Matcha Souffle Roll Cake

Alrighty, here comes the first food post of 2011! Even if it's already June!

Since I got back to Hong Kong, I've been more keen on making desserts that involve more Asian flavours. I've baked this matcha roll cake and two batches of matcha mochi cakes already! Maybe it's because I've had way too many chocolate and maple glazed doughnuts from Tim Hortons throughout the year that I kind of want to switch to other flavours!

This is my first time making a roll cake because I always found it to be scary, trying to roll up such a fragile cake - I mean, I'm bound to accidentally squish it somewhere or make all the filling leak out!

Flipping through my beloved collection of cookbooks that I couldn't bring to Canada, this was the first recipe that caught my eye. It's another one from a Japanese cookbook that is translated into Chinese. I really like these cookbooks because they often contain recipes that are hard to find online, and usually the flavours are very suitable to the Asian palate as they never too sweet and heavy.

The roll cake turned out to be a success! The cake was really soft and cottony, and since it only uses vegetable oil it was very light but at the same time, it was also quite moist. The filling is a simple sweetened whipped cream spiked with matcha - can't go wrong with that, as it reminds you of matcha ice cream! It complemented the cake very well - a little bite of heaven in your mouth.

Matcha is really one of my favourite flavours in summer because it is just so refreshing, and the vibrant green colour really cheers you up. One tiny complaint is that I couldn't find Japanese canned ed beans (anko) at the grocery stores near me, because a thin layer of red bean filling on the cake, topped with the cream would be perfect!

Oh well, I guess that's another excuse to make this again when I can get my hands on the red beans!

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Matcha Souffle Roll Cake
adapted from 'wa sweet recipe' by Fukuda Junko 

Makes 1 cake roll baked in a 29cm x 29 cm pan

Cake
4 eggs, separated
70g sugar
30ml vegetable oil
60ml water
80g flour
10g matcha powder

Cream Filling
1tbsp matcha powder
2tbsp sugar
1tbsp hot water
150ml whipping cream

Optional: 100g red bean paste (in original recipe, I forgot to buy it), matcha powder and icing sugar for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 190C, sift together matcha powder and flour, line baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Prepare the cake: Whisk the egg yolks and 30g of the sugar together, add in the oil, combine, then water and finally the flour/matcha mixture. Lightly whisk until well combined.
3. Whip the egg whites with half the remaining sugar until frothy, add the remaining sugar and whip until soft peaks form.
4. Using a whisk, mix in 1/3 of the beaten egg whites with the flour mixture. Mix in the remaining egg whites with a light hand to prevent losing air bubbles. Switch to a spatula and fold the mixture until no streaks of white remain.
5. Spread the cake mixture onto the pan and even off the top. Bake at 190C for 12-15 minutes
6. Let the cake layer cool down slightly and cover with cling film or a moist tea towel, let rest until completely cool.
7. Prepare the cream filling: combine the matcha powder, sugar and hot water to form a smooth paste. Let cool.
8. Whip the whipping cream with the matcha paste mixture until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
9. Gently peel off the parchment paper from the cake and lay it on a sheet of cling film slightly larger than the cake itself. If using red bean paste, spread it over evenly onto the cake. Spread the cream filling evenly on, you might not need all of it (eat it - yum yum), leaving a slight border on one edge. Roll the cake up tightly, wrap the cling film around it and chill in the freezer for at least an hour.
10. Sift on icing sugar and matcha powder for decoration if desired.

Matcha Cheesecake, Apologies and an Announcement

Hello everyone!

First comes the apologies - I know I've been an extremely bad blogger this year/summer. Yes, I promised that I'd post more frequently after IB was over...but who knew that summer was going to fly past so fast?

Which leads me into the "announcement" - in the blink of an eye, I am about to embark on the next phase of my journey in life. In two days' time, I will be leaving Hong Kong for university (college) in...wait for it...*drum roll*....Montreal, Canada! So My Buttery Fingers will be moving it's base kitchen over there too!

