Saturday 31 July 2010

Daring Bakers July Challenge: Part 2

Our guests have just left, the dishes are in the dishwasher, and I can now finally tell you more about this month's Daring Bakers challenge...


As I hadn't decided on what ice-cream flavours I would be making (it all hinged on what I would be serving for the main course), I started off by making a plain sponge and filled it with a custard cream. Once I'd settled on serving temaki zushi (hand-rolled sushi) for lunch, my mind was soon made up to fill the cake with matcha (green tea) and ginger ice-creams, with warabi mochi between the layers:


As there would only be four of us eating this dessert, I made a smaller version using a 1 litre bowl. The slices of Swiss roll look a big large really, perhaps I should have made min-rolls... I also thought I'd put too much matcha ice-cream in, leaving little room for the final layer of ginger ice-cream, but it turns out that the ginger had quite a kick to it and would have been overpowering had I added any more!


Using warabi mochi for the middle layer was a total gamble, I had no idea how it would handle being frozen (I'm afraid I cheated here and used shop-bought warabi-mochi - it is in fact very easy to make, but I didn't know that at the time ;-) - me bad!) Much to my relief, it didn't end up at all hard, just slightly chewy (kind of like a dense marshmallow).


This was definitely a grownup dessert, and although the kids got very excited about it as I brought it to the table, they were more than satisfied with their home-made rocky-road ice-cream :-). Except M, who would much rather eat what the oldies are eating (you should have seen her eating salmon roe by the spoonful) - at the age of (nearly) 3 she has a more adventurous palate than K!

So there you have it - Mark's Matcha Birthday Bombe! And there isn't any left...

Matcha Ice-Cream

100ml cream
3 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
100ml milk
1 tablespoon matcha (powdered green tea)

Mix the matcha with the milk. Whisk the sugar and egg yolks together until pale and light, then pour into a pan along with the matcha milk. Cook over a low heat, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens, then allow to cool. Whisk the cream until it is thick, then stir in the cooled matcha custard. Chill in the fridge for an hour or so before churning into ice-cream.

Ginger Ice-Cream

100ml cream
2 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
100ml milk
10g ground ginger

Make as above, mixing the ginger into the milk before preparing the custard.

8 comments:

  1. mmm I've been patiently waiting to see how it all turned out! I can see why it is a grown ups dessert and was wondering why you even bothered with a main!!

    The combination of flavours sounds amazing, with the chewy warabi mochi and ginger ice cream begging to be tried!

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  2. I think they'll forgive you for not making your own mochi! But then again... maybe we should suggest home-made mochi for a challenge! It would be fun seeing what people around the world make of it.

    I've been meaning to join the bakers or cooks for some time, but I am trying to convince a friend of mine to join me in it. We might do a few old ones first to try it, and I have my eye on this one!

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  3. Wow, it looks incredible! Amazing job, I love the sound of the flavour combination too!

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  4. Wow - well done. Bet that was the only DBC this month with such a Japanese twist! Looks hard and time consuming though. I'm almost glad I didn't make the cut for July!. Still haven't heard anything and can't log in and my email isn't in their records so I will need to register again. Will just go back and read their rule section again so am absolutely sure I get it right this time!!

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  5. That is a really cool (and tasty looking) cake! Makes me want to try!

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  6. That looks delicious Angela and I like the addition of the mochi too! :D

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  7. Wow. I am such a food novice, and could never even dream up something like this. You are so clever! And I love the little dog topping the cake - cute!

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  8. Thanks, Achan! I was so relieved that the warabi mochi didn't go rock hard! The ginger ice-cream was great - you can really only eat a small amount but is very refreshing. xxx

    Rachel, join, join, join! It's good fun, although not so good for the diet... xxx

    Thank you, Amelia! I really enjoyed this month's challenge, and now I am addicted to making ice-cream! xxx

    Hi GW, Actually, it wasn't too difficult this time - ice-cream is a cinch to make, the hardest part is not eating it! So happy you made it in time for the August challenge :-) xxx

    Thank you, Melissa! I could send you a slice... xxx

    Hi Lorraine! Thanks :-D The mochi was a bit of a gamble, was very relieved when it worked! xxx

    Hi Kelly! You are so creative, I'm sure you would come up with something wonderful! xxx

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