The matcha green tea macarons that I shared last week were delightful by themselves, but I really wanted to incorporate them some way into an entremet cake.
That’s where this chocolate and matcha green tea entremet with a chewy dark chocolate brownie layer, vanilla crémeux, chocolate joconde cake, a thin layer of matcha mousse, glaçage au chocolat, and, of course, a matcha macaron comes in.
Matcha, if you have never heard of it before, is a strikingly coloured green tea powder from Japan. Unlike most teas, which you can prepare by soaking a teabag in water, matcha is meant to be stirred in and dissolved in the water.
Matcha is a little bit like hot chocolate mix, except much greener and without the taste of hot chocolate. I guess the only similarity really is that both powders are soluble in water.
I realize that given some of the somewhat complex recipes and step-by-step tutorials I have in the archives one might incorrectly assume that something simple like a vanilla panna cotta would not excite me.
The best dishes, however, are often the simplest. The panna cotta, an Italian dessert as traditional as the tiramisu, epitomizes this idea. I am astonished that a dessert made from so few ingredients, simply stirred together and gently heated to a simmer, could be so wonderful.