My last month was basically filled with shopping for clothes and supplies, seeing friends off, packing things, sorting out things for college, helping out at my church's English class and a camp - hence the lack of blogging.

I really don't know what the state of my "kitchen" in Montreal will be like - will there be an oven? An electric mixer? Are there spatulas around? It's impossible that I move my tools over there so I'll just have to make do with what's waiting for me there. I'll most likely be on a much tighter budget for groceries as an overseas student, so it would be necessary to save up for baking :(

As for the recipe for this post, I bring you this baked Matcha Cheesecake I made quite awhile ago. It's from a Japanese cookbook dedicated to cheesecakes my sister gave me for my last last birthday, which she insisted I bake from. This cheesecake is not too rich but still has a great creamy texture. The matcha taste stands out quite well - with it's always refreshing taste, it makes these luscious squares fit for eating in summer.

The recipe also comes with a white chocolate topping on top, but I found it quite unnecessary as the taste didn't stand out quite well and baked into quite an unattractive colour! I would omit it next time.

Hope you'll all enjoy this for now! Next post will be from Canada (land of maple syrup, yay) !

Matcha (Green Tea) Cheesecake
Adapted from Cheese Cake Book by Junko Fukuda, Yasuyo Shida and Kumiko Yanase (Original Recipe in Chinese)

Base
80g Digestive biscuits, crushed into fine crumbs
30g Unsalted butter, melted

Filling
250g Cream cheese
80g + 2 tsp Sugar (measure separately)
50g Whipping cream
1 Egg
1 tbsp Flour
2 tsp Matcha powder
1tbsp Brandy (I used rum)

White Chocolate Topping
20g Whipping cream
100g White chocolate, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C.
2. Mix digestive biscuit crumbs with melted butter, press into 8-in square pan. Chill until the filling is prepared.
3. Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth and creamy. Beat the egg in a separate bowl and mix it into the cream cheese mixture. Sift in the flour and combine.
4. Set aside 25g of the cream cheese batter. Beat in the brandy, matcha powder and the 2tsp of sugar into the remaining batter. Pour in the matcha batter into the pan, smoothen the top and chill until needed.
5. Place the cream and white chocolate into separate microwaveable bowls. Nuke the cream for 10-20 seconds until very hot, and the chocolate for 20 seconds. Mix the hot cream into the chocolate and blend well. Set aside until cool, and then mix in the previously set aside cream cheese batter.
6. Drizzle or pipe the white chocolate batter onto the matcha batter into a pattern. There might be some leftover white chocolate batter. Bake the cheesecake for 35-40 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan until it reaches room temperature, chill for 2-3 hours. Remove from the pan and cut into squares.

I'm Back, with Matcha and Cocoa Snowballs!

It's been a month. A month since school started, meaning a long lonely month without any baking done. I miss my spatula dearly. I miss carefully weighing out ingredients. I miss the familiar 'ding' sound the oven makes when the baking time is over. I miss taking photos of the end product and then munching it away with satisfaction.

Being a Year 13 student is not easy, the work just comes crashing on us like waves and never stops. Even baking has to step aside as I prioritise university applications, personal statements, tests and internal assessments first.

The list is endless.


But thankfully, I finally got the chance to breathe, take a break and bake something last week. My friend C., whom I've known since kindergarten, keeps on reminding me during our French lessons to bake and update my blog. She's one of the few people that reads my blog (she even showed her mum!), and it's always nice to know that other people appreciate what I do. So a shout out here to C. - Thank you for all the encouragement! :D

The name of these little treats might be a little confusing - the snowballs, in fact are just matcha and cocoa cookies dusted in icing sugar, so they resemble snowballs. But texture wise, they resemble snow too - because they melt in your mouth. They are so addictive it's hard not to pop these small little cookies into your mouth one by one until they're all gone!


They are incredibly easy to make, and I really enjoyed making them as I weighed the dough out equally and rolled them in my palms until each was a perfect sphere. Unfortunately, maybe the oven temperature was not correct or maybe because I didn't chill the dough overnight, they flattened out a bit so they are more like, snow domes. The dough is quite versatile too - I'd imagine that the matcha and cocoa powder can be swapped with espresso powder to create a coffee flavour.


