Sweet Tooth Experiments

Tag Archives: Green tea

Bulgur Lemon Almond and Green Tea Cake

Posted on Posted in Cakes .

Bulgur Lemon Almond and Green Tea Cake

Bulgur Lemon Almond and Green Tea Cake recipe

If you follow my blog and the recipes I post ever week you will be well aware that a large amount of my recipes feature grains. Millet, quinoa, couscous, oates, wheat, corn, amaranth and rice too name a few! However I recently came across Bulgur, in which I have very limited knowledge and experience with. Not until I did some research did I realise this grain is most known for being the core ingredient in tabouli.

As soon as I experience a new grain that I’m not familiar with I cannot help myself but to start experimenting.

So unsurprisingly as soon as I brought a packet bulgur I got busy cooking the grain to understand its taste, texture and optimal cooking method. I additionally experimented with using cooked bulgur & uncooked in the batter as well as varying nuts, citric fruits, seeds, essence and powders (protein and teas).

From here I went full steam ahead coming up with recipe ideas, landing on 4 key variations.

My favourite recipe featured the flavour pairing of lemon, almond and weirdly green tea. Not only do these flavours work wonderfully together they compliment the nuttiness of the bulgur grain.

To add a variation to the cakes texture I added a smooth and creamy frosting, which very much enhances the cake, bringing it from nice and tasty to delicious and satisfying.

If your interested in making an usual cake with a range of textures that taste delicious then this cake cannot be bypassed.

Bulgur Lemon Almond and Green Tea Cake recipe

 

Ingredients:

Batter:

  • 200g bulgur, cooked
  • 50g butter, softened
  • 80g sugar
  • 1 egg
  • ½ tsn almond essence
  • ½ tsn vanilla essence
  • 1 + ½ tsn lemon zest
  • ¼ tsn salt
  • 25g matcha powder
  • 3 green teabags
  • 50g almond meal
  • 25ml milk
  • 45 self-raising flour
  • 2 tbsn lemon juice

Frosting:

  • 130g icing sugar
  • 10g matcha powder
  • 200g cream cheese
  • 90g butter, softened
  • ¼ tsn lemon zest

 

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 175c degrees and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
  2. Whisk butter and sugar together with electric beaters for 5 minutes or until creamy and pale.
  3. Add the egg, essences, matcha powder, zest and salt to the butter mix, beat until well combine and silky.
  4. Place 3 green tea bags into a bowl along with the milk, stir and heat in the microwave until boiling. Place aside until cooled.
  5. Add the bulgur, almond meal, tea milk, flour and juice to the butter mix, whisk on low speed until combine.
  6. Pour the mix into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
  7. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack until cooled.
  8. Meanwhile make the frosting by placing all the frosting ingredients into a bowl and beat with electric beaters until fluffy and smooth.
  9. Cut the cooled cake in half horizontally.
  10. Place one cake layer on a plate, top with half the frosting.
  11. Place the 2ndcake layer on the frosting and top with the remaining frosting.
  12. Decorate with green tea leaves and diced almonds if you wish.
  13. Cut into slices and enjoy.

 

Bulgur Lemon Almond and Green Tea Cake recipe

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Bulgur Lemon Almond and Green Tea Cake recipe

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Bulgur Lemon Almond and Green Tea Cake recipe

 

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Green Tea and Pistachio Eclairs

Posted on Posted in France .

Green Tea and Pistachio Éclairs

Green Tea and Pistachio Eclairs recipe

This recipe came to me when I was looking at pairing two strong, similar and complimentary flavours together, these being Green Tea (a core Asian slightly bitter tea) with pistachios (core Middle East staple nut).

To balance out the savouriness on the palette I then introduced the integration of white chocolate.

Though the mix of Asian, Middle Eastern and French (the origin of Eclairs ) palettes sounds bazaar and all over the shop this little treat is super tasty, delighting all that experience its uniqueness.

