Matcha Opera

For no reason whatever, I made a cake. That's rare. Me thinks. I mostly venture to cakes only when there's something on, like a meeting with friends, a birthday or you know, something. But for this, this is just purely for the sake that this recipe has been in my bookmarks for almost close to two years. And it never strayed far from my mind. It was always there, a sly one, teasing and taunting me to make it. And so, I decided to make it. Just because.

Matcha Opera; the seductress.

Joconde; Buttercream and ganache; Scraps of leftover cake rolled with leftover ganache; Completed cake

I followed the above recipe exactly, the only changes made was that I made halved the proportions as I wasn't serving this to like a party or something. I had leftover cake scraps cos I made the joconde in a rectangular jelly roll pan, while I had leftover ganache cos I was afraid that there would be too little ganache if I halved it and so I used the original proportions for the ganache only. I hate wasting food. So what best to roll the scraps with a filling and make tiny sponge rolls. (:

Sifted matcha powder and Valrhona pearls; Individual slices

Layers broken down
 
Black sesame ganache

The creative touch of adding sesame seeds into the ganache was really good. Tastewise, it brought out a crunchy mouthful, and I get a delight in asking the tasters what they thought was in it. Most people knew there was something different, and some guessed the bits were nuts. I had fun telling them it was black sesame seeds instead. Hee.

As you can see from the above picture, at that point of time, I havn't tidy up the sides, thus the messy look of the layers. I trimmed off the sides of the cake to prettify it before slicing into individual portions for presentation.

Overall verdict? It was a challenge making a layered cake since I suck at it so, and I stuck to the original recipe. I must say I like the overall taste to it, but while matcha plays a primary role, it takes a backseat tastewise. The chocolate black sesame ganache overpowered the tastebuds (probably due to the thick layer I spread...) and the delicate matcha taste wasn't obvious though I did add more matcha powder than required for the joconde. I might consider making this cake again, while making slight amendments, such as adding again, more matcha powder, halving the ganache, or even changing the ganache to another flavour so it won't outshine the matcha flavour. It wasn't a complicated recipe or anything since I took my time baking and creating it in two days.

Sigh. These days. I'm feeling a bit in the dumps. I can't fall asleep at night. I only hit the sack at say 3 to 4am, and even then, it's just lying on the bed willing the sleep to come. I think the below words sorta of express how I feel now.

I'm drowning.

I'm suffocating.

I'm breathing. Not.

I'm panicked.

I'm stressed.

I'm fulfilled. Not.