Once they were properly cool and well dusted with icing sugar, I packaged them into small plastic bags as (extremely belated) birthday gifts - one for C., and the other for A., whom I chat to every single Biology lesson. So, Happy 17th to those girls!

Right, so back to work for now. I hope that I'll get to do some more baking soon!

Matcha and Cocoa Snowball Cookies
Adapted from Vanlily Sweetie Life (original recipe in Chinese)

Makes 25-30 (both flavours combined)

90g Butter, at room temperature
Pinch salt
30g Icing sugar
50g Ground almonds
100g Cake flour
6g Matcha powder
10g Cocoa powder
Icing sugar, for dusting

1. Using a wooden spoon, beat the softened butter and icing sugar until well combined.
2. Sift in the ground almonds and cake flour, mix well.
3. Spilt the dough in half. Gently knead the matcha powder into one portion, and the cocoa powder into the other portion.
4. Wrap the two doughs separately with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. (original recipe says to chill overnight)
5. Preheat oven to 170 C.
6. Working with one dough at a time, take 10g of dough and shape into balls. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat until all the dough is shaped.
7. Bake for 15-30 minutes until lightly coloured.
8. Let cool for a while, and transfer them to a cooling rack. Whilst the cookies are still warm, dust them with icing sugar.
9. When thoroughly cool, dust again with icing sugar and store in an airtight container.

Matcha Shortbreads + 7 Things

I'm back to school! Year 13, my last year of high school. We started school on Friday (strange, eh?) and on Thursday I was so sick of writing my extended essay I decided to ditch it and went to bake instead. I think I definitely deserved that baking session because I was working non-stop for the last week already!


I digress. Back to these shortbreads, these wonderful shortbreads. I know that they were all the rage around two years ago amongst many food bloggers, and I am the extremely untrendy latecomer that chose to bake these two years later on a whim. But I'm glad I did, because after the first bite, the recipe went straight to my keepers list. And of course I'm talking about the famous Kelli's Green Tea Sweets!

They are buttery and crumbly, and the green tea flavour was prominent enough to be noticed, but not overpowering that the whole thing tastes bitter. And the texture is lovely too - delicate and melt-in your mouth, but surprisingly both the dough and baked cookie held up really well. The shade of green came out perfectly - I thought that the matcha might have lost its colour after baking - I think the colour is very pretty! Along with the teeny crunch from the granulated sugar, it's currently ranking high in my favourite cookie list.

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I also recieved the 'Kreativ Blogger' award from 17 and Baking (another teenage baker - yay!). Thanks Elissa!

I'm supposed to write 7 things about myself...

1. I'm planning to study Biochemistry. Yeah, that's what I want to study at uni. Wish my luck in my uni applications (which are starting like....now!) - I am currently working through my personal statement.

2. I wish I could write better. I wish I was able to write more enticing posts, describe food better, but unfortunately, writing is not my forte at all!

3. I have a younger sister. Her name is Venus, and she eats alot of the stuff I make. We laugh at silly things together.

4. The thing I really hate in the world now is IB. Yes, I cannot express my hatred for this thing enough. The workload is so high it's incomprehensible. Normally on a school day, I sleep at 12 at the earliest, and the worst so far - I've stayed up until 3am, working.

5. I'm a Scout! Yep, I am currently a member of my Venture Scout troop, in a Scouts group I've been at since I was 10. I really love camping, because it's just so relaxing and fun when you go crazy with your friends in the middle of nowhere.

6. I really, really, really want to learn how to make macarons. I've only had 3 macarons before in my whole life, and I want to try making them. Unfortunately, after years of thinking 'I'll make it during the holidays' I still haven't gotten round to making them. - Sigh -

7. I love The Pioneer Woman. Pioneer Woman Cooks! was the first food blog I read, I still remember that the post was the Chocolate Sheet cake. Now, I read all the sections of her site, and I secretly wish I can live at a her ranch too.

