup of coconut milk and ¾ cup heavy cream to a medium saucepan and bring to simmer. Remove from heat, in a steady stream, pour into yolk mixture; whisk constantly to prevent curdling. Pour mixture back into saucepan, and cook over medium heat until mixture has thicken and coasts the back of a spoon, stirring constantly.
4. Remove pan from heat and stir in gelatin mixture until dissolved. Stir in matcha mixture and vanilla until incorporated. Pour matcha cream through fine-mesh strainer into nonreactive bowl. Cover surface directly with plastic wrap and let cool (refrigerate if making ahead).
5. With a hand-mixture, whish remaining 1 cup heavy cream and superfine sugar to soft peak. Gently fold whipped cream into matcha cream until incorporated with no white streaks.

White sesame mousse
Ingredients
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup (2oz) granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons sesame paste or tahini (I used tahini)
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¾ cup whole milk (I used 2% milk)
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ (14 oz) heavy cream, divided
• 1 tablespoon superfine sugar
Procedures
1. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar, sesame paste (or tahini) and salt until smooth and fully combined.
2. Combine 2 tablespoons coconut milk and water in a small bowl, sprinkle with gelatin over top and let bloom for 5 minutes, then steam it over boiling water (about 2 minutes).
3. Add ¾ cup of milk and ¾ heavy cream to a medium saucepan and bring to simmer. Remove from heat, in a steady stream, pour into egg yolk mixture in step 2; whisk constantly to prevent curdling. Pour mixture back into a saucepan, and cook over medium heat until mixture has thickened and coats the back of a spoon, stirring constantly.
4. Remove pan from heat and stir in gelatin mixture until dissolved. Stir in vanilla until incorporated. Pour sesame cream through fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Cover surface directly with plastic wrap and let cool (refrigerate if making ahead).
5. With a hand-mixture, whish remaining 1 cup heavy cream and superfine sugar to soft peak. Gently fold whipped cream into matcha cream until incorporated with no white streaks.

Assembly
This cake has 4 layers and should be assembled in the following order:
Bottom layer – Black sesame cake
2nd layer – matcha mousse
3rd layer – black sesame cake
4th layer – white sesame mousse
Top – garnish with matcha powder (~2 tablespoons)
Procedures:
1. Using the 9 inch pan, place one black sesame cake layer on the bottom-center, spread matcha mousse evenly on top and side of cake layer. Smooth top with small spatula, cove and refrigerate for 30 min.
2. Remove cake from fridge, center remaining cake layer on top of firm matcha mousse and spread sesame mousse evenly on top and side of cake. Smooth top and refrigerate for 30 min.
3. Remove cake from fridge, decorate cake with matcha powder, black sesame seed (optional) as desired.

Chocolate-Almond Genoise Layer Cake with coffee butter cream

This is the birthday cake I made for my dearly god sister's birthday this year. My god sister has been deeply spoiled by me in the past few years being my dessert tasting guinness pig. Now she's more picky on cake than ever - she specifically requested from me not to bake her any green tea red bean favor cake for her birthday as she is tired of it! To make the remaining choices even more limited, she doesn't like any fruity favor cake. So cakes like strawberry shortcake, Chinese style fruit cake, or any type of cake with berries are all out! In researching for a cake she would like, I knew I had to go along the line of chocolates or coffee. This chocolate almond genoise and coffee butter cream layer cake has the best of both favors. It's a hybrid recipe I combined together from two recipes, neither of which I had tried before. But I think after making them and having to receiving good comments, I am confidence that they taste pretty good and more importantly they are not difficult to make.



The cake layer is created based off a simple Italian genoise sponge cake recipe using almond flour and the chiffron cake technique (beating the egg white separately).

Chocolate genoise
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 cup almond flour
• 6 tablespoon chocolate powder
• ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 4 egg whites, room temperature
• 4 tablespoon white granulated sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease an 11×17(or 12×16) sheet pan with shortening. Line with parchment and grease parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine the 2 whole eggs, confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a bowl. Combine with a hand-held mixer until batter has lightened considerably in color.(Should be a pale yellow.) Add the 1½ tsp. matcha powder and mix on low speed until combined. Set aside.
Whip the egg whites in a clean bowl on low speed until they start to froth. Add the cream of tartar and increase mixer speed, whipping until stiff peaks form. Add the 2 tbsp. granulated sugar and whip for a few seconds longer to incorporate.
Sift the flour over the pale yellow egg mixture, then scoop about ⅓ of the egg whites into the egg mixture and fold together gently with a rubber spatula. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in until uniformly mixed.
Pour the batter into the sheet pan and distribute it evenly with an offset spatula, making the layer as level and smooth as possible. Your batter will be spread very THIN.
Bake for about 8-12 minutes until the cake is just firm. Keep an eye on the cake as it bakes! It will burn easily!
Remove from the oven and turn out cake onto a cooling rack. Remove parchment. Allow to cool slightly. Cut cake into four even pieces.

