the Nom Lab.: 2017

Manic Tokyo in Bloom

By Passionthy 12:47 PM JPAdventures, No Recipe, Travel

On-board the Skyliner. Direction: NRT to Tokyo.

Sumimasen... Kore wa, doko desu ka?

(Excuse-me... This, where is it?)

Um, sumima-...

An almost imperceptible sigh, a shake of the head, and he was gone, the steely navy of his jacket swallowed in the frantic blur of the rush hour crowds.

I stood in the middle of the suits and echoing clack-clack of heels brushing past me in a manic pace, holding on a crumpled map dampened by the evening downpour. Blogs and travel books have repetitively warned the unaware traveler of Tokyo's bustling pedestrian life, especially at the end of the day, but being at a standstill in the middle of it all is a bewildering experience.

I had walked around Ōtsuka Station three times already, dragging my suitcase and hauling my backpack up and down the hilly road as I tried to ineffectually find my AirBnB.

My head was spinning. I was starting to realize how overwhelming the scale of the language barrier was. And it was raining. That's never good juju.

Did I ask directions from this NewsDays cashier yet? Maybe they've changed shifts.

I headed out again, trudging towards the same general direction as several other train station officers had shown me within the past hour. Up the road, I resigned myself to scrutinizing the neighboring shops once more.

Pastry store, ramen shop... Where. Is it?!

I have looked everywhere.

Well, except for that dark alley branching out in the middle of the main street. But there's no way it's there, is it?

...Oh, would you look at that. It is there. ..Who would've thought.

And it's actually not that dark in here.

The building was neatly tucked in the small side street, and the room was just as small and just as neat. I blacked out from the exhaustion as soon as I laid down, a faint thought drifting through the grogginess - I'm kind of hungry.

Shinjuku: Neon Wonderland.

Oden vending machine. The blue row comes out cold; the red row comes out piping hot!

I woke up hangry.

The amazing thing about Japan (one of the many things I've fallen in love with), I quickly found out, was the accessibility of quality foods and drinks on pretty much every street block. According to japan-experience, "it is said that in Japan there is a konbini for every 2000 inhabitants".

Konbinis - short for "convenience stores" are the Japanese version of your all-purpose corner store. While the gas stations around my house sell dubiously dated sandwiches, Japanese konbinis are replenished with delicious fresh salads, bentos, sushi platters and ready-to-eat rice and noodle bowls daily. Within a short 3 minutes walk of my AirBnB, I was munching on onigiris and I had grabbed a piping hot coffee from a vending machine on the side of the street.

Living the onigiri life.

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Umeboshi onigiri.

Into the Golden Gai.

My days in Tokyo whirled by in a blur of strikingly bright neon lights, sakura petals and JR line tracks, fast mode cinematic style. I had arrived right during the blooming season of the cherry blossoms, and the cherry tree-lined rivers and national parks were chock-full of hanami parties and festival vendors. It was a gorgeous and charming experience to stroll amidst the drooping branches and heavy clusters of white and pale pink, but I came back home everyday completely exhausted.

Among my favorite Tokyo spots, the walk from Mitaka station to the Ghibli Museum, passing by Tamagawa Aqueduct and Inokashira Park, ranks high. The stroll was a rare pocket of serenity amidst the vibrant concrete jungle of the other districts.

Another well loved district: Asakusa. Despite being part of the downtown areas, Asakusa still retains the vibes of a more traditional Tokyo and is well-known for its giant Kaminarimon ("Thunder Gate") and iconic red lantern, leading to Sensō-ji Temple. It is often accessed via Nakamise-dori, a popular shopping street lined with stands showcasing tacky tourist souvenirs and trinkets. The front area is congested with tourists, but Nakamise-dori has some nooks and crannies that are calmer. It also hosts an array of traditional Japanese snack vendors often flanked by youths in school uniforms. A stone's throw away is Sumida Park, another popular hanami location, but it was not as overrun with visitors as other parks such as Shinjuku Gyoen or Ueno Park.

