By Raul Dias
Given my tripartite obsession with French, Japanese and Goan food—and to their patisserie components in particular—the novelty of this dessert struck me as brilliant as it was placed on my table after a particularly indulgent Japanese meal. Combining the highly skilled layer upon layer construction of a French mille-crepe cake meets Goan bebinca, interspersed with clouds of flavoured whipped cream and lending to it a sense of Japanese delicacy thanks to the sake that’s mixed into its batter, as well as the liberal use of green tea, is the 40-Layered Matcha Cake.
For the Japanese, tea—and especially green tea of the matcha variety—is something that is exalted to high gastronomic heaven. From the strict protocol-laden, tea ceremony where matcha takes the lead role, to the ubiquitous green tea-flavoured glutenous rice cake called mochi, you’re ne’er too far away from a close encounter of the delicious kind with the highly perfumed, yet subtly flavoured tea.
And taking the Japanese cuisine’s obsession with the matcha powder a step ahead, this far eastern rendition of the mille-crepe cake by Chef Ting Yen of Yuuka at The St. Regis Mumbai heroes the bitter-sweet green tea powder in two ways. First, each of the 40 layers are separated from each other with an unctuous whipped cream frosting to which a generous amount of matcha is added, while the final top layer is liberally dusted with the almost neon green coloured tea powder.
Cleverly offsetting the richness of this dessert are its other accoutrements that take the form of a a sticky rum-n-raisin sauce drizzle, a couple of tart raspberries and a refreshing sprig of mint. All this is finished off with shiny, tempered chocolate quills and shards, because what’s a dessert without a bit of chocolate indulgence?
(This column first appeared in the 4th February 2018 issue of The Hindu newspaper's Sunday Magazine section on page 8 http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/40-layered-matcha-cake/article22648332.ece)
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