Green Tea Ice Cream Cake

July is usually one of the busiest months for me. Apart from the fact that it's summer and I'm crazy about all things summer, it is also the month with so many birthdays. This particular friend of mine knows exactly what he wants for his birthday and that is a green tea ice cream cake, heck he sent me a reminder a few times starting from 3 months before his actual birthday, I couldn't even pretend to forget even if I want to.

It was simple enough that I actually wasn't worried about it. One of the hardest things I encountered when making cake for other people is to decide what cake to make, so many choices, so many combination, but yet only one that's supposed to be the right one, it's sort of the same as finding your soulmate... in a way (cheesy I know). So this time, I was so glad that I didn't have to go through that phase. The cake coincidentally falls into the theme of the month of July, National Ice Cream Month, how perfect!

Now, believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever made an ice cream cake. The reason? hmm.... I don't know, maybe I thought ice cream cake is just a boring cake with layer of sponge cake and ice cream alternating, nothing interesting? Besides, I don't normally eat that many frozen stuff due to my sensitive teeth, so it never occurred to me that making ice cream cake can be a challenging project especially if you're making your own ice cream.

It may look simple, but there were actually a lot of consideration going on to make this cake happens. Since this is my first time making an ice cream cake, I wouldn't know if the ice cream would be able to stand on it's own if I put it around the cake, would it melt under California heat, how do I decorate ice cream cake? The last question might be the most challenging one, I am so used to use fruits to decorate cakes, especially in the summer but I don't want the cake to be frozen if I decorate with it. Chocolate would be a good thing to use but again, it is so hard to work with chocolate during summer, unless you have a temperature-controlled kitchen. I did use white chocolate to decorate the sides, which was pretty messy too, but I've always wanted to brush something on chocolate and I'm loving the look of it.

There wasn't many interesting layer in this cake, I used two layers of matcha chiffon cake, and two layers of green tea ice cream. And since texture is so important to me, I was planning to put a layer of Valrhona crunchy chocolate pearl in the middle but it got left out! I was so in a rush to finish the layering before the ice cream melted and became a mess everywhere that by the time I finished the last layer, I remember the chocolate. It was too difficult to scrape the layer off to put the chocolate in, so I gave up that idea although I still think it would make a pretty awesome addition with the added crunch.

The green tea ice cream cake however, was delicious by itself! I used a recipe from "The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz, it's pretty much a basic vanilla ice cream cake with addition of matcha. Luckily, the recipe makes enough for 8" round with enough leftover to enjoy on its own. I'm not usually a fan of matcha everything just because often times, I would buy a matcha cake or matcha ice cream that taste anything but matcha. Some of them have a fake or cheap matcha taste, some of them look so green but the matcha flavor is hardly there. I did however tasted a really good matcha ice cream in a cafe a few weeks ago with strong matcha flavor and was in love with it. I added a few more tsp of matcha powder than what the original recipe calls for and I think it's just perfect.

I'm submitting this green tea ice cream cake post to Matcha Madness event hosted by Catty for the month of July. You can go over to her site after the event ends to find out how mad people playing with matcha and you'll be surprised to find so many matcha goodness out there.

Green Tea Ice Cream Cake
Yield: one 8" round cake

Green Tea Chiffon Cake
4 eggs (separate the yolk from the white)
100 g sugar (divided)
75 g cake flour
10 g green tea powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
50 g milk
50 g vegetable oil

Green Tea Ice Cream
adapted from "The Perfect Scoop"

500 ml heavy cream
250 ml whole milk
150 g sugar
6 egg yolks
6 tsp green tea powder (original: 4 tsp)

Decoration (optional):
Heavy Cream, whipped
Matcha paste (made with matcha powder and a little water to form a paste)

• To make the chiffon cake: Preheat the oven to 350 F and prepare two parchment-lined 8" round pans
  
• Whisk the egg yolk and 25 g sugar until it becomes a little pale.
• Add the milk and the oil and whisk well
• Combine together the flour, green tea powder, baking powder, and salt and sift them. Set aside.
• In another bowl, whip the egg whites until frothy, then add the remaining 75 g sugar gradually and continue whipping until it forms a glossy stiff peak
• Add the flour to the yolk mixture and whisk well
• Fold in the egg white in addition (about three), making sure there is no big lumps of meringue and don't overfold either.
• Divide the batter between the two pans and bake it for about 20 minutes or until done.
• Let cool until ready to use
• To make the green tea ice cream: Combine the sugar and the milk in a saucepan and bring it to simmer
• In a large bowl, combine together green tea and heavy cream, whisking lightly, then put a strainer on top. Don't overwhisk it as you would have whipped cream instead
• In another bowl, whisk the egg yolk and temper it with the hot milk, return it back to the heat
• Heat the mixture to about 85 C on a gentle heat, stirring non-stop
• Once the mixture reaches the temperature, take it off the heat on pour in over the strainer.
• Whisk the cream+milk mixture vigorously until the matcha powder dissolves (it will be frothy)
• Chill thoroughly and churn in the ice cream maker.
• To decorate: Whip the cream and the matcha paste
• Cover the cake with the matcha cream and decorate.
• If you decided not to use the whipped cream to cover the cake, you can also cover the cake in green tea ice cream just like a mousse cake.
  

Note:
I followed the method stated in the recipe, but personally, I would do it differently next time. The matcha powder is harder to dissolve in a cold liquid. Even after you added the hot milk mixture, the matcha didn't dissolve completely. I whisked the mixture for quite a while until most of the green tea has dissolved and I warmed it a little.

I think it would be better to use the normal "creme-anglaise method":

• Combine the cream and the milk together in a saucepan and bring it to simmer
• Meanwhile, whisk the yolks and the matcha powder, and temper it with the hot milk
• Bring it to 85C, stirring constantly
• Strain to remove any lumps (if any) and chill thoroughly
• Process in an ice cream maker