Still in Asakusa district, my gastronomical highlight was Suzukien Asakusa Honten: a gelato x matcha shop known for its Premium No. 7 gelato, advertised as having the highest matcha content and the richest green tea flavor. Their gelato counter also serves 6 other matcha flavors in ascending degrees of the matcha intensity spectrum. At ¥560-¥580 a scoop (depending on whether you want a bowl or a cone), the Premium No. 7 doesn't mess around. And it was the best green tea ice cream that I have ever tasted. I will be going through serious matcha withdrawal when I fly back.

Suzukien's freezer also had other flavors in stock (cherry blossom, hojicha, Japanese black tea, black sesame, adzuki bean...). Those flavors, along with the 6 other matcha levels, were sold at ¥370-¥390 a scoop.

Finally, the last of my Tokyo highlights: the museums. The Miraikan National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation is a gem for technology and scientific learning, and its "Create your future" exhibition was probably the best that I have seen in a while. The exhibition introduces visitors to robotics and guides them to explore the impact of the information era and the potential of different technologies for the future. In the "Explore the frontiers" exhibition, visitors can walk into a scale model of the ISS living quarters. During my visit, there was also a temporary Disney exhibition that steered visitors through the history of the Disney studio and demonstrated all the research and test designs that went into each Disney classic.

The Ghibli Museum is my runner-up, where the entire visit felt like walking through Miyazaki's workshop. Starting from the ground floor with the Totoro zoetrope, to the upper exhibition rooms, feels like progressing through a visual story of the history of Ghibli animation.

Last but not least: the Edo-Tokyo Museum. I am really glad that I visited this museum at the very beginning of my trip as it gave a lot of insight on all the other historical districts and castles that I will see later in my itinerary. This museum showcases the cultural and historical progression from pre-modern Tokyo to contemporary time, with life-size replicas of many fixtures of the Edo era.

Warabimochi @Tsukiji Market

@Tsukiji Market.

@Tsukiji Market. One of Japan's famous luxury fruit.

...I'm beat. And with a Totoro plush in one hand and an onigiri in the other, I am heading north.

A New Fold - Matcha Croissants

By Passionthy 12:32 AM Baking, No Recipe

"It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

- by George Orwell, 1984

And here I am, grabbing and folding and cramming into a worryingly squishable backpack, en route to plum wine island. Japan, where, hopefully, it will be just as bright but not as cold.

I spent the last week scurrying through the last bits of work in a haze and, today, I dragged home the last pieces of my belongings.

The past months had been my first experience as a contracted worker and, as a fresh graduate, the lack of job security had been hovering over my head like a black cloud almost constantly. In the past few weeks, I had done the standard things that you do when you expect having to look for employment - updating my CV, honing my interviewing skills, refreshing my academic knowledge... While I knew that the project I had been contracted for was coming to an end, there was talk of a possible contract extension to assist in other departments, and when that discussion met a dead end, I still took the news with a feeling of finality and an emotional turmoil that I had not prepared myself sufficiently for.

All the old feelings of self-doubt and of being lost came back in waves, flashbacks of the job hunting struggles after the end of studies, yet clashing against the anticipation bubbling up for my first completely solo trip.

It's a bit surreal to look forward to a holiday when you've just lost your job, but I had heard so much about Japan - the cultural heritage, the food, the beautifully preserved historical architecture... that going there can probably only soothe the worry of coming back to the reality of being unemployed and the stress of an unknown professional future.

I can't believe that I am finally taking off on a solo travelling trip. In a way, it feels so liberating.

I finished packing the last of my hiking gear and tried my new Osprey on to test the weight-to-munchkin height-ratio.

I look like a biblical donkey.

...sigh.

Welp. Onwards.

I'm sharing a matcha croissant recipe from Thirsty for Tea that I had tried to do a couple of months back. Given my upcoming soul-searching destination, this recipe seemed fitting. I'm still new at working with puff pastry, so I spent most of my time patching up my dough when I was laminating it.

Usually, I will try to only share recipes that I have modified and tested, but as I am still learning I want to keep this recipe on file as a track record of my baking attempts :).

