raspberry & cocoa cake

cocoa sponge cake

makes an 22cm cake

4 eggs, separated

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup flour

¼ cup cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

beat the egg whites with sugar until it forms stiff, glossy meringue - around 8 minutes

beat the yolks for about 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy

fold the yolks into the meringue

sift in the flour, cocoa and baking powder, fold in carefully

transfer into a pan

bake around 35-40 min in 180C - check if done with a toothpick

cool down, then cut into three layers

raspberry whipped cream

3 tsp gelatine soaked in 3 tbsp warm water

100 ml whipping cream

700 ml whipping cream

100 g powdered sugar

250 g raspberries

bring the 100 ml cream almost to boil, pour over the gelatine, stir until it melts, cool until lukewarm

whip the cream with powdered sugar until stiff peaks - do not overmix

save a few raspberries for decoration, smash the rest with a fork and fold into the cream

fold in the gelatine mix

assembly

one layer of cake - 1/3 of the cream - repeat 3 times

decorate the top of the cake with reserved raspberries (I added some caramel sauce & caramel nuts)

matcha mousse bombe

Look at this half-nice attempt at mirror glaze! Worked nice on one side, at least ;) This is what I get for working without proper equipment at hand. Alas. It was still terribly tasty, but then I do say that about everything with matcha in it... as everyone knows. This time: matcha sponge, strawberry mousse insert, matcha mousse, matcha glaze. Let me share the best part of this recipe with you, until I try again and find myself happy with my assembly skills.

matcha white chocolate mousse

150 ml milk

5 tsp matcha

120 g white chocolate

10 g sheet gelatine, bloomed in cool water

3 egg yolks

20 g sugar

350 ml whipping cream

dissolve the matcha in milk, simmer until hot - do not boil

add chocolate, stir until melted

add the gelatine, mix until dissolved, then cool to room temperature

whisk the yolks with sugar until it dissolves and the mixture is pale and fluffy

mix the yolks into the matcha milk

whip the cream to medium peaks, fold into the mixture

refrigerate for at least 4 hours 

travelling in blue

Travelling in blue, or: once upon the time in cold Edinburgh.

(A trip which I did not expect to happen. Last-minute decisions, that is: less than three months before the flight time. Too many people in tiny space: the rented flat up north was at least thrice the size of home, and thus thrice as comfortable. We were cold a lot and visited the pub in next building a lot, to eat fries. None of the fancy bookshops carried the books I wished to find, but at least I had one on me to read.)

matcha & rose dome cake

matcha cake 

makes an 18 cm cake

60 g butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 tsp heaping matcha

pinch of salt

¾ cup buttermilk

cream the butter and sugar until pale and soft

add eggs, one at a time, mixing well

sift the flour with baking powder, matcha and salt, add into the butter

add the buttermilk, mix until the batter in smooth

bake around 30 min in 180C

assembly

3 cakes

1.5 x this recipe with rose essence to taste & pink food colouring

fresh flowers

cut the tops off the cakes to make them even, then stack them and trim the cake towers into a shape of a dome

un-stack and set aside

spread roughly  ¼ of the buttercream over the bottom cake, and another ¼ over the middle cake, stack them together

put the top cake and do a buttercream crumb coat for the entire construction (very thin layer of buttercream, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour)

ice the cake with the rest of the buttercream, smoothing it out as much as possible

decorate with flowers as desired - here I placed some around the bottom and created a crown of sorts near the top of the cake