Matcha Lychee Mousse Cake

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The lychees kind of look like they're glowing here:P

So far I have been able to waste two days of my four day weekend. I never realized that President's Day was such a big deal that I would practically be given an entire week off. I honor and commemorate the leaders of our nation, and I do so with cake of course! How else do you show your respect?

You of course could be like a student from my school and show your pride in other ways. One of our clubs went to the White House for a tour and was greeted by the first lady, Michelle Obama. He went insane! He probably would have shook her hand off and premanently freeze his face into that giddy smile he had for about 5 minutes. He was one excited little boy. I would have probably just peed my pants if I saw Michelle Obama in front of me. That woman is BEAUTIFUL! Plus she dresses so well.

This weekend will be utilized to catch up on some sleep as that is the prime topic of my agenda. Once I plopped onto my bed Friday night, I was knocked out cold for ten hours. Waking up under my toasty fleece blanket with the sunlight peeking through my window curtains was divine. Then to start my day I had some tasty rice porridge (aka congee) that my dad made. Which reminds me that I must start collecting family recipes so that I can cook them when I get older. I'm sure I could look some up online, however, some of my favorite foods are my dad's odd concoctions. It's experimentation at its best. I can assert with confidence that pickles were not easily available to my dad when he was growing up in Asia, and yet he loves to make pickle soup to eat with rice. So dorky.

Haha, I ended up using an ice cream scoop to make one of my chocolate decorations. Using my resources!!!

I must have been completely detached from the world for the past couple of weeks. I had no idea the Fray released a new album. It's nice to hear some hearty music instead of that auto tune puke on the radio. I must download this album from iTunes this weekend so I can jam out to it on my way to school. I'm sorry Drake, Flo Rida, and Lil Wayne, but there is a certain point where repeating the same word over and over to a droning beat gets a little annoying, and a little funny. Maybe they do that so it's easier to remember all the lyrics when they go on tour? I do not know. I still listen to their songs though because they're catchy and it makes me feel like a teenager! This week I was rapping with Flo Rida on the radio at a red light, and then that awkward moment when you see the person in their car in the next lane just staring at you or cracking up happened to me. Longest moment to wait for the light to turn green so I could speed away!

This week I made this little guy, yeah it's only a 6-inch cake! To do a crumb coat before the green tea ganache, I wanted to used a whipped ganache that I had set aside. I put the stacked and filled layers of cake into the freezer, thinking that if it was extra firm, the whipped ganache would be easier to spread on top. WRONG! I started to coat the sides of the cake with the ganache and it froze immediately. The more I tried to salvage the cake and smooth out the ganache, the more the cake ripped and crumbled. In the end I ripped off the ganache, because it had firmed up so much that it peeled off in one strip. Gross. The remaining cake looked so mangled and destroyed to say the least. I ended up making a cooked flour frosting for the crumb coat. I'm actually quite surprised I had the will power to even make more frosting. Yet, once again, that failed. The butter separated from the sugar. It was curdled, lumpy, and simply putrid looking. Like I said in another post, frosting just hates me. At this point I was sincerely contemplating going to the store to buy some good ole betty crocker frosting, but couldn't succumb to that! Trudging through, I made more white chocolate ganache and spread it on top of my room temperature cake. I must take note of this catastrophe for future reference. Goodness.

I should really invest in a nice platter for my cakes eventually. The toaster oven tray just isn't cutting it anymore!

So now I present to you the fruits of my labor. The rundown:
a matcha chiffon, a lychee mousse, doused in a matcha white chocolate ganache, and decorated with chocolate and lychee. Below I have posted the chiffon and mousse recipes, and you can play around with a white chocolate ganache recipe from around the web, because I kept pouring cream and adding chocolate to my ganache until I saw what I desired. I added about 1 teaspoon of matcha to one cup of ganache for the outer layer with a squirt of corn syrup for a nice shine and sheen.
Enjoy!

MATCHA CHIFFON
Adapted from the Gildedfork
Yields 1 18X14 inch jelly roll pan
INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/3 cup cake flour
• 1 tablespoon matcha powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cold water
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

1. Sift together the flour, match, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the 1/3 cup of sugar.
2. Whisk together the egg yolks, water, oil, and vanilla. Pour and whisk into the dry ingredients until well combined.
3. Beat the egg whites on medium speed of a mixer until frothy and foamy. From this point on, gradually add in the 1/4 cup of sugar. Turn the speed up to medium high to high speed until stiff peaks have formed. 
4. Take a little less than 1/3 of the egg whites and stir into the wet mixture to loosen it up. Fold in the rest of the egg whites in two additions until the batter is just combined. Pour into a parchment paper line jelly roll pan and bake for 15 minutes or until barely golden. 

LYCHEE MOUSSE

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cans of lychees in syrup*
• 1/4 oz gelatin
• 1 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Put the lychees from the two cans, and the syrup from one can into a blender. Be sure to reserve 4-5 for garnish. Pulse a few times until the lychees form a puree.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin onto 2 oz of some of the remaining lychee can syrup. Using a microwave or a stove top, cook until the gelatin is dissolved. Mix into the lychee puree and refrigerate until set.
3. Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Whisk in the lychee mixture to complete the mousse.

ASSEMBLY:

1. Using a circular cardboard cutout, carve out three circles from the chiffon in the jelly pan. Piece and fit together the scraps to form the fourth cake layer.
2. Using a circular cake mold, place the first layer of chiffon down. Pour on some mousse, and then pop into the freezer for 5 minutes. Repeat this process until you reach the fourth cake layer, which you will not put mousse on top. Put the cake into the refrigerator for roughly 3 hours to set the mousse.
3. Take the cake out of the mold and frost a crumb coat with some white chocolate ganache. Place into the freezer for 5 minutes. Once you take it out, pour on the green tea ganache, allowing it drip and completely coat the cake. Garnish with the lychees and any chocolate decorations. 

NOTES:

* Lychee is a really delicate flavor, and quite difficult to concentrate. If you can find some sort of lychee extract or liquor, you may consider adding that to the mousse to amp up the lychee taste. Even with all the lychee syrup I used, I was still hoping for a more distinct flavor.