Moreover, the step-by-step instructions from Bonnie are very thorough and the croissants still turned out delish despite my countless newbie mistakes, so I think that they deserve some spotlight.

Please see: Matcha Croissants, from Thirsty for Tea.

March Anxieties & Irish Coffee Tiramisu

By Passionthy 12:57 AM Baking, Desserts

The Banana Whisperers & Eggless Banana Pancakes

By Passionthy 4:54 PM Baking, Breakfast, Student-Friendly

Eggless Banana Pancakes - Bello!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single being in possession of a bunch of ripe bananas, must be in want of a banana bread recipe.

Or failing that, a banana pancake recipe.

...We can't all be banana-bready.

...*snicker*

Speaking of being banana-bready, I knew a couple of friends back in residence who had a whole system in place to pin down a banana's ripeness window. I was blown away at the consistency with which they could churn out extra-ripe, sweet and creamy bananas. Banana whisperers, I call them. Every 2 weeks, the kitchen complex of the 2a story would be puffing off aromas of baked banana goodies, and the ovens would be redolent of cinnamon and caramelized brown sugar for the next hours.

And if we happened to be in a particularly heavy exams season, the baking session would be postponed, and bananas that had already reached perfection would simply be frozen until needed. A whole system, I tell you!

Laird Hall's bedrooms were typically all constructed in the same format: a single bed spanning the length of the far wall, a vanity table tripling up as a commode and a night table, a closet, a work desk and, sometimes, a cork bulletin board. At the end of the room, there'd be a window hovering over a radiator. Double-rooms were designed in a similar manner, except that the doubled side looked like a mirror reflection of the single room.

The banana ripening hobby farm was conducted on those window sills, warmed up by radiator heat, and the banana whisperers maintained a strict self-regulating no banana eating policy. As all should know, the first rule of residence is: beware of the hungry Thursday-drunken floormates. No matter how well hidden food may be in the communal kitchen, there's bound to be a random drunk who finds and eats it. So it is a miracle in itself that so many bananas managed to reach and yellow past their peak point, uneaten.

The banana whisperers became a bit of an inner circle celebrity across Laird Hall's floors. Friends and friend of friends would hand them their unripe, green bananas - like I used to do with the Day-Care Couple in every Pokémon game so that they'd raise my Pokémons for me - and come back once their fruit were extra-soft and uniformly covered in brown spots. Alternatively, they could offer their bananas to the greater good (ahem, get your mind out of the gutter) and partake in the banana bread festivities later.

I miss those banana bread days.

Conversely, I, for one, have not cracked the banana code yet. If, by inadvertence, I happen to snatch a precious overripe banana before it is turned into smoothies or thrown to the compost bin, I hold onto it like Gollum.

This also means that I never have enough bananas to make a bread with a decent banana flavor. I have recently found out, however, that pancakes could be damn delicious if we substitute the egg for a banana.

And you know what - it's even minions-approved!

Ba-ba-ba. Ba-ba-na-na.

Eggless Banana Pancakes

Servings:

Ingredients:

1 extra-large overripe banana, mashed (~1/2 cup mashed bananas)

1/2-3/4 cup buttermilk, lukewarm (Substitute: 1/2 cup milk + 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, left standing for 5-10 minutes)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, ground

Preparation:

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon) together.

2. In a large bowl, whisk all the wet ingredients (mashed banana, buttermilk, vanilla extract, vegetable oil) together until well combined.

Mashing bananas

3. Form a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet mixture in. Whisk until you no longer see large clumps of flour. Small pockets of flour are alright - they will dissipate as the batter cooks. The batter will look like it is foaming up as you whisk. Do not overmix to the point that those bubbles dissipate completely - they are what makes the pancakes fluff up (like Aero says... you gotta feel the bubbles).

Banana pancake batter

4. Verify the batter consistency. Depending on how ripe your banana was, it may or may not be liquid enough. The batter should be semi-pourable. Add more milk if you need to use a spoon to spread it out.
5. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Spoon portions of the batter into the skillet (~1/4-1/2 cup for each pancake), gently spreading it into nice circles.

