Matcha, mascarpone and fresh mango cake topped with magnolia sugar flowers

In a point of life the interest in cake baking and decorating always leads to sugar craft. Although I am still at the very beginning of it, I have strong interest in making sugar flowers. And what a better opportunity to start than a friend's birthday.

The idea I had in mind was themed spring - with lots of blossoming magnolias peeking out of the front gardens and dominating the view, with their delicately purple-tainted elegant flowers.


So I started sketching some ideas how the ready cake should look like.


For the cake itself, I was thinking of green tea powder - matcha - and for the cream - fresh mango. The only thing I regret I did not do, but I should next time, was to spray the cake with a tablespoon of limoncello liqueur - that would make it even greater!
The method how to arrange the cake so it stays vertical and to fill with the cream came from blog posts by Irina Kupenska and by Dimitrana - two extremely talented Bulgarian bloggers and pastry chefs.
The recipe I was looking for was Swiss roll recipe with matcha. I modified this recipe for the cake, but used a different method of mixing the ingredients. I had to remember the basics in sponge mixing, learned some 15 years ago but proved to produce always a fluffy and airy cake.
But my favourite part was the making of sugar flowers! Easier than I thought, but still needs a lot of practice to make it perfect.



Now, the recipe:

It is advisable to start three days in advance.

for the cake: makes one 9 cm tall and 18 cm in diameter cake

4 eggs separated eggwhites and yolks

2/3 cup castor sugar
2/3 cup flour
2 tbsp matcha powder
2/3 tsp baking powder

equipment - jelly pan 26x38cm lined with baking paper

for the cream - to cover the cake:

200 gr Filadelphia cheese
300 gr double cream
250 g mascarpone cheese
4 tbsp icing sugar
grated skin of 1 unwaxed lemon
3-4 drops fresh lemon juice

1 ripe mango finely chopped


to cover the cake :

buttercream made of 150 g butter, 300 gr sifted icing sugar, 1 tbsp milk)

750 gr regal icing


Method:

Beat the egg whites with a mixer in a clean bowl until white peaks start appearing.
In another bowl beat the yolks with the sugar until the mixture starts to become white and fluffy and the sugar crystals have dissolved.
In another bowl sieve the flour with matcha and baking powder.
The most important thing to achieve the fluffy and airy texture is to add he egg whites and the flour to the yolks and sugar by alternating 1 tbsp of egg whites, incorporating them very carefully so the air in them does not evaporate because of mixing too vigorously. Then add one tbsp of the flour, matcha and baking powder mix and incorporate carefully so there are no bumps. Do so until all the egg whites and all the flour is incorporated. This would take 15-20 minutes but is totally worth it.
In the meantime preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Spray the roll pan with oil and lay a baking paper. Spray with oil the upper side of the paper as well, sprinkle a tiny amount of flour and place the mixture over it carefully, making sure it is even.
Bake for 8 minutes only. Remove from the oven, place on a towel. Line the top with baking paper and start rolling it. Then leave it rolled to cool.
Until the cake is cooling, make the cream.
In a bowl mix the mascarpone and Philadelphia cheese and mix until homogeneous.
In another bowl mix the double cream with the sugar and beat at high speed until firm, but do take care not to over do it. You can check if it is firm enough by starting to turn the bowl upside down - if the cream does not move - it is ready.

Unroll the cake - cut it to three equal parts lengthwise - should be around 6-7 cm wide each and 38 cm long.

Spread the cream to each of the parts. Sprinkle with mango cubes and roll the first stripe of cake. Place it in the middle of a cake board. The second strip roll over the first one directly on the cake board. Proceed the same way with the third stripe of cake.
Wrap the cake around with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 24 hours.



The next day make the butter cream by mixing the butter and sugar and milk until smooth.
Cover the top and sides of the cake and make sure the cake looks even from all sides.
Leave in the fridge for more 12 hours.

This is the time to start making the sugar flowers if you do so because they will need to dry well before putting them on the cake.



The next day roll the regal ice up to 0.5 cm thick and cover the cake carefully.
Top with the flours and lave for 5-6 hours before consumption.