How to Make: Kinako Yoghurt/Yogourt/Yogurt/ Mousse Cake (きなこのヨーグルトムースケーキ)(酸奶慕斯蛋糕)(Asian Style Cake)

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!  Today I will share with you a very pretty cake! It is a Yoghurt Mousse Cake that is very common at Asian Bakeries.  It is not too sweet and very elegant.  The mousse is airy, creamy and delicious. Oishi!  I made mine with Kinako, which is roasted ground soy beans which sort of taste like peanut butter.  I thought the colour would be nice and complement the Thanksgiving spirit. Please try it with Matcha green tea powder, cocoa, orange, strawberry and other flavours.  They are delicious too!  This is relatively easy to make, if you follow the steps, and there are quite a few.  Be patient and you'll be greatly rewarded with this beautiful cake!

Kinako Yoghurt/Yogourt/Yogurt/ Mousse Cake (きなこのヨーグルトムースケーキ)(酸奶慕斯蛋糕)(Asian Style Cake)
Yields: 1 cake
Preparation Time: 40 min
Idle Time: 10 hours


Ingredients for 12 cm (5 inch) Cake Tin: (for larger cake tins double the ingredients for every 3 cm  ex: 21 cm cake tin-use 4 eggs and 80 gm of flour) 

Chiffon Cake:

• 1 egg
• 20 gm  of All Purpose Flour
• 5 gm of Cornstarch
• 20 gm of sugar
• 5 gm of honey
• 15 mL of melted butter or oil
• 25 mL of water
• 1 tbsp of of the following: Kinako, Cocoa, Matcha, Vanilla, Orange zest, Prepared Coffee

For Mousse:

• 100 mL of milk
• 100 gm of Yoghurt/Yogourt/Yogurt (*see note below)
• 100 mL of Heavy Whipping Cream
• 35 gm of sugar
• 8 gm of unflavoured Gelatin
• 20 mL of hot water
• 1 tbsp of the following: Kinako, Cocoa, Matcha, Vanilla, Orange zest, Prepared Coffee

For the jelly-glaze topping:

• 1 tbsp of boiling juice, or prepared coffee
• 2 tbsp of room temperature or cold juice/coffee
• 1 gm  of unflavoured gelatin (1/4 tsp)
• Sliced Fresh fruit

Method:

Chiffon Cake Layer

• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (350 degrees F).  
• Separate the egg white from the egg yolks.  Using a whisk or an electric beater, beat the egg whites until they become foamy, and slowly add in 5 gm of the sugar, and continue beating until they are doubled in volume and it looks glossy- this is called stiff peak stage.  Set aside
• Combine the egg yolk, the remaining sugar, and honey.  Sift in the flour and cornstarch and mix well. 
• In a separate bowl, combine butter/oil, flavouring (I used Kinako), and water until well dissolved. Add it into the egg yolk mixture and stir well.  Combine the egg yolk mixture and the whipped egg whites gently by using a folding motion.
• Transfer the batter to a cake tin lined with parchment paper (or if you don't have parchment paper, grease the pan generously and dust it with a teaspoon of flour).  Bang the filled tin on a hard surface 5 times to remove the air bubbles.
• Bake for 20 min, or when a toothpick or knife inserted in the centre comes out fairly clean.

Mousse:

• Whip the cold heavy whipping cream until it is thick (medium peaks).  Fold in the yoghurt/yogourt/yogurt with the whipped cream.
• In a bowl, combine the milk, sugar, and kinako.  Stir until everything is well combined.  Gently add in the Whipped cream-yoghurt mixture.  This is now the mousse mixture.
• Dissolve the gelatin in boiling water and wait for 1 min to cool down.  Add in to the mousse mixture.

Assembly:

• Cut the cake in half and remove about 1 cm around the edges (the crust) to make space for the mousse.  Put the first layer in either a spring form pan, cake ring or a cake tin with a removable bottom.  Put in half of the mousse mixture on top, pressing it firmly around the edges to remove any air bubbles.
• Add in the second layer of cake, and pour the rest of the mousse mixture, again firmly pressing the edges with the back of a spoon.  Bang it on a hard surface about 5 times to ensure that there are no air bubbles.
• Let it set in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight until firm. 
• When the mousse has set, making the jelly glaze topping.  Combine the boiling juice or coffee and gelatin until it has completely dissolved.  Add in the cold or room temperature juice/coffee and let it cool completely (about 5 min).  Pour over the mousse cake and let it set for about 3 hours or longer.  Unmould the cake, to make it easier warm the edges with a blow dryer.
• Garnish with freshly whipped cream and fruit! Yummy.

Tips/Notes/Suggestions:

• **I used whole (homo) milk yoghurt, it was already thick, but if the yoghurt you have is very runny, then place it in paper towel and squeeze very lightly until some of the water drains out.
• Banging the cake batter before prevent it from rising too much.  Banging the cake after will prevent it from shrinking too much when cooling.
• Timing is very important.  When making the mousse, don't let it sit too much or else it will become too set to pour over the cake, and will increase your chance for having air bubbles between the layers of the cake.
• Decorate the cake as your liking!  Fresh fruit and whipped cream, maybe some chocolate or plastic signs?
• Try other flavours in place of kinako, replace this wherever kinako is used:

•  Matcha/Green tea and replace the coffee jelly with matcha jelly (just substitute with matcha powder).   

•  Instant Coffee/Espresso Powder- use the same coffee jelly. (This one is very good)   

• Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Blackberry- use strawberry, blueberry, raspberry or blackberry yoghurt.  You might want to consider reducing the amount of sugar in the mousse.

• Mango or other fruit- Use mango puree instead of the water and kinako, and use mango juice instead of coffee for the jelly. 

• Chocolate- Use cocoa powder, instead of kinako, and adjust the sugar to your sweetness.  Use the coffee jelly, it complements the chocolate very well