6. Cook the pancakes until bubbles appear, about 2-4 minutes. Using a silicone spatula, flip the pancake over and cook until well browned.

Pancake-cooking!

7. Serve warm, and ideally with a liberal drizzle of maple syrup. Nom!

Eggless Banana Pancakes - Nom!

Imagine, imagine... A Raspberry, Rosebuds and Dark Chocolate Entremet

By Passionthy 2:45 PM Baking, Desserts

Raspberry, Rosebuds and Dark Chocolate Entremet

"Maybe there's a whole other universe where a square moon rises in the sky, and the stars laugh in cold voices, and some of the triangles have four sides, and some have five, and some have five raised to the fifth power of sides. In this universe there might grow roses which sing. Everything leads to everything."

- It, by Stephen King

Imagine a time when sunshine still felt like powdered pearl over hillsides in full bloom, like cupcake domes piped with buttercream ranunculus; a place where treasuries were made of folktales, caves teeming with memories distilled into shards of crystal stalagmites, and living spaces weaved to be filled with stories.

Imagine, imagine!

A time when the peel of pomegranates was still as thin and translucent as blushing tissue paper, revealing the ripe rubies that clustered within, sheer enough that you could bite right through and have a burst of claret juice running down your chin. A place where people feasted on sweet-tart tajines of lamb, dates, fennel hearts and chrysanthemum petals, fresh geranium leaves and violet sherbet, fig and hibiscus wine spiced with nutmeg, broth of lilies and caraway, thick Etrog citron yogurt and quince paste spread on Barbari flatbreads, and sugar loaves drenched in honey. A time when the trade of each rose petal was as prized as a shred of cinnamon bark or a flake of gold nugget.

Can you see it, yet?

A place where we could still drink in the sight of flocks of lilac-breasted rollers wading around littoral waters; a time when they were still as large as guinea fowls and could swoop up and down in acrobatic display to hold their nests against kingfishers. They bobbed softly on the surface of ponds and shallow lakes from dusk to dawn, plump and content, somehow managing to sleep through the night without disbanding, like a chain of pool floats stringed together.

Remember, remember...

In the flickering moonlight, their richly colored plumage would blink on the obsidian surface like a multi-faceted kaleidoscope: azure, olive, lilac. Bathed in the hush of the afterglow, children would play guessing games, betting the number of times a color would appear on the reflection of nighttime's largest clock. They'd crawl back to sleep, smelling of moss and clay, when the first roller woke up, the tell-tale sign a harsh, sawing "rak-rak-rak".

Just imagine

A time when you could still hear the clink of a star when it slipped from the sky vault, the faintest hint of a murmur as it careened into a wisp of wishes.

Half-sigh, half-music.

...Wouldn't that be lovely?

Raspberry, Rosebuds and Dark Chocolate Entremet:
Overhead shot

This cake is an entremet that I'd imagine served at a place and time like this: rich yet delicate on the tongue; layered with velvety and light chocolate mousse - the kind that has a hint of bitter depth that all good dark chocolate conveys, a bright, refreshing tart kick of raspberry, and the coy trace of rose petals, with their sweetness so fragile.

My absolute coup-de-coeur in this recipe is Pastry Workshop's raspberry chocolate ganache: 1) Olguta's post from Pastry Workshop just taught me the handy trick of freezing your ganache layers to manipulate them more easily when assembling layer cakes. It works so, so well. 2) Don't omit the raspberry. It makes a wondrous, delicious difference ;)

Raspberry, Rosebuds and Dark Chocolate Entremet:
Buttercream Roses Close-Up

Raspberry, Rosebuds and Dark Chocolate Entremet

Servings: 1 x 9.5" inch mousse cake

Ingredients:

Rosebud Tea Jelly:
Adapted from Oh, How Civilized

125 ml boiling water
10 rosebuds (use a package of rosebud tea)
1/4 teaspoon loose green tea leaves
1 tablespoon rose petal jam OR 1 1/2 teaspoon white granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon plain gelatin

Raspberry Chocolate Ganache:
Recipe from Pastry Workshop

60g frozen raspberries
30g white granulated sugar
15g unsalted butter, at room temperature
50 ml heavy whipping cream
80g dark chocolate (60-65%), chopped