Aaaand, I'm passing this along to Happy Home Baker, Florence of Do What I Like, Elyn of e's joie and Doreen of Desserts. Yum.
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Have you tried these matcha shorbreads yet? If not, I think you should go make them now!
Alright, I'm going back to work - I'll try to squish in a few posts about some of my other bakes/makes from summer soon!

Matcha Shortbreads
From Lovescool

3/4 cup (2.25 oz; 90g) Confectioners sugar
5 oz (142g) Unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 3/4 cup (8.5 oz; 219g) All-purpose flour (I used cake flour because I ran out of All purpose)
3 Large egg yolks
1.5 TBS Matcha (powdered green tea)
1 cup (200g) Granulated sugar (for coating)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (175 C). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the confectioner’s sugar and green tea together in a bowl. Add the butter and green tea/sugar mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth and light in color.
3. Add the flour and mix until well combined.
4. Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and a mass forms.
5. Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator until firm (about 30 minutes).
6. Roll the dough out to ½” (around 1cm) thickness.
7. Cut the dough with a leaf cookie cutter.
8. Toss each cut cookie in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat.
9. Place the sugar-coated cookie on a parchment lined pan. Bake at 350F (175 C) for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges.

Ice Cream Dorayaki

Wow. It's been three weeks since I've updated My Buttery Fingers! Although it's summer, I haven't been baking much. Here are some excuses: It's too hot. I have too much school work to do - EE, university applications, homework, revision and more revision. And work experience (for me, that's two weeks at a lab. It's really fun though!)

I might have not been in the mood to bake, but I was definitely in the mood for ice cream. More ice cream, I should say - but that's the only thing I've been churning out, so I apologise for the bombardment of posts about ice cream on my blog! But again, everyone screams for ice cream...right?


But this post isn't just about ice cream. It's about a twist on Dorayaki, a Japanese snack which is basically two pancakes sandwiched with a slather of red bean paste (anko). Here, its been transformed to an ice cream sandwich of some sorts - I've made Dorayaki filled with Matcha (green tea) and Red Bean Ice Cream.

Matcha ice cream is already a family favourite after making it a few times last summer. It's really refreshing, and the subtle bitter aftertaste is a great match with the creamy base, making it popular with the adults too.

Red bean, however, was a new attempt. And I was glad I made that attempt, because the ice cream is SO GOOD. I understand that beans in ice cream may not be something everyone would like, but please please please let me tell you about it: it's creamy, it has a great texture with the soft beans contrasting with the smooth, red bean infused ice cream base, and the rich milky flavour is just the perfect match with the mild sweetness of the red beans.


The fluffy and fragrant little pancakes are also great with the ice cream. I think the final product looks really cute! Maybe I'll try making mini ones next time. These can be made ahead so they are ready when you are craving for a refreshing afternoon snack or dessert - just wrap them individually in cling film and store in the freezer. I'm sure that other Japanese ice cream flavours would be a great pairing too - black sugar, tofu or black sesame.

But of course, the ice creams are also wonderful eaten on its own. A quote from FoodWishes.com:
"Stop Screaming for Ice Cream and Start Making Some." Enjoy! :D


Matcha (green tea) Ice Cream
Adapted from Ice Cream Book, by Junko Fukuda (original recipe in Chinese)

3tbsp Matcha powder
150ml Milk
2 Egg yolks
70g + 3tbsp sugar (measure separately)
120ml Whipping cream

1. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 tbsp of sugar with the matcha powder until smooth.
2. In a separate large bowl, whisk together 70g sugar and the egg yolks until pale yellow.
3. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until just about to boil.
4. Mix the yolks and the milk, adding the milk in small portions (so you don't end up with scrambled eggs!)
5. Pour the rest of the mixture (the custard) back into the pan. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens - it should coat the back of a wooden spoon.
6. Take a few tbsp of the custard and mix it with the matcha-sugar mixture. Dissolve it into the rest of the custard base. Strain the custard.
7. Place the bowl over an ice bath to cool, stirring occasionally. Chill the mixture until thoroughly cold.
8. Mix the cream into the cold ice cream mixture.
9. Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker, for around 20 minutes (time may differ according to your machine).
10. Transfer to an air tight container and chill until ice cream sets.

