My good friend cum sister from my church cellgroup asked me two weeks ago if I could bake her daughter a simple matcha birthday cake. My reply was I have never bake one before and am not sure how it would taste like. I am thankful that she trusted me and left everything to me. Her only request was that azuki red beans (which pairs very well with matcha cake) not to be used at all as her girl does not like it. I have used my usual sponge cake recipe and baked a three-layer matcha cake. As for the frosting, I have chosen cookies and cream (I think I must be the first and only one who have ever tried this combination in cakes!), thanks to my daughter's idea. It turned out to be a great combination after all! As for the cake design, I was not contented with the usual sprinkling of matcha powder over the surface of the cake although my friend only asked for a simple cake. I wanted to give the birthday girl a surprise and planned to do a doll face cake design for her. It turned out to be really challenging for me as I have never ever piped such a cake before. I encountered difficulty in frosting a smooth cake with my inexperience and had to redo the frosting more than thirty times before I was satisfied. The hot weather was not in favour too and caused the whipping cream to melt fast. I had to take the bowl of whipping cream in and out of the fridge so many times until I lost count! Finally after more than an hour, I got a rather smooth finish, yay! The next task was to pipe the braided hair, another challenge for me. I had mixed premium 70% dark chocolate with the whipping cream instead of adding colouring to it as I believe in using all natural and premium ingredients in my bakes. My friend told me that her girl who dislike chocolate cream surprisingly love the taste of my chocolate cream. I reckoned that those she tasted before could have been made of colouring and flavouring and definitely cannot fight the taste of real and natural food! The last challenge was to pipe the facial features and I could not afford to make any mistake or I would have to refrost the whole cake again! Many thought I used black colouring or edible black coloured pen to draw the eyes, nose and mouth. I have used melted premium 70% dark chocolate instead. When my friend first saw the cake, she was totally impressed with the design as it was more than what they had expected. Her girl loves both the look and taste of the birthday cake. In fact her family finds the cake pleasant and yummy as the matcha flavour is very good and fragrance and the sweetness level of the cake is just right. I am very happy to receive such positive feedback for a cake which I have not made and tasted before. My seven hours of effort spent making this cake is defintely worth it ! Receive many compliments that the girl is pretty and cute! This is a photo which my friend sent to me to show me how the interior of the cake looked like after it was cut. Here's sharing it with you. © Copyright 2014 bakingtaitai.blogspot.sg