Moist Chocolate-Raspberry Génoise
Recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Rose's Heavenly Cakes

115g dark chocolate (60-65%), chopped
1/2 cup boiling water
4 large /230g eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup packed / 75g cake flour
1/3 cup /100g superfine sugar (mix 75g white granulated sugar + 25g powdered sugar)

Cocoa-Raspberry Syrup
125 ml / 125g boiling water
50g white granulate sugar
25g unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 vanilla pod, scraped (Subs.: 3/4 teaspoon)
15 ml / 1 tablespoon raspberry liqueur (I used Lejay-Lagoute's Crème de Framboise)

Raspberry Rose Mousse:
Adapted from Pastry Workshop

2 cups / 300g frozen raspberries
1/2 cup / 100g white granulated sugar
2 tablespoon rose petal jam
15 ml lemon juice
2 teaspoon plain gelatin
1/4 cup / 60 ml cold water
250 ml heavy whipping cream, cold & straight out from the refrigerator

225g fresh raspberries

Dark Chocolate Mousse:
Recipe from Alton Brown

200 ml semi-sweet chocolate chips
50 ml strongly brewed coffee
2 teaspoons dark rum
2 tablespoons / 30g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon plain gelatin
250 ml heavy whipping cream, cold & straight out from the refrigerator

Rose Wreath Crusting Buttercream:
Makes enough for a bunch of practice roses + cake wreath - you'll likely have leftovers

2 cups unsalted butter, softened and at room temperature
7 cups / 0.9 kg powdered icing sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon / 15 mL vanilla extract or raspberry liqueur (depending on the color you want)
5-6 tablespoons milk or raspberries reduced to purée (depending on the color you want)
Food coloring as needed

Piping Material:
Flower nail (I used Wilton's No 7)
Plain round piping nozzle (I used Wilton's piping tip #12)
Petal piping nozzle (I used Wilton's piping tip #104)
Leaf piping nozzle (I used Wilton's piping tip #352)
Piping bags
(Optional) Decorating couplers - Might be useful if you alternate often between two colors

Nom :3

Preparation:

Rosebud Tea Jelly:

Mise-en-place: Rosebuds, Rose Jam, Green Tea, Gelatin

1. Put the rosebuds in a bowl and let them steep in 125 ml boiling water. Ideally, you want to start steeping them at a minimum temperature of 98C - their fragrance is very, very light and won't be drawn out as much with lower temperatures.
2. When the water temperature drops to 74C (~ 5 minutes), add the loose green tea leaves to the rosebud tea. Let the tea mix steep for 15 minutes and strain.
3. Add either 1 tablespoon of rose petal jam or, alternatively, 1 1/2 teaspoon of white granulated sugar. Give it a stir to dissolve/combine well.
4. While the tea is still warm, sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoon plain Knox gelatin evenl over it. Set aside for 5-10 minutes or until the gelatin fully blooms.
5. Stir gently to dissolve the bloomed gelatin. If a few gelled clumps remain, or if your tea has gone too cool, pop it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.
6. Pour the tea jelly into a 7-inch silicone pan or a regular one lined with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until it completely sets (at least 2 hours). A silicone pan will be best by the way :/ the jelly is quite soft and sticky even after an overnight refrigeration - I managed to unmold it through the plastic wrap but I fractured some parts on the edges.

Tip: the firmness of gelatin will depend on not only temperature and water:gelatin ratio, but also the amount of sugar it has to interact with. The more sugar in the recipe, the softer your resulting gelatin will be. So if you want to increase the rose petal jam to enhance the delicate floral flavor, add a bit more gelatin than specified above.

