2011年2月3日 星期四

[Food 001] 20110118: Daring Baker Challenge January - Matcha Joconde Imprime with Matcha Biscuit Cuillere and Matcha Bavarois

Blog check line: The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.


I've known about Daring Bakers for a long time but I never had the courage to join until now because I wasn't sure I could be able to accomplish every task for each month, but I realized 'why not try it if i want to try it?  There's nothing I need to afraid of!'  So, here I am, participating the first challenge of the Daring Bakers, and I'm glad I did it!  


So, when I found out the first DB challenge was to make a Joconde imprime, I was excited and worried at the same time. I was excited that this was my first ever DB challenge and I was so going for it, but at the same time, i  had no idea what joconde imprime is...I don't even know how to pronounce it!  Eek!!

Once i understood the Challenge by reading the instruction over and over and over (and over), i started to brainstorm the ideas.. like what type of pattern I'm going to draw, what kind of entremet i'm going to make and put in, would i be even able to make the pattern, let alone making the cake stands on its own.. With a lot of ideas, i had to remind myself that i'm not very good technical-wise, so what i'm going to do is to keep things simple. Eventually, i was set on making a matcha joconde with a matcha bavarois and Joconde cake layer.  

As a slow pace baker, I decided to bake each component of the whole cake separately.  First up, for the joconde imprime, I need to make the cigarette paste and then the joconde sponge.





Making the cigarette paste was pretty easy, however I put in a bit more matcha powder than I needed to, so my green colour was a bit darker than my ideal green in the final outcome.  I'm gonna make sure I don't put too much next time.
 

Then I made the Joconde sponge.  I made the first batch with the egg whites powder I bought from Wilton's.  And it's a failure. The "egg whites" turned out really lumpy and i couldn't use it for the joconde sponge, so I decided to use real egg whites before ruining my other ingredients. I wonder if any other bakers who are using the egg white powder can tell me how I can really use it, as I could only guess that I was using it incorrectly.




I used 1/2 of the Joconde pattern recipe and 1/4 of the Joconde sponge recipe and baked in 2 silpats. The first one, I was having no trouble at all and the pattern came out so smooth and clear.  I was so proud of myself and then I ruined the second one!!  Luckily, at the end I could actually used both of the Joconde imprimes (with a lot of trimmings of course) to make 8 long strips..and forgot to cut a piece for the cake base!  So I needed to make a cake base and the entremet layer as well.  


So I decided to make a matcha biscuit a la cuillere (ladyfingers) for the cake base and entremet layer.  I used the recipe from a Japanese cook book written by Toru Yumita.  It's a very good recipe with clear instructions, however, I made a mistake by making the egg yolk mixtures too early and it ended up solidifying in pieces, so when I tried to add it into the egg whites the batter couldn't be smooth enough (as seen in the picture)...although it's still pipe-able.






One day before eating it, I started to make the Matcha bavarian cream.  I also followed by the recipe in that same Japanese cook book I mentioned earlier, and let me tell you, it's a very awesome recipe!  For the whole part of the cake, I enjoyed the bavarian cream the most, not only it's tasty, it's very easy to make as well!  I don't usually eat cakes with mousse or bavarian cream, but this one, I like!  And I'm definitely gonna try more recipes from that book!



Finally, the assembling.  I was very worried about that because I'm not an artistic person, I tried to be more artistic but I don't have that talent..so..here's what I made with my best effort.



It's rather easy to take out the cake from the mousse rings, I didn't even use a hot towel to warm the cake rings, I just pushed it by the sides and the cakes came right out.  I used a small spatula to smooth the surface of the bavarian cream and let the cake set in the refrigerator.  Then on the next day when I was about to take them out for dinner, I whipped up some matcha cream for decoration, put it on top of the cakes, then I used a piping bag to pipe some patterns that I could think of at that moment (yes, I was so unprepared :( ), and here it is, my 2011 Jan DB challenge is done!





Along the way I made tons of mistakes, yet I learned a lot and I enjoyed every second of making it.  Challenge or not, I will for sure make this again later and I can't wait to do that!  Thank you so much Astheroshe for giving me such a wonder challenge!  Now let's wait for the Feb challenge...can't wait, can't wait~






9 則留言:

  1. Thanks for visiting my blog and for your kind comment! Welcome to the DBs and congrats on your very successful first challenge. The designs are gorgeous and the fillings look delicious! Great job!

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  2. Welcome to DB and congrats on your first challenge! You did a fantastic and beautiful job. And I love the matcha flavor.

    Re egg white powder. I have used it to make meringue and cakes. I usually stir the powder thoroughly but gently into the water and let the mixture sit for at least 20 minutes before whipping. Hope that helps.:)

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  3. This is exactly the green colour that I wanted my joconde to be but mine was much paler. You've done wonderful work!

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  4. Wow your joconde is so beautiful and thin too! It looks so expert :D

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  5. Congratulations on completing your first Daring Bakers challenge and welcome! It was a very involved challenge, and you did a fantastic job. I love the colours and designs you've chosen. I don't usually plan these things either and it all works out in the end! Hope you're enjoying this month's challenge.
    :)

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  6. Welcome to the Daring Bakers! I can see these being a fantastic ending to a St. Patrick's Day meal, where everything was green. Nicely done!

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  7. I like everything about your entremets. The colour, the decoration on top and the perfect finish too.
    Welcome to the DB community and a great job with your first challenge.

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  8. Your entremets look wonderful! I'm sure they were delicious, I love matcha. The ladyfingers were a great idea too!!

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  9. Ahhh matcha :) The filling looks so tempting :D

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