WINTER IS COMING….

In the Southern Hemisphere at least…

And while we layer up on clothing to ward off Melbourne’s famous winter chill, I have been thinking about layer cakes. After the madness of Cupcake a Day May, I’ve decided to dial the baking back just a little bit, but with more time comes the possibility of more complex deliciousness. I have some wonderful layers planned this month, and want to kick off with my East meets West layer cake, made for my friend Lauren’s 30th birthday. Its a fusion of dark chocolate and Japanese matcha tea, bridged by vanilla. Lauren is a bit of a fan of matcha in cake.

Chocolate mud cake gets cut into three layers. Between the bottom two layers goes a slather of matcha butter roux filling. Between the top two goes vanilla bean butter roux filling.

And crowning the top is smooth dark chocolate ganache, striped with plain and matcha flavoured white chocolate.

It’s simple, but so elegant and totally delicious.

East-west chocolate vanilla matcha layer cake

Chocolate mud cake

ingredients

125g unsalted butter
165g dark chocolate – 60% cocoa is ideal
140g self raising flour
25g cocoa powder
Pinch salt
250g caster sugar
2 eggs
165mL water

mixing

Melt the butter and chocolate together by microwaving on high for 30-40 seconds, then stirring until smooth. Microwave again in bursts of 10 seconds and stirring again until completely smooth.
Sift all the dry ingredients together into a bowl. Combine melted mixture, sugar and eggs, pour into the dry ingredients. Add water. Using an electric beater or stand mixer, beat all ingredients until smooth.
Pour into a 15cm square pan which has been completely lined with baking paper.
Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan before turning out.

assembly

When the cake is cold, invert the cake so that the rougher top surface of the cake is on the bottom, and the smooth bottom of the cake will form the top. Cut  into three even layers. Place the bottom layer onto a 15cm square cardboard cake board. Spread the bottom layer with all the matcha filling, and place the centre layer on to, pressing down to ensure the surface is level. Spread over half of the vanilla filling, and repeat with the top layer of the cake.
Spread the remaining vanilla filling over the top and sides of the cake. Chill, and make the chocolate ganache.
When the ganache is cool, set the cake on a wire rack with a clean dish underneath to catch the drips and carefully pour about half of the ganache all over the surface of the cake so that it spreads out and flows down the sides of the cake. Then pour the rest of the ganache round the edges of the cake, ensuring it covers all of the sides. You might need to gently spread a little more ganache on some patches with a palette knife to get full coverage on the corners. Try to work swiftly as the ganache will set fast if the cake is very cold, and never pour more ganache over the top as a second try – you will get drip marks!
Melt the white chocolate and divide the mixture into two. Add 1/8 tsp of matcha powder to one portion of white chocolate and stir until smooth. Make two small paper piping bags from triangles of baking paper as shown below, stand each in a glass, point down, and tip each portion of chocolate into one of the bags.

Starting with the white chocolate, fold over the top of the bag to enclose the chocolate, take a snip off of the tip of the bag and pipe zigzags diagonally over the unset ganache. Repeat with the matcha portion. Let the ganache and chocolate set at room temperature. Don’t refrigerate the cake unless you must- refrigeration can cause the ganache to sweat.

Matcha and Vanilla Butter Roux filling

ingredients

2/3 cup milk
2 tbsp flour
2/3 cup caster sugar
165g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1 tsp matcha powder

mixing

In a small saucepan, mix the flour with a little milk until you have a smooth paste, then add the rest of the milk.  Cook mixture over a medium heat until the mixture thickens and boils.
Cool to room temperature – this is important, if the flour mixture is too hot the resulting frosting will be soupy! If this happens, chill the mixture and beat again.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With the mixer still running, add the flour mixture, a tablespoon at a time, beating until all incorporated.

Divide the mixture into thirds. You want a 2/3 portion to be flavoured vanilla so combine two of the thirds of the mixture and add the vanilla. Add the matcha powder to the remaining third. Stir both portions of the filling until the vanilla and matcha is well distributed.

Refrigerate the mixture for 10-15 minutes before use.

Chocolate ganache and decoration

You will use all the ganache to ice the cake, but much of it will run off the sides. Collect this in a clean dish and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for ice cream toppings, hot chocolates, or decorating cupcakes! The leftover ganache will keep for a couple of weeks.

ingredients

200g good quality dark chocolate
200mL cream (35% milk fat)

30g white chocolate, for decoration
1/8 tsp matcha powder, for decoration

mixing

Chop the chocolate into 1cm squares or less. This will help the melting process.
Heat the cream til nearly boiling. You can do this in the microwave if you are careful… About 40 seconds.
Tip the chocolate into the hot cream and stir gently until it’s all smooth. This takes a couple of minutes. You may have to heat up the mixture a little if it has fallen below about 40 degrees (luke warm to the touch) as the chocolate won’t melt well at this temperature. Cool the ganache to room temperature. It will be slightly thicker than it was, but not set.

Enjoy!xxx