Thursday, September 30, 2010

Green Tea Mousse Cake

yummy green tea mousse cake

Light and fluffy green tea mousse cake, with a mild green tea taste and a pretty pale green color! Alternating layers of green tea-flavored sponge cake and mousse make up this cake. I adapted this recipe from Yochana's Cake Delight, which was originally written in metric units and then roughly converted to US cooking units by me. I think it turned out pretty well, and people seemed to like it.


one half of the sponge cake. love that green color!

Green Tea Mousse Cake
Green Tea Sponge Cake
4 egg yolks to be mixed with  1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
4 egg whites (room temp if possible) to be mixed with 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
30 ml or 1 oz water
50 ml or 2 oz vegetable oil
1 cup cake flour
1 tsp green tea powder

Green Tea Mousse Filling:
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp green tea powder
1 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
10 gm. gelatine powder + 45 ml. or 1/6 cup water (soak together then microwave for about 30 secs.)

Method:
Sponge Cake:
(1) Mix egg yolks,  1/2 cup sugar, water and oil together and stir till mixture is smooth.
(2) Add in flour and green tea powder and mix evenly.
(3) Whisk egg white with sugar till stiff peak (may take a while! I read that having the egg whites at room temperature helps). Fold in egg yolk mixture and pour mixture into a 9" springform cake pan.
(4) Bake at 350 F for about 30 mins, or until skewer inserted comes out clean.
(5) Leave cake to cool on wire rack and slice cake in half lengthwise into 2 slices. Place 1 slice of cake into a 9" springform cake pan.


Mousse:
(1) Heat milk till warm (not boiling). Remove from heat and transfer to mixing bowl, then add in sugar and green tea powder. Stir till evenly mixed. Add egg yolks and whisk quickly. Be careful not to allow the egg yolk to overcook or it will become lumpy.
(2) Add in melted gelatine mixture and leave to cool.
(3) Make whipped cream - pour whipping cream into mixing bowl and use hand mixer to whip for about 10-15 minutes until soft peaks form. You could technically do this by hand but I imagine your hand would fall off first. Fold in whipped cream into the milk/yolk mixture - this is the mousse filling.
(4) Pour half of the mousse filling onto the prepared cake ring and then top up with the other slice of green tea sponge cake.
(5) Pour the rest of the mousse on top and level it evenly. Refrigerate till mousse is set.
(6) Take out the cake from the cake ring and sieve green tea powder on top and decorate as desired.



Hope it turns out well for you! Bon appetit!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Just a day...

Just a day, but not like any other. Today is a special moment in time, in our lives, that we should treasure and keep in our memories. Simple and pure...


Thursday, September 23, 2010

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

So, I kinda lied during the last post - it wasn't really the beginning of autumn until yesterday! Although it really felt fall-like in terms of weather at that time... then again, today in Syracuse it was sunny and 80. So who's to say what fall weather is anyways?

In honor of mid-autumn festival, I'll put up some asian-ish pics I've taken. I don't know much about the festival, but I know it takes place in the fall on the day of the autumnal equinox with the full moon, and you eat mooncakes and drink tea. I'm sure there's a lot more to it but I don't think I was ever told! Oh wells, maybe time to wiki it.

one of my favorite dim sum, uw zai gwut!
another favorite dim sum, shu mai~!
yummy shanghai noodles that dong made! looks tasty right?
pork and cabbage dumplings, straight from the freezer!
har gow and shu mai from frozen ones. def not as good as in the restaurant, sigh.
individual tins for moon cake
my favorite is the one with lotus seed paste! i could live without the yolk...


There goes the asian episode of the this blog! It may come back around once in a while =D

Sunday, September 19, 2010

it's autumn!

Theme change for the changing seasons!

It's scary how time can pass in a blink. Already it's the middle of September, and I remember just a few weeks ago I was surprised that Sept was beginning! Soon another year will pass by and I'll have to do some reflection... and some budgeting, darn it. My grace period for my loans ends in December! And then I'll have to start studying for the compounding exam again... ugh! At least this year the compounding exam will have digital scales, so we won't need to adjust the torsion balances and zero them and stuff. And taring should be pretty damn easy too!

Just last week my good friend Kaitlin got married to her high school sweetheart Ryan. It was a lovely wedding with a great reception afterwards, complete with a wishing well made by the groom's dad! And there was dancing, all the classic wedding hits like the electric slide, twist and shout, etc etc, with some dancey songs thrown in there at the end of the night. It was just terrific to see Kaitlin so happy - she was glowing, like all those cliches say. Ryan was pretty shiny himself!

It was also great to see all my pharmacy buddies again, and it makes me sad that I can't really be so close to them, or my friends from high school, or junior high school. I'm pretty far removed from everyone now, and I can only hope that we won't forget each other as time goes by.

In a week or so I'll have a pretty big status change myself... it's interesting what life (or pushy parents) will do to you.


Right now I'm so in love with this song....


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

oh how time flies...

... when you're working! It's surprising but it's already been a month that we've been in Syracuse. Even though I'm not licensed as a pharmacist yet, I'm still working as a graduate intern, with decidedly easier hours and less stressful commute times than Dong. Of course, it also means I only get half the pay... but on the bright side, I get taxed less! =D

Besides work, there's been some background stuff going on - going out to eat, exploring the Erie Canal Park, checking out the Carousel Center, and the Great New York State Fair. Lots of pictures, and maybe some restaurant reviews to come! For the most part, life has settled into a bit of a rhythm, pleasantly broken up by visiting friends. Last week I got to see my beloved Teresa again, and this weekend I'll see my buddy Jenn Lai, among others! Nothing like a full house to remind you how much you liked an empty one!

eating dinner at mai lan restaurant
a gorgeous day on the road, driving from work
apt sweet apt
forest path at erie canal
bridge at erie canal
extra adorable ducklings at the fair
hungry little piglets
the ferris wheel
deep fried onion blossom
swirly potato
rihanna's concert