Green Tea Opera Cake

Lately, all I've been craving for is green tea flavoured things... I envisage green tea macarons, green tea mochi filled with azuki beans, green tea milk buns. The craving won over me and I thought: well, I don't really feel like making anything too finicky so macarons were definitely out of it and yeast really isn't my thing so after researching other recipes using green tea, I came across THE perfect one, if the glossy chocolate ganache doesn't tempt you, well sorry, I don't really think that's possible! It was quite finicky too but definitely so so worth it. All the members of my family gave me a BIG tick of approval for this one, it was so much better than any other green tea based cake I've had from bakeries etc. so that says alot. The whole process was really fun- it was kind of my first time making layer-y cakes and if I can do it, you can too! Enjoy. 

Green tea opera cake

Serves around 8

Recipe Adapted from Closet Cooking

NOTE: The only thing I did differently was that I just changed the white chocolate to dark chocolate as I thought the colours of the layers would look more defined with the dark chocolate. And plus, I didn't have a jelly roll, I just spread the sponge mixture thinly onto a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. 

For the Green Tea Cake:

3 large egg whites (room temperature)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup icing sugar (sifted)
1 tablespoon green tea powder (or more if you prefer)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter (melted and cooled)

1. Line a 12 1/2 inch by 15 1/2 inch jelly roll pan with parchment and grease it with butter.
2. Beat the egg whites in a bowl until they form soft peaks.
3. Add the sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy.
4. Beat the almonds, icing sugar, matcha and eggs in another bowl until light and voluminous.
5. Add the flour and beat until the flour is just combined.
6. Fold the meringue into the almond mixture.
7. Fold in the butter.
8. Pour the batter into the pan.
9. Bake in a preheated 425F oven until lightly browned and just springy to the touch, about 5-9 minutes.
10. Run a knife along the edges to loosen the cake form the pan.
11. Cover the cake with parchment paper, flip and unmould the cake.
12. Peel of the parchments paper flip and cover the cake while it cools.

For the Green Tea Syrup:

1/4 cup water

 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon green tea liqueur (I omitted this and just added about 1 tsp green tea powder)

1. Bring every thing to boil in a small sauce pan stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Remove from heat and let cool.

For the Green Tea Buttercream:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon green tea powder (or more if you prefer)
2 large egg whites
3/4 cups unsalted butter (at room temperature)

1. Mix the sugar and matcha in a small bowl.
2. Whisk the sugar and matcha into the egg whites in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until the mixture is hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. (The sugar should be dissolved and the mixture should look like shiny marshmallow cream.)
3. Remove the bowl from the heat and beat until the cream is cool, about 5 minutes.
4. Beat in the butter one stick at a time.
5. Beat the mixture until it thickens and becomes smooth, about 5-20 minutes.

For the Chocolate Ganache:

200g dark chocolate (chopped)
2 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Melt the chocolate into the heavy cream in a double boiler.
2. Set the ganache aside and let cool completely.
3. Whip the heavy cream in a large bowl.
4. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate ganache.

5. Refrigerate until used.

For the Dark Chocolate Glaze:

85g dark chocolate (chopped)

1/4 cup heavy cream

1. Melt the chocolate into the heavy cream in a double boiler.
2. Let cool for 10 minutes and then pour over the opera cake.

To Assemble:

1. Work on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Cut the cake into 4 6x7 inch pieces.
3. Place 1 sheet of the cake onto the baking sheet and moisten with syrup.
4. Spread 1/2 of the buttercream over the cake.
5. Place 1 sheet of the cake on top of the buttercream and moisten with syrup.
6. Spread the white chocolate ganache over the cake.
7. Place 1 sheet of the cake on top of the ganache and moisten with syrup.
8. Spread the remaining buttercream over the cake.
9. Place 1 sheet of the cake on top of the buttercream and moisten with syrup.
10. Pour the glaze over the cake and smooth it out.
11. Refrigerate until it sets, about 30 minutes.
12. Trim the sides to get a smooth finish.