Steeping Tea :)

Raspberry Chocolate Ganache:

Shaving blocks of dark chocolate :)
(P.S.: Bulk Barn has bricks of those)

1. In a small saucepan, combine the raspberries and the sugar. Cook on medium heat until the raspberries are broken down and start to thicken into a light syrup. Remove from heat and strain the purée to remove the seeds (You'll need to do some heavy spoon work to press the purée against the sieve - try to extract as much juice and purée as you can). Set aside.
2. In a medium stainless steel bowl, place the dark chocolate and softened butter. Nestle that bowl so that it fits on top of a larger saucepan filled with water (make sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't dip into the water). Bring the water to boil and melt your chocolate over the bain-marie. Stir the chocolate and butter until the mixture is smooth.
3. In a separate saucepan, heat up the heavy whipping cream just until it is lukewarm, stirring constantly so that the bottom doesn't burn. Add the strained raspberry purée and whisk to combine.
4. Gradually add the raspberry cream into your melted chocolate. Whisk again to combine.
5. Pour the raspberry chocolate ganache into a 7-inch pan lined with plastic wrap - you'll need it to remove the ganache.
6. Cover and place in the freezer until it firms up enough to be manipulated (at least 2-3 hours). I let mine freeze completely overnight.

Moist Chocolate-Raspberry Génoise:

Sift, sift sift~

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Prepare a 9 x 2" inch round pan: grease, flour and line it with parchment paper.
2. Melt the chopped dark chocolate over a bain-marie. Transfer it to a medium heavy saucepan and pour the boiling water on top. Cook on low heat, vigorously and continuously stirring with a silicone spatula until the chocolate mixture thickens to a smooth, shiny pudding-consistency (~10-15 minutes). If the chocolate separates, give it a good whisking to emulsify everything together again. Cover with plastic wrap, spreading it directly against the chocolate. Let it cool to room temperature.
3. Prepare a large pot of water and bring it to simmering point.
4. In the bowl of your stand-mixer, unattached, put the eggs and sugar. Using a hand-held whisk, beat them together until it starts to bubble.

Whisk, whisk, whisk~
(...hmm it doesn't sound as nice as "sift"..)

5. Place the bowl over your pot of simmering water, being careful that the bottom of the bowl isn't in contact with the water, and that the water doesn't reach boiling point. Whisk aggressively and constantly until the egg mixture becomes lukewarm to the touch (I insist on the aggressive whisking :O it'll prevent curdling).
6. Attach your bowl to the stand-mixer. Beat on high speed for at least 7-8 minutes (Yes, that long! Keep beating it even if you feel that it's ready before that amount of time). It should triple-to-quadruple in volume, lighten in color and be very thick and airy. The eggs are ready when they reach the ribbon stage (see picture below).

Ribbon stage :) Notice how the fluffed up egg whites fall back into fat, soft ribbons. They should hold their shape a minute or two before slowly disappearing back into the mixture.

7. Sift the flour into the eggs mixture in 3 parts, folding it gently with a large silicone spatula and making sure that each part is completely incorporated before adding the next one. Use your fingers to crush any remaining flour clumps in the batter.
8. Fold in the chocolate mixture in 2 parts. Move swiftly, but gently. Press the silicone spatule against the far edge of the bowl and plunge it under the batter, pulling it towards you. Bring the spatula up the other side of the bowl, scooping up a ribbon of batter underneath and folding it over on top. Rotate the bowl a couple of degrees and repeat the motion until everything it incorporated. Chocolate is quite heavy, so really make sure to reach to the bottom of the bowl when you fold, else there might be some heavy glop sunken there.
9. Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pan. It should be 2/3 to 3/4 full.

Chocolate génoise ready-to-bake

10. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs, but not wet ones. Génoise structure is quite fragile and prone to collapse, so avoid opening the oven door until the minimum baking time.
11. Let the génoise cool 2-3 minutes in the pan, then immediately unmold it onto a cooling rack. You want to let it cool just enough so that the side crumb can set and hold your cake together, but not too much so that condensation starts pulling the génoise down - that can cause it to collapse as well. The trick is to unmold it while it is still warm.

Can you believe that I sliced this with dental floss? :P

Cocoa-Raspberry Syrup
1. In a small saucepan, combine the cocoa and the sugar.
2. Add 2-3 tablespoons of boiling water and stir to form a paste. Continue adding the boiling water gradually, stirring each time to homogenize the mixture. Once the mixture reaches a honey consistency, you can pour in the remaining boiling water all at once and whisk it to combine well.
3. Cook on low heat. Stir occasionally until the mixture reaches boiling point.
4. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
5. Add the scraped vanilla bean and the raspberry liqueur.
6. Cover tightly to prevent evaporation.