Ingredients:

Éclair:

  • 90g butter
  • 250g water
  • 150g flour
  • 1 tbsn sugar
  • ¼ tsn salt
  • 4 eggs

Filling & Icing:

  • 400g cream
  • 100g pistachios
  • 45g Matcha
  • 50 icing sugar
  • 120g choc
  • 40g butter

 

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200c degrees and place baking paper on 2 large baking trays.
  2. Place the butter and water into a saucepan and stir on a medium heat until bubbles start to form.
  3. Combine the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl and stir to combine.
  4. Add the flour mix to the water mix and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mix comes away from the sides of the pan in a ball.
  5. Remove the saucepan off the heat and leave for 5 minutes, allowing for the pastry mix to cool.
  6. Beat the eggs in a bowl with electric beaters. Following add the pastry mix beating until the egg is fully combine and incorporated.
  7. Fit a pastry bag with a 3cm tub nozzle and pipe 12cm pastry strips 3cm apart onto the baking paper. Cut the pastry ends with a wet knife.
  8. Bake pastry in the oven for 10 minutes.
  9. Turn the oven down to 190c degrees and bake for a further 20 minutes, or until the pastry is puffy and golden brown.
  10. Turn off the oven and cut the éclairs in half horizontally. Following remove some of the pastry soft center from the éclairs.
  11. Place the eclairs back in the oven for a further 10 minutes to dry out.
  12. Following leave the éclair shells aside to cool completely.
  13. To make the filling beat the cream until soft peaks form.
  14. Place the pistachios into a food processor, blitz to a finely diced consistency.
  15. Add 25g of the Matcha powder, the icing sugar and 70g of the pistachios into the whipped cream, beat until combine and firm peaks form.
  16. Spoon the cream filling into the middle of half of the éclairs where you previously removed some of the centre. Top the cream filling with the remaining eclairs.
  17. To make the ganache icing place the butter and chocolate in a saucepan on a low heat and stir until melted, combine and glossy.
  18. Add 20g of the remaining pistachios to the ganache with the remaining 20g of Matcha powder, stir until well combined.
  19. Spoon the ganache icing over the top of the éclairs.
  20. Place eclairs in the fridge to set the ganache icing for a minimum of 30 minutes.
  21. Sprinkle the remaining 10g of pistachios on the éclairs and enjoy.

 

Notes:

  • Matcha powder is green tea powder, the same powder used to make green tea ice-cream.

 

Green Tea and Pistachio Eclairs recipe

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Green Tea and Pistachio Eclairs recipe

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Green Tea and Raspberry Slice

Posted on Posted in Slice .

Green Tea and Raspberry Slice

Green Tea and Raspberry Slice recipe

 

I have no idea where this recipes inspiration came from. I believe I wanted to use up some Matcha powder I had left over from recent baking.

To mix things up from the norm I wanted to play around with weird and unusual flavors I could pair with the Matcha’s green tea taste that would surprisingly work like partners in crime.

After a bit of experimenting it was the Green Tea and Raspberry pairing that was an interesting and tasty concoction of flavors.

Now if you are a follower of my blog you will note I have struggled in the past with green tea, which was a frenemy ingredient of mine until my recent Green Tea Melting Moments. This influenced me to make the green tea cake base as simple as possible.

It’s the raspberry layer where I have added in my unusualness by making a somewhat jelly style raspberry icing layer.