Coffee butter cream (recipe adopted from Chef Defontaine's popular Paris pastisserie- Le Royale au Cafe)
• ¾ cup (or a bit less) cup sugar
• ½ cup water
• 6 large egg yolks
• 2 ½ sticks unsalted butter (cut into pieces, softened)
• 1 (starbucks) expresso shot (about 2-2.5 tablespoon)

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, about 4 minutes. Let the mixture boil for 3 or 4 minutes, until it forms a soft ball (234-240 degree).
Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer until fluffy.
As soon as the syrup is ready, with the machine running, pour the syrup onto the beaters in a very thin, steady stream until all the syrup is incorporated. Continue to beat until the mixture is fluffy and cooled to room temperature.
Add the butter, 1 or 2 pieces at a time, beating until the mixture is well blended and fluffy. Add the expresso to the butter cream and beat until well blended.

Assemble the cake:
Cut the cake into 4 even pieces
Place the bottom layer on a platter or a piece of card board cut slightly larger than the cake. With a spatula, spread about butter cream (thin layer or a bit thicker depending on one’s taste) on the layer. Gently place the second layer on top, spread another layer of butter cream, repeat to have 4 layers of cake and 4 layer of cream fillings (total of 8 layers).

Baked Mochi Cake 焗年糕

I had this baked mochi cake (or rice cake) from Rachel's place. It's tasted so comforting that I immediately fell in love with it at first bite! Thanks Rachel for sharing this yummy rice cake recipe with me. It's very easy to make. The preparation takes less than 20 min w/o the baking time. I thought this would be a good recipe to share :)

Ingredients:
Butter: 1 cube
Egg: 5 large eggs
Milk: 3 cups (i used 1% milk)
Baking Powder: 2 teaspoon
Sugar: 1 cup
Rice flour: 1 box of Mochiko rice flour (can find in most Asian market, i.e Ranch 99)
Red Bean: 1 can

Procedures:

1. Warm up milk in the pan with sliced butter, turn off the heat when it gets luke warm.



2. With electric mixer, mix eggs well. Add in the sugar and baking powder. Mix well until creamy



3. Pour the milk and butter mixture (from step 1) to step 2 and mix well.



4. Add rice flour, little by little, to the above mixture.



5. butter a cake pan (~8'')or a glass pan, spread the red bean over the bottom of the pan, and pour in the batter



6. Pre-heat over at 350, bake for about 1 hour

Pound Cake - the classic recipe

Pound cake has earned its centuries-long popularity. It owes its name to the traditional ingredient - one pound each of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs- which remain essentially the same today. As for all my recipes, I tend to air on the lighter side on sugar and butter. Instead of using all the butter the recipe calls for I used 1/2 cup sour cream in place of 1 stick of butter so that the cake remain airy and rich, not tough a dense. I also cut the sugar by 1/4 as my mom doesn't like it too sweet.

The recipe I have below is the classic recipe. I know no matter how pure and wholly satisfying the original, variations are too tempting to resist. You can feel free to dress up the classic version in creative ways, with sprinkled toppings, adding fruits such as blueberries, and easy glazes and saurces. Since I am making this for my mom's teacher, I am staying conservative to only adding peacan to the classic recipe.

Note that the below recipe makes a delicious tranditional pound cake, and it's also the base for inventive variations. Recipe makes two 5-by-9-inch loaf pans.

Ingredients:
-1 pound (31/4 cups) all-purpose flour
-1 tablespoon coarse salt
-3 stick of softened unsalted butter
-1/2 cup sour cream (non-fat)
-1 1/2 cup of sugar
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
-9 large egg (room temperature)
-1/2 cup toasted peacan

Procedures:
*Preheat over to 325 degree, butter two 5-by-9-inch loaf pans.
1) Combine the flour and salt in a bowl (see number 2 below)
2) Cream the softened butter, sour cream, and sugar with a mixer on high speed until pale and fluffy, for 8 minutes
3) Scape down sides of bowl, reduce speed to medium and add in the vanilla extract
4) Lightly beat 9 large, room-temperature eggs, and add in 4 additions, mixing thoroughly after each and scraping down sides
5) Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture in 4 additions, mixing until just incorporated
6) add in the peacan until incorporated
6) divide batter between pans. Tap on counter to distribute and smooth tops.