Raspberry Rose Mousse:
1. In a small saucepan, combine the 300g frozen raspberries, sugar and rose jam. Cook on medium-low heat and whisk everything together until it becomes the consistency of nectar. Remove from heat and press the raspberries through a fine-mesh sieve with the back of a spoon to extract as much juice as you can. Set aside.
2. In another small saucepan, sprinkle 2 teaspoons of gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water (the gelatin granules cannot soften properly in warm or hot water). Let it sit 5-10 minutes or until the gelatin blooms. Then, melt it over low heat until it becomes translucent and evenly dissolves. Give it a quick stir to verify that the granules have completely melted.
3. Pour the raspberry-rose purée and 15 ml lemon juice into the gelatin saucepan. Whisk until everything is well-blended together. Cover and pop it in the fridge to thicken it slightly -it will look like slurry (~45 min.-1h).
4. Transfer 1/3 of the thickened raspberry-rose-gelatin mixture to the bowl of a stand-mixer. Hook up an egg-beater attachment and beat on high-speed until the mixture is foamy.
5. Gradually pour in the heavy whipping cream. Continue beating on high speed. When your whipped raspberry cream reaches soft peak, sprinkle in the sugar in 2 parts, adding the second part only when the first one has been well-incorporated. Keep whipping on high speed until firm peaks form.
6. Take your whipped cream off the stand-mixer. Using a large silicone spatula, gently fold in the rest of the raspberry-rose-gelatin mixture in three stages. Spread on cake immediately.

Assembling (Part 1):

I love the garnet hue of raspberries :) so bright, so vibrant!

1. Once your génoise has cooled, use a serrated knife to remove any domed parts and horizontally divide the cake into 2 equal layers (Tip: I use a knife to trace the circumference of my cut, then use dental floss to run it through the cake).
2. Liberally brush the layers with cocoa-raspberry syrup. Don't be afraid to really soak it - the syrup is what brings a génoise to life.
3. Place one chocolate génoise layer on the base of a springform pan, syrup-side up. Scrape 1/3 of the raspberry mousse on top of the génoise and spread it into an even layer.
4. Wedge the fresh raspberries into the mousse, lining them against the circumference of the springform pan. Pour the remaining raspberry mousse over this and spread again into an even layer.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Dark Chocolate Mousse:
1. In a shallow wide-rimmed bowl, pour 1/4 cup of whipping cream and uniformly sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let it sit until the gelatin absorbs the liquid and blooms.
2. Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie.
3. When it is smooth, take the bowl off the pot and add the coffee and dark rum. Whisk to combine.
4. Pop the gelatin bowl into the microwave for 1 minute to melt it (it should become translucent). Add it to the chocolate mixture and stir well.
5. In the bowl of your stand-mixer, pour the remainder of the heavy whipping cream and beat on high speed until you reach medium-firm peaks.
6. In 3 parts, fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. It's alright if there are a few stray streaks of cream through the chocolate mousse. Be careful not to overfold - it should still feel airy.

Folding that chocolate mousse :) Probably one of my favorite baking steps.

Assembling (Part 2):
1. Take your half-assembled caked out of the refrigerator.
2. Place the second chocolate génoise layer on-top of the raspberry mousse.
3. Unmold the frozen ganache by pulling the plastic wrap off. It will be firm enough to manipulate but will still be somewhat malleable. If the weather is hot, you'll notice it starts to weep in your fingers. As soon as it is taken out of the freezer, center it on top of the génoise layer.
4. Unmold the rosebud tea jelly. Again, use the plastic wrap to help you (the jelly will be quite soft and might break easily - be gentle). Place it on top of the ganache.
5. Scrape the dark chocolate mousse into the springform pan. Spread evenly to fill in the gaps and cover the ganache and the jelly.
6. Cover and chill in the refrigerator again.