Another creation that has succeeded in impressing 🙂

 

Ingredients:

Cake:

  • 125g butter
  • 115g sugar
  • 1 tsn vanilla essence
  • 1 egg
  • 175g self raising flour
  • 3 tbsn matcha

Icing:

  • 200g raspberries
  • 155g butter
  • 80g icing sugar
  • 2 tsn gelatine powder
  • 75ml hot water

 

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 20cm square cake tin.
  2. Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and beat with electric beaters for 5 minutes of until light and fluffy.
  3. Add the egg and beat for a further minute.
  4. Sift the flour and matcha and fold the mixture until combine.
  5. Place the mix in the tin and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until lightly golden on top.
  6. To make the icing place the gelatine and 75ml of boiling water in a small bowl and whisk until the gelatine has dissolved and thickens.
  7. In another bowl using electric beaters beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  8. Mash the raspberry with a fork then beat the raspberry until well combine.
  9. Add the gelatine and beat until the mix is smooth and combine.
  10. Pour the icing mix over the cake base then place in the fridge for at least 3 hours to set.

Notes:

  • Matcha is a green tea powder that can be found in Asian supermarkets or specialty stores.

 

Green Tea and Raspberry Slice recipe

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Green Tea and Raspberry Slice recipe

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Green Tea Melting Moments

Posted on Posted in Biscuits .

Green Tea Melting Moments

Green Tea Melting Moments recipe

For a long time now I have attempted to bake with green tea. I have made multiple cakes, shortbread, cupcakes, even a slice and nothing has turned out to satisfactory results or expectations.

I have a feeling this latest attempt is green tea attempt #6 and I am pleased to say  I have finally come up with the goods!

Now usually when baking with green tea I would use Matcha (green tea powder), however this ingredient can be very difficult to come by (definitely for me) and I was not about to travel all the way to the city to buy it! Therefore I decided to use green tea leaves. In the past when I have used loose green tea the results have not been great so instead of adding the tea to the recipe I decided to infuse the liquid ingredients with the tea to bring out the flavour (the same way hot water does with a cup of tea).

This may seem weird but it definitely works and actually has a better green tea flavour than using Matcha (green tea powder).

Therefore finally…after a few years of attempting… introducing  my Green Tea Melting Moments!

Green Tea Melting Moments recipe

Ingredients:

Biscuit:

  • 300g butter
  • 37g loose green tea (or 15 green tea bags if you don’t have loose)
  • ½ cup custard powder
  • 1/3 cup icing sugar
  • 1 + ¼ plain flour
  • 1 tsn baking powder
  • 1 cup + 1 tbsn icing sugar

 

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c and line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.
  2. Place the 300g butter in a saucepan on the stove on medium until bubbling.
  3. Turn to low, add the green tea leaves (if using bags cut and pour in the butter) and let the ingredients simmer for 10 minutes to allow the butter to infuse the flavor.
  4. Once simmered pour through a sieve into a bowl and place in the fridge to harden again.
  5. Place 180g of the butter into a bowl once the butter is set again and using electric beaters beat on high for 2 minutes.
  6. Add the custard powder and icing sugar beating for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
  7. Add the flour and baking powder and beat until combine.
  8. Spoon the mix into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe onto the baking paper in 4 cm rounds.
  9. Bake in the oven for 16 minutes or until golden.
  10. Allow the biscuits to cool on the tray for 5 minutes then you may transfer onto a cooling rack.
  11. For the filling beat with electric beaters the remaining butter (this should be 100g) and icing sugar on high for 5 minutes until fluffy and light.
  12. Using a spoon place 1 tsn of filling on a cooled biscuit and sandwich with another biscuit on top.

 

Notes:

  • You will notice I have listed 300g of butter but the recipe only calls for 280g. This is due to the tea soaking up some of the butter when infusing, therefore resulting in some butter lost. If you still need more butter just top up with standard butter to hit the required amount.
  • If you would prefer to use Matcha powder instead of the loose green tea what you will need to do is:
    • Omit steps 2, 3 and 4 of this recipe.
    • Use 200g butter for the biscuit (increase of 20g).
    • Add 3 tbsn of Matcha when you add in the flour and baking powder.
    • Add 1 tbsn of Matcha to the filling mix and omit the extra 1 tbsn of icing sugar for the filling.
    • Beat the Matcha with the butter and icing sugar all at the same time.

 

Green Tea Melting Moments recipe

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