Matcha Azuki Bean Entremet

Matcha MADNESS

Last time I had posted a blog on a Matcha cake, I told you I baked a lot that weekend. I kinda went on a Green Tea craze where I lived and breathed this oriental fad everyday...for three whole days. But really, it's not even an Asian thing anymore, green tea is really everywhere now, and also literally in everything. The other day I even came across the beauty supplier and saw hair removal wax that was "green tea"...not even sure what that means! Who cares what wax smells like when it's on and off in a matter of seconds, and all you would be thinking about is how god damn much personal grooming hurts, not what smell is lingering in the air!

Anyways, that was totally off topic. So now I present to you all the other..more evil twin of the two desserts I had made that weekend..the Matcha Azuki Bean Entremet. Don't worry if you have no idea what Entremet is..I didn't know either until I made this and googled it. So google it if you want to know too! Ha..thought I would make it easy for you, didn't you? Just kidding, it's really not important. What is though, is what is in this cute little multi layer sweet. To start off, the two yellow layers you see are vanilla sponge cakes, sandwiched in the middle of the two is a azuki bean chocolate ganache, above those would be a layer of green tea mousse and topped off with a layer of green tea whipped cream. The best way to make this dessert would be to use mousse rings and layer everything in that, in order to maintain a neat shape (like these for example). But I couldn't find any at the time since everything I make never seems to involve good planning. I used a loaf pan instead to layer everything in. It seemed to work alright, but it was difficult to maintain the shape and neat colors of the layers, but regardless, it tasted amazing! Here's how it's made...

Vanilla Sponge Cake
Ingredients:
3 Eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Cake Flour
1/8 cup Unsalted Butter, melted
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1) Line an 8" square jelly roll pan with parchment paper, preheat oven to 350 degrees
2) With an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar on HIGH for 7 minutes, or until it has doubled in volume
3) Turn on LOW speed and beat for another minute
4) Sift flour into the mixture in three separate additions, folding gently but quickly with a rubber spatula
5) Add the melted butter and vanilla and fold until well blended
6) Pour batter into pan and bake for 10-15 minutes, until surface is slightly golden brown or a toothpick inserted comes out clean
7) Let cool, then either cut portions out with the mousse rings, or else cut cake into shape of whatever pan you decide to use to build the layers in. You will need pairs of 2 for how many ever you decide to make

Azuki Bean Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate
1/2 cup Whipping Cream
1 cup Red Bean Paste

Directions:
Heat up cream on stovetop until just boiling. Pour onto a bowl with the chocolate. Stir until smooth. Stir in Red Bean Paste.

Matcha Mousse (Make when Step 2 of assembly is complete)
Ingredients:
3/4 cup Whole Milk
2 tsp Matcha Powder
1/4 cup White Sugar
6 g gelatin powder
1/2 cup Whipping Cream

Directions:
1) Combine sugar and matcha powder, mix until blended
2) Heat up milk until boiling, then pour into the bowl with the sugar and matcha mixture. Stir until smooth.
3) While mixture is still hot, quickly add gelatin powder into the bowl, stir until dissolved
4) In a separate bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form
5) Fold Whipped Cream into matcha mixture until well blended

Matcha Whipped Cream (Make after step 3 of assembly is complete)
Ingredients:
200 ml Whipping Cream
1/8 cup White Sugar
1 tsp Matcha Powder

Directions:
1) In a bowl, combine sugar and matcha powder, mix until blended
2) Gradually add cream into the mixture, beating on LOW
3) Once all the cream is added, beat on HIGH until stiff peaks form

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
1) Place first layer of sponge cake at the bottom of the pan or mousse ring
2) Spread ganache evenly over sponge cake, and top with the second sponge, press lightly to make sure there are no gaps in the three layers so far. Refrigerate for an hour or two.
3) Pour the mousse over the layers and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
4) Pour the whipped cream on top of the mousse layer and spread evenly. Refrigerate overnight.
5) Finish it off by lightly dusting the top of the cake with a bit of matcha powder and icing sugar.

If you used mousse rings, it will be easy to just slide the rings off. If you used a loaf pan like me, you will have to cut cake into several pieces, skimming the sides of the cake with a knife to loosen from pan, and carefully take cake out piece by piece. I completely ruined the first piece because it's impossible to keep the first one looking nice, but the rest were a lot easier to get out! Yes...SUPER time consuming, but all so worth it!

ENJOY!