Crusting Buttercream:
1. Hook up the paddle attachment to your stand-mixer. In the bowl, cream softened butter, starting on low speed and gradually cranking it up to high speed, until you get a light and fluffy mixture. Add the pinch of salt.

Creaming the butter: make sure that it's at room temp. Contrasting temperature variations in your buttercream ingredients can cause it to weep and separate. In this case, chilled butter can cause the hard, cold fats to separate from its liquid components, creating a lumpy, curdled buttercream.

Alternatively, creaming butter that it too warm will create a soupy buttercream mess. What you're looking for before starting that first step is butter that is firm enough to hold its shape, but soft enough to mix and push through without much resistance.

2. Reduce the speed to medium-low and slowly add the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at the time. Increase to high speed after each addition to make sure that the part is well-incorporated before adding the next one.
3. Repeat and cream until all the sugar has been blended with the butter.
4. Depending on the number of colors you want, divide your buttercream base into different labeled bowls: I took out 1/2 cup first to dye it green (leaves), then weighed the remaining buttercream and divided it into 3 bowls for 3 types of colored roses.
5. Return one buttercream base at the time into the stand-mixer. Depending on the color that you want, add the vanilla/raspberry extract, milk/raspberry purée and food coloring if using - don't forget to divide the vanilla/raspberry quantities in the ingredients' list by the number of colors that you are doing. Beat at high speed until the buttercream is smooth and creamy and fluffy.

For the green buttercream, prepare it with vanilla extract and milk, and add a few drops of green food coloring.

6. Repeat until all buttercream colors have been whipped up.

Pink, purple, white and green buttercream :) Ready to be piped!

Rose Wreath:

Mise-en-place for piping! From left to right, starting on the first row:
Coupler, large petal nozzle, small petal nozzle, piping bag, rose nail, leaf nozzle, plain round nozzle

1. To learn how to pipe roses, I used 2 sources:

From GlobalSugarArt, Chef Alan Tetreault's fantastic video tutorial here
Wilton's pictorial step-by-step here

2. Prepare a ton of spare parchment paper squares. You'll need them to pipe your roses on and move them from the rose nail. The buttercream recipe makes plenty for practice roses, so go ham. The rotating movement takes a few flowers to get used to, so don't panic if you screw up the first flowers. ...I had a whole tray of misshapen roses that all stared back at me with this "KILLMEPLZ" look.
3. To make the 2-toned roses, squirt a line of gel food coloring along a piping bag seam fitted with the petal nozzle. Holding the bag horizontally (to prevent the coloring from spilling everywhere), fill it with buttercream. The food coloring will create the outline of your rose.
4. Pipe a tidbit of buttercream in the center of your rose nail. Glue a square of parchment paper over it. Using the plain round nozzle, pipe a tall cone: go high rather than fat. The petals will plump your rose out, but if the base wasn't piped tall enough your flower will look all smooshed.

...Like this cat's face.

I'm kidding, I love that cat.
And its flat face.
Photo Source: catharsisaudade's tumblr

5. Pipe all your roses before assembling them into a wreath. If you notice some of them melting and losing their shape, pop them in the fridge until they are needed. They will crust over time, which means that they will be firm enough to touch without smudging, but they need an initial cool temperature to do so.
6. To familiarize myself with the placement of roses, I used this reference:

Vanessa's buttercream flower wreath tutorial at CakeStyle here

7. Place your piped roses over the chocolate mousse. Be creative, play with the angles, wedge them in if needed :) Have fun!
8. When you're done forming the wreath, fit the leaf nozzle to one of your piping bags and fill it with the green buttercream. Again, practice on a parchment sheet beforehand because leaves need to be piped at a 45-degree angle to come out ruffled. Squeeze in the buttercream leaves between a couple of roses.
9. Nom when you're ready :)

Buttercream roses wreath :)

References and writing inspiration:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/The-Land-of-Bread-and-Spice

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/what-was-it-like-to-dine-with-the-persian-kings-116203239/?no-ist

http://asiasociety.org/persepolis-persian-feast-fit-king

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