Red Bean Ice Cream
Adapted from Ice Cream Book, by Junko Fukuda (original recipe in Chinese)

100ml Milk
2 Egg yolks
55g sugar
150g Red bean paste (anko) (tsubushian - the type that still has some whole beans in it)
150ml Whipping cream

1. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and egg yolks until pale yellow.
2. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until just about to boil.
3. Mix the yolks and the milk, adding the milk in small portions (so you don't end up with scrambled eggs!)
4. Pour the rest of the mixture (the custard) back into the pan. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens - it should coat the back of a wooden spoon.
5. Strain the custard. Place the red bean paste in a large bowl, and mix in the custard.
7. Place the bowl over an ice bath to cool, stirring occasionally. Chill the mixture until thoroughly cold.
8. Mix the cream into the cold ice cream mixture.
9. Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker, for around 20 minutes (time may differ according to your machine).
10. Transfer to an air tight container and chill until ice cream sets.

Ice Cream Dorayaki
Adapted from Ice Cream Book, by Junko Fukuda (original recipe in Chinese)

Makes 10 pancakes/5 sanwiches
2 eggs
80g sugar
1tbsp honey
2tbsp water
100g cake flour
1/2tsp baking powder
Oil for greasing pan (something mild like vegetable oil, NOT butter - it think it's too rich)
Ice cream of your choice

1. Beat eggs and sugar together until pale in colour. Mix in the honey and water.
2. Sift in the flour and baking powder, mix together gently until no lumps remain.
3. Chill mixture for one hour.
4. Before frying the pancakes, mix the batter thoughrougly again. Have a wet cotton towel ready. Heat a non stick frying pan over medium heat and brush on a thin layer of oil. Remove the pan from heat and place on the wet towel to cool down the pan.
5. Using a ladle or measuring cup, pour in some batter to form a 10cm circle. Put on a lid, and cook the pancake over extreme low heat.
6. When bubbles appear on the pancake, flip it and cook until slightly brown. Cool on a wire rack. Repeat with rest of the batter.
7. Leave the ice cream to soften for a bit. Sandwich the ice cream in between two pancakes of similar size and shape, shaping it with your hand to even out the ice cream. Freeze again to harden the ice cream.
8. If not consuming immediately, wrap each dorayaki individually in plastic wrap and store in freezer.

It's Tea Time!

I love tea. I'd prefer it any time over soft drinks or juice. I love drinking many types of tea, from the slightly bitter Chinese Pu-erh tea after dinner, Japanese green tea (Matcha) whilst eating sushi, or a rich, creamy mug of Hong Kong milk tea. The post title refers to my two most recent bakes - Earl Grey Tea cookies and Matcha Chiffon Cake.


These cute little cookies are of the shortbread variety, but the method of making this is different to the pinwheel ones I made previously. I really love these cookies because when you take a first bite, it might seem that the tea flavour is not strong enough, but after a second, third bite, it tastes just like drinking a cup of milky Earl Grey Tea. They do not have a strong orange-y flavour either. You really can't resist munching on one...then another one...until the whole plateful is gone!



I first tried making chiffon cakes last year. At first I was really scared of whipping egg whites, but after making countless of these cakes (my mum loves them because they're not too sweet, and because of the soft and cottony texture), I think I've mastered the art of making a perfect chiffon. This particular matcha chiffon has a fresh and clean fragrance, and the ever-so-slight bitter aftertastes balances the sweetness perfectly. I've included some of my humble tips on making chiffon cakes below.


Both of these treats are great for snacking, and of course perfect consumed with a cup of your favourite tea during a relaxing afternoon! What is your favourite type of tea to use when baking?