Bake until a tester inserted into center of each cake comes out clean, about 65 minutes. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for another 30 minutes before removing from pans.


This is the end product. I didn't use my usual loaf pan because we had to give it to the teachers. So use the paper container I got from Daiso. Still works!

Tiramisu

I just realized I've never made a post on Tiramisu! Tiramisu is my very first experience doing real baking at home. Tiramisu often gives people a "difficult to make" impression due to its complex taste. Though I probably wouldn't recommend it to entry level bakers, I actually don't think tiramisu is as difficult as it sounds. It's a simple "no-bake" cake that also involves mixing of all ingredients. The only key to make it tastes right it's getting the correct proportion of espresso and liquor (tips: my experience has taught me the type of liquor also makes a big difference. For the below recipe I have used Bailey as I found it blend in best with espresso).

This is a tiramisu Ca and I made for Ju姐's birthday last week. For this cake, we had used a 7'' springform pan which serves 8 people. However, please note that the recipe presents below is for a bigger pan (9x13'' pan). So you might want to do the math to adjust all ingredients proportionally if you want make a 7'' cake.

Ingredients:
7 yolks
½ cup (100g) sugar (or less 75g) – ½ for yolks and ½ for white
3 8-oz. (227g) container mascarpone
41/2 tablespoons water
11/2 tablespoons powdered gelatin (use less next time – 1 Tbsp)
3 egg whites
1 cup heavy cream, whipped (dissolve 1 Tbsp espresso powder into cream before whipping)
2 cups cooled espresso
1 cup liquor (I used Bailey)
20-24 ladyfingers
Cocoa powder

For ladyfingers, I personally prefer to use the packaged ones (below) instead of the freshly baked ladyfingers find in local bakery/grocery stores because packaged ladyfingers are thicker, and can absorb more espresso/liquor mixture without getting too soggy so the to keep their shape better.

Directions:
1) In a large mixing bowl stir to combine the whipping cream and the espresso powder. Cover and chill the bowl and beaters in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
2) Pour water into a small bowl then pour powdered gelatin over it. Do no stir. Allow gelatin to absorb all of the water (about 15 minutes) then place the bowl on top of a small saucepan containing simmering water (creating a double boiler).
3) Immediately turn off the heat and allow the gelatin to dissolve completely.
4) In a mixer with the whip attachment, whip yolks and ½ of the sugar until thick and pale in color (ribbon stage).
5) Add mascarpone and whip until well incorporated
6) In a separate bowl, whip egg whites to a soft beak, gradually add ½ of the sugar, then slowly pour in dissolved gelatin. Whip to a stiff, glossy peak
7) When the whipping cream is chilled, beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.
8) Fold whites into mascarpone and yolk mixture then fold in whipped cream.
9) In a separate bowl, combine espresso and liquor.
10) Soak 1 ladyfinger at a time in the espresso mixture.

If you are making round shaped tiramisu using a springform pan, soak ladyfingers in espresso mixture and line up again the rims. Also place some ladyfingers side by side in a single layer over the bottom of the pan. Spoon 1/3 of the cream fillings over the ladyfingers making sure they are completely covered.

Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers by dipping them in the coffee/liquor mixture and placing them on top of the cream. Again, cover the ladyfingers with a layer of cream. Cover the Tiramisu with plactic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

To serve: remove the plactic wrap from the top of the tiramisu, sift cocoa powder over the top of the tiramisu or decocrate with shedded chocolate.

I made two layers, but you can make as many as you like depending on the size of your pan.

Very chocolaty chocolate cheesecake

A very belated post again. I made this chocolate cheesecake to celebrate dearest Ca's birthday. Since Ca is a chocolate lover, I thought of making her something with a chocolaty. I found this recipe from one of my favorite bloggers' website: http://lateliervi.blogspot.com and it seems pretty legit. Cheesecake is one of the easiest and yummiest cake to bake and it could never go wrong! So I baked this for her w/o having to take a first try myself. Luckily it turn out to be very delicious.

Make one 8 inches (1 ½ high) cake

Cheese mixture 300g cream cheese200ml whipping cream120g caster sugar2 whole eggs4tbs cocoa powder4tsp freshly squeeze lemon juiceCrust180g Oreo cookies (w/o filling)100g unsalted butter Prep: - Wrap the cream cheese in plastic food wrap and place in microwave on low for 2 minutes to soften it.

- Preheat oven to 160 degree C/325 degree F.

