Matcha (Green Tea) Swiss Roll with red bean filling

I told myself that I will practise swiss roll baking this year, and I am. I stumble across this video and I couldn't be happier. The recipe is so simple and easy to follow. No oil is required and no need to separate the egg to make stiff egg whites . I was pleasantly surprised when I first tried the cake. It turned out fluffy, spongy and very light. It was not dense or anything, even if eaten straight from the fridge. I shall follow this recipe for all my future flavour combo.

Instead of using strawberries, I used red bean since I had some in the fridge. The roll was delicious. I have finally found a recipe which gives me light sponge.  I also like the fact that it is a small cake (9 inch square).  hence you cannot feel too indulgent.

Matcha (Green Tea) Chiffon Cake with Matcha Cream and Red Bean Filling

It seems that my titles are getting longer and longer recently. Oh well, I think that's what happen when you are creating desserts. For my brother's birthday, I have been keen on making a green tea flavoured cake with red bean. I was inspired by my own birthday cake from Breadtop (you can see the photo from this post). Also, instead of making a pandan chiffon cake, which I have already made for no special reason at all, I wanted to try something special and different. I decided to go for another amazing flavour combo- matcha green tea and red bean. These two are definitely the most random combination, but goes so well together.

Firstly I baked a matcha chiffon cake and let it cooled. I used this recipe, cutting the amount of sugar in half in so doing. I cut the cake in half. Then, I whipped up some matcha cream (thickened cream, matcha powder and sugar), which I spread across the bottom half. I spooned some red bean filling and then closed the cake. After that, I covered the whole cake in some more matcha cream. Once done, I placed the cake in the fridge to firm up. Finally I decorated the cake with some cream, more red bean and pocky.

Unfortunately I did not get a good photo of the inside of the cake, but I was pretty happy with the result. I could taste the green tea flavour and it matched perfectly with the red bean and matcha cream. The sweetness from the red bean complemented the not overly sweet cake. I think I did well, even though I need to improve my piping skills.

Matcha Crepe Cake (Mille-Crepes cake)

I first came across this 'cake' from Eugenie Kitchen. She has made several variations and I finally made my mind to make one myself. This cake is essentially made from 15 to 30 crepes staked on top of each other with cream filling in between each crepe. I have seen many flavours including plain one with whipped cream, nutella ,strawberry, custard, matcha and oreos. 

I decided to make a green tea one. I used Eugenie's recipe but incorporated some matcha powder into the batter instead of the colouring. I also made some matcha cream for the filling. Simply whipped some cold cream with some sugar and some matcha powder. It was actually not hard to make, you just need some patience in making the crepes and layering each crepe with the cream filling. The result is quite worth the time though. 

I started with making the batter the previous night. The following day, I made the crepes. I got 15 layers for this one. I trimmed the edges, whipped the cream, then layered each of the crepe and finally cover the whole 'cake' with the matcha cream. For a finished look, I dusted some matcha powder on top. I took me roughly 1.5 hours. 

Matcha (random food items)

Matcha powder or more commonly known as the green tea powder is basically fine, powdered green tea leaves. The flavour is stronger than what you would normally taste from green tea. I love drinking green tea because of the aroma and the benefits that it encompasses. I can see lot of sweet snacks with matcha flavour nowadays. I used to look for the matcha powder in the Asian grocery stores and would not find them. Now I can see them almost everywhere, so there. I definitely think it has grown in popularity. I also saw green tea noodles in a magazine which you can find in Japan, which means that matcha is not only associated with sweet food.
So I have combined a few items green tea flavoured I bought and made.

These are items I did not make:

Green tea mousse cake with red bean

Green tea crepe cake

Hello Panda with matcha filling, they also have matcha pocky

Green tea icecream mochi, my favourite

Now, those are the sweets I made:

Green tea cookies

Lady fingers

Matcha cheat's icecream

Raw matcha brownie

I also made mini matcha cheesecake which must be somewhere in this blog already, but could not find the photo for some reason. Anyway these are ideas of what you can make using matcha.

Matcha (green tea) cookies

My third time using matcha powder. I decided to make some cookies. These cookies consist of almond meal, white chocolate and chopped almonds. I think they make a great combination together with the green tea powder, and the cookies are real crunchy, not only from the chocolate and almonds, but the texture itself.

 

 

 

Matcha (green tea) mini cheesecake

I made those last week and they tasted amazingly good. If you like green tea flavour and cream cheese, then this dessert is made for you. I can't wait to try new dessert recipes usingmy matcha powder.

MINI GREEN TEA CHEESECAKE RECIPE
Makes 24 mini cheesecake

Ingredients:
Filling-
250g cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 tsp matcha (green tea) powder

Base-
100g plain biscuits (butternut snap / digestive/ Oreo) crushed
25g melted butter

Method

Preheat oven 160 degrees (fan forced)

1. Mix biscuit and butter.
2. Spoon over mini muffins pan.
3. Bake for 5- 10 minutes

1. Cream cheese with sugar.
2. Add green tea powder.
3. Incorporate egg and mix until combined.
4. Spoon mixture over muffin pan.
5. Bake for 20 -25 minutes.
6. Let cool in pan and then refrigerate. 

Matcha (Green Tea Powder) + Bubble Tea

I have finally received the long-awaited green tea powder by mail (muahahahaha). It came in this green packaging and I was glad it has a zip-lock. So today I have made matcha bubble tea (my simple version- see below). I plan to make some matcha desserts (buns, cake, cookies and so on) next time.

MATCHA BUBBLE TEA

For 1 cup

You need:
2 Tbs tapioca pearl (already cooked)
1 Tbs honey
1 1/2 Tsp matcha (green tea) powder
1 cup cold milk
3 Tbs warm water
 Sugar (optional)
 Ice cubes (optional)

 Steps:
1. Dissolve the matcha and honey in warm water.
2. Add milk, then the pearls.
3. Serve. Enjoy.

Note: For sweeter version, you can either add sugar and put more honey.