Early Grey Tea Cookies
Adapted from Vanlily's blog (Original recipe in Chinese)
Makes 16-20 small cookies

1 teabag Earl Grey tea (I used Twinings)
1tbsp Milk
70g Butter, at room temperature
30g Icing sugar
Pinch Salt
120g All purpose flour
1/4tsp Baking soda

1. Put the milk into a small microwavable bowl and nuke it for around 10 seconds to warm it up. Cut open the tea bags, put the leaves into the milk. Cover and leave to infuse for around 30 minutes.
2. Beat butter and icing sugar with an electric mixer until soft and fluffy, beat in the tea-milk mixture
3. Sift in the salt, flour and baking soda. Gently fold into the mixture with a rubber spatula until a soft dough forms.
4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 30mins.
5. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180C. Gently flour your work surface and rolling pin. Roll out the dough gently until around 5mm thick, use cookie cutters to cut our shapes and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place the baking sheet, cookies and all into the freezer for around 5 minutes.
6. Bake for around 15-20minutes until pale golden. Remove and cool on a cooling rack, where they will crisp up.

Matcha Chiffon Cake
From Chiffon Cake Book by Junko Fukada (Original recipe in Chinese)
Makes one 17cm cake (plus some extra batter)

3 Egg yolks
80g Sugar
50ml Vegetable oil
60ml Water
80g Cake (low-protein) flour
10g Matcha (green tea powder)
4 Egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Whisk egg yolks, 1/3 of the sugar, oil and water together.
2. Pour in sifted flour and matcha, whisk until totally incorporated and no lumps remain.
3. Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until foamy. Pour in half the remaining sugar, beat for 2 more minutes, add in the rest of the sugar and beat until soft peaks form.
4.Place 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the flour mixture. Use a whisk to quickly mix everything together.
5. Add in the rest of the egg whites, incorporate gently but quickly. When some white streaks remain, swap to a rubber spatula and fold gently until the mixture is homogeneous.
6. Pour the mixture into the chiffon cake tin (you may need to slightly grease it beforehand to prevent sticking, but I skip this step). Rap the tin against the table a few times to get rid of large air bubbles.
7. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. The cake must be cooled upside down; stick the tin on a tall heavy bottle, leave until cake is completely cool before removing it from the tin.

Tips for making chiffon cakes
- When mixing the yolk mixture, ensure that no lumps remain to ensure a smooth batter after adding egg whites. You don't want to be deflating the mixture whilst attempting to get rid of those lumps!
- An indication as to when the whites are ready, a small 'peak' will form when you pull up your beaters. After reaching that stage, whip for another minute on low speed to stabilise the air bubbles.
- Mix gently when incorporating the two mixtures. Usually, just to be on the safe side, I use a spatula upon the second addition.
- If your cake is being stubborn and refuses to leave the tin, use a thin sharp knife or thin offset spatula and run it around the cake. it should pop out really easily.

Matcha and Chocolate

This was made two weeks ago, during my Easter holidays. No, I wasn't having a wonderful time relaxing, but I was slaving on my Geography coursework (which is now finished, thankfully).

I needed some stress relief. I hadn't baked in ages. So I decided to make bread. You know, the kneading and punching of dough is the best way to vent your frustration, and despite all the arm power used to knead, it is actually very therapeutic.

Many may ask that bread is so easily available at bakeries, why bother spending hours kneading, proofing and shaping just to make a few measly buns? Well, I personally think that fresh, piping hot homemade buns are just the reason why I do it. And, because I still think that being able to make soft, fluffy and tasty bread makes me feel pro, so I'm satisfying my inner ego as well :)

Okay, back to the recipe. Every time I want to make bread, I always turn to Happy Home Baker for her recipes. This time I chose this recipe, which seemed easy enough to make without me needing to run down to the supermarket to buy whipping cream or other ingredients.

So, the final product was wonderful fresh from the oven. The chocolate chips go really well with the refreshing taste of matcha, and the texture of the buns were just what I was looking for. And I'm pretty pleased with the result, maybe because the bottoms were not over baked and didn't turn dark brown. I blame this on my tiny, temperamental oven; sometimes I need to decrease baking temperatures by almost 20'C to get things baking without getting charred!

So, this was my first official food post on this site. Thanks for visiting my blog, and comments are very much appreciated!