- Wrap the bottom (up to half way) of the pan with 2 layers of foil paper.

- Boil some water for later use (appx. 2 liter).

For the crust:

-Break the cookies into small pieces, then place into a zip lock bag or any heavy weight plastic bag (remove air bubbles), and crush + roll using a rolling pin until cookies become fine crumb.

-Place butter in microwave and heat for 1 mins. over medium heat.

-Pour melted butter into the bag, remove air bubble and close the bag, then shake it to mix the two.

-Pour this mix into the pan; using the back of a large spoon, press crumb firmly to pan until packed; set aside.

For the cheesecake:

-Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Using a whisk, whisk cream cheese until blended; add the other ingredients in the following order, sugar --> cocoa powder --> eggs --> lemon juice --> whipping cream, make sure that each item is well blended before adding another.

-Strain the cheese mixture then pour into the cake pan.

-Pour hot water (1 inch in depth) into a roasting pan, place the pan inside the roasting pan and bake for 90minutes. If the water dried out while baking, be sure to refill with more hot water. Once the center of the cake no longer quiver and the sides begin to pull away from the pan then it is done.

-Remove from oven and let cool completely on wire rack. Place in fridge for 3 hours or overnight to set.

Dark Chocolate Glazing

-100g whipping cream125g water40g cocoa powder160g granulated sugar10g gelatin

Prep:

- Pre-soak gelatin in a bowl of cold water, squeeze out excess water; set aside. If using powdered gelatin, add 2 spoon of water.

- Using a small round cookie cutter, scrape curls off a block of white chocolate. Place whipping cream, sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Then add in the cocoa powder and bring to boil again or till mixture slightly thicken; stir constantly to avoid mixture sticking to saucepan.

-Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes then add the pre-soaked gelatin; stir until completely melted; strain.

-When cool to lukewarm, pour glazing onto cheesecake and let some drip down the sides. Place back into fridge for another 30 minutes.

Decorate the cake with white chocolate curls before serving.

Japanese Green Tea Red Bean Mouse Cake (日式綠茶紅豆蛋糕)

It's been a WHILE, actually a long while since my last post. It's not that I have forgotten this lovely cooking space, but rather I had been insanely busy the past 5 months! Needless to say, I took a 1.5 month vacation to Asia where I indulged myself in the shopping and food paradise. And immediately after my "luxurious" vacation, I got penalized for the crazy audit busy season! So don't be jealous, life is FAIR... Anyways, before I took off to vacation in late November, I have tried this yummy Japanese cake receipe which it immediately became my favorite cake recipe! I always believe that the combination of green tean and red bean makes the best combo and this recipe combines the best of both world. This cake is really easy to make, though it's more time-consuming... Part 1 – Sponge Cake (use 7” or 8” cake pan) Refer to Sponge/Chiffon Cake recipe

Part 2 – Cake crust (use 8 inch cake pan) Ingredients · 1 cup graham cracker crumbs · 1 Tbsp sugar · 4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted · Pinch of ground cinnamon Procedures: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Mix together cracker crumbs, sugar and cinnamon, then add in melted butter until moist crumbs form 3. Press the cracker mixture onto the bottom of the prepared pan 4. Bake the crust until it is set and beginning to brown, about 12 minutes. Cool.

Part 3a – Red Bean Cheese Mousse Ingredients · 120g mascarpone cheese · 30g sugar · 200g red bean paste · 30g milk · 200g whipping cream · 6g (1 1/3 tsp) gelatin · 30g water Procedures: 1. Pour gelatin over water, put over double boiler to allow it to dissolve completely in the water 2. Beat whipping cream until stiff peak form 3. Beat the mascarpone cheese with a electric mixer to lighten it up then add sugar 4. Fold in milk, in two additions 5. Fold in whipping cream into cheese mixture, in 3 additions, then fold in red bean paste, gelatin mixture 6. Place a small amount of red bean cheese mixture in the center of the cake pan, then place the sponge cake in the middle to hold it in place 7. Pour all of the red bean cheese mixture into the cake pan 8. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour

Part 3b – Green Tea Mousse Ingredients · 100g whipping cream · 40g sugar · 6g (1 1/3 tsp) green tea powder · 3g (2/3 tsp) gelatin · 30g water Procedures: 1. Pour gelatin and green tea powder over the water, put into double boiler and allow them to dissolve completely into the water 2. Beat whipping cream until stiff peak, fold in green tea gelatin mixture 3. Pour green tea mixture over the refrigerated red bean cheese mousse 4. Refrigerate for at least another hour

Part 4 - 蛋糕装飾 - (可以自己随意自由發揮)