Matcha fruit roll cake

A fluffy matcha genoise sponge wrapped around a layer of rich, silky matcha ganache and a soft, light vanilla whipped cream, with juicy pieces of orange, strawberry and grapes tucked up in amongst it all.

When it comes to cake–layer cakes or single layered–I tend to find myself more in the camp of a tender, sturdier sponge than a very light and airy one. Partly because I find the texture lovely; usually a mixture of flour and ground almonds, but also because it has a structure that holds up against buttercreams, jams and the likes. Sometimes, however, I find myself craving something very delicate; fluffy, cloud-like almost, so light and gentle that you can hardly feel the weight of it on your tongue as you take a forkful–and this is where genoise comes in.

At this point, when I think of genoise, I think of roll cake. Genoise is so light that to fill or top it with a layer of buttercream is out of the question for me–its fragile crumb would collapse under the weight of it. It needs something equally light and soft, which is why whipped cream is the ideal pairing. This iteration of genoise is vibrant green with the deliciously moorish flavour of matcha, and as well as a vanilla whipped cream, it is spread with a layer of matcha ganache for an additional hit of flavour and touch of indulgence. The sweetness of the ganache and subtle bitterness of the matcha is counteracted with fruity, juicy bites of fresh fruit; orange, strawberries and grapes. It manages to be both light, decadent and refreshing all at once–all while being very beautiful, I think.

A genoise sponge requires cake flour to achieve its beautifully light texture. You can’t buy cake flour where I am, so I make it myself using a mixture of plain flour and cornstarch. This will make more than required for the recipe below, but is a great thing to have on hand in a jar in your cupboard/pantry:

plain flour 330g
cornstarch 48g

Whisk the two together and store in a sealed jar or container in a cool dry place.