Our anniversary cake ~ Matcha and red bean mousse

August has finally come and gone, much to my eager waiting, longing and a touch of melancholy feeling. 3 years ago, Meo and I marked the last few hours of August 2009 with a kiss, our very first one. And that was how our friendship of 9 years finally ended, as we enter a whole new stage of our life.

3 years is probably nothing compared to couples who had spent their whole lives together (How I wish that would be my little happy ending too), but it was a constant struggle for long distance relationship at birth like ours. US-UK, Bristol-New York, it was never easy, especially for young adults like us, who obviously are still trying to figure out the way of life. Continuous argument, endless tears and lots of mistakes, we slowly learnt the lesson of compromising and commitment. 3 years feels so short, yet it was really long, as least long enough for us to have grown a great deal, as person and as lovers, and I’m grateful for the time we spent together and apart. Our relationship is indeed a series of reuniting and parting, sometimes I even thought, airports have become our favourite background. Yet they said distance make the heart grow fonder, didn’t they?

And so, another anniversary celebrating with the help of Viber, Yahoo, Skype. Chat tools rule! I decided to venture into a whole new aspect of baking that remains untouched for me, for it was just too time consuming and seemed complicated for a newbie like me – Mousse cake. While making mousse seems to be one of the easiest thing to do in the kitchen, making a layered cake is not that simple. I did some planning before hand to ensure my cake has time to set properly and even sketch down how it would look like. I want my cake (for him) to be perfect, even though (as always) the recipient is only able to see through internet and the only thing he could compliment is: “It’s pretty, it looks decilious”. I feel so gutted my beloved boyfriend hardly get a chance to say: “It IS tasty”. That has to wait then.

I remember he said some time ago, that he liked Matcha latte from Starbucks and I just automatically assume that he likes green tea. So on any occasion possible, I would try to make something out of it, and I honestly couldn’t think of any better company than red bean. They each have unique flavour yet together, they make one perfect taste, that’s how I wish for my relationship to be. The idea of matcha and red bean mousse is just so intriguing I couldn’t put off and decided that it would be my anniversary cake this year.

The recipe is for a 15cm, or 6″, cake tin.

Matcha génoise (adapted from Meringue Desserts and L’Atelier Vi)

• 2 eggs
• 40 g granulated sugar
• 35 g plain flour
• 7 g matcha powder
• 20g butter, melted and cooled

1. Preheat oven to 180 C degree
2. Sift together flour and matcha powder, set aside
3. Use a handheld mixer, beat the egg and sugar in a bowl until blended. Place the bowl over a pot of boiling water, continue to beat until it becomes foamy and warm to the touch
4. Remove from heat, continue to beat until it’s doubled in size and soft peak forms
5. Gradually and gently fold in the flour and matcha powder until incorporated
6. Add in the melted butter and quickly fold in
7. Pour the butter into the baking pan, gently tap pan slightly on the counter to remove any air bubbles
8. Bake for about 15 – 18 minutes. Take out and leave on rack to cool
9. Trim off top of the cake to make a flat surface

Red bean mousse (adapted from Meringue Desserts)

• 5 g powdered gelatin
• 1/3 cup water
• 200 g chunky azuki beans/red beans (for how to cook red beans, refer here)
• 180 g whipping cream

1. Place the gelatin and water in a bowl
2. Place this over a boiling pot of water until the gelatin dissolves
3. Stir in the azuki beans and mix thoroughly
4. Whisk cream until soft peak forms
5. Gently fold the cream into the azuki beans mixture

Matcha mousse (adapted from Nordljus)

• 6 g sheet gelatin
• 100 ml milk
• 10 g matcha powder
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 egg white
• 40 g sugar
• 80 ml double cream

1. Soak the gelatin in cold water
2. Pour the milk and add the matcha powder in a pot, set on low heat
3. In a bowl, cream the egg yolk and 20 g sugar until pale in colour
4. Gradually pour the milk into the egg mixture
5. Sieve the liquid into a pan, then place over low heat until the temperature reaches 85 C degree
6. Remove from heat, add the rinsed gelatin sheet, stir to dissolve and let cool
7. Whisk the cream to soft peaks and fold into the matcha mixture
8. Whip the egg white and the rest of the sugar into meringue and fold into the matcha mixture

Matcha mirror

• 7 g powdered gelatin
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 1/4 tsp matcha powder
• 1 1/2 tsp caster sugar

1. Mix the gelatin with cold water, bring over low heat to disssolve
2. Stir in matcha powder and caster sugar
3. Leave cool

CAKE ASSEMBLY

1. In a mousse ring (or a springform pan), butter and sugar it properly, or wrap around with baking paper, place the matcha génoise cake on the bottom
2. Pour the red bean mousse over the layer and use a spatula to spread evenly
3. Leave the mousse in the fridge to set, for about 3 hours
4. Pour the matcha mousse over the set base, spread evenly with a spatula
5. Leave it to set for another 3 hours
6. Pour the glaze over the mousse and smoothen the surface, refrigerate overnight
7. Next day, unmold the cake from the ring, decorate and serve

As this requires a bit of planning, it is suggested that you bake the cake and red bean mousse two days before, then matcha mousse and the glaze the next day, set in the fridge for one night and voilà, matcha & red bean mousse is ready.

Some tips:

• When you are ready to serve the cake, wrap a hot towel around the pan to ensure the outer ring of the cake doesn’t stick to the pan
• Dip the knife blade into hot water before cut. Wipe and rewarm before each slice. A hot blade would ensure a ‘clean’ cut for a better looking mousse cake slice.

I’ve never been a good artist, everything I drew hurt my eyes just by looking. However, I did a pretty good job creating some ‘art’ with chocolate for the first time. I could be as creative as I want in the kitchen ^^

And our 3 years dating anniversary ended with a hint of disappointment since we didn’t get to spend much time together, more or less, he couldn’t enjoy the cake that I spent days to make and decorate. But shouldn’t I get used to those things by now? Being physically by myself and trying to make the best out of everything, at least we are still together and very much in love. I read somewhere that ‘happiness is being married to your best friend’. And so we tell ourselves everyday, be patient and we’ll create our own fairy tale happily ever after ending.

They don’t know how long it takes

Waiting for a love like this

Every time we say goodbye

I wish we had one more kiss

I’ll wait for you I promise you, I will

P.S. My 1st photo submission ever on Foodgawker and it went through! Yay!!!!!! Made my perfect night ❤