Matcha Azuki Sakura Patterned Chiffon Cake with Hidden Hearts

I got all excited after seeing Susanne's Valentine's Day Hearts-in-all-directions Strawberry Chiffon Cake and wanted to make a cake like that too! Thanks to Ssb Baker for showing us how to bake cakes with hidden hearts, we were both inspired to try. I decided to combine two techniques, piping patterns on chiffon tin and using cookie cutter cut-outs of a separate cake, to create a Sakura patterned cake... with hidden hearts of course!

I used the same recipe as my previous Matcha Azuki layered chiffon cake with the same quantity of ingredients. Here's how this cake is done:

1. Bake the red bean cake in a 10 x 10" tin and cut out the hearts and flowers using cookie cutters.

2. Prepare the egg yolk batter for Matcha flavor. 

3. Take 1 tsp of the green tea batter and mix in 1/4 tsp of Matcha powder and 1/4 tsp of cake flour. Add in some brown and green gel food coloring until a desired dark green shade is reached.

4. Prepare the meringue for the Matcha batter. Add 3-4 tbs of meringue into the small portion of colored green tea batter. Put the batter into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton No.3 round tip.

5. Lay out the red bean flowers at the base of the 17 cm chiffon tin. Pipe the leaves and stems onto the base and sides of the tin. You may use edible food marker to draw out the designs before piping. Bake for 1.5 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius.

6. Fold in the meringue for the rest of the green tea batter.

7. Pour in enough green tea batter until it covers the base, taking care to release any air bubbles by gently swirling a chopstick in the batter. Line the sides of the tin with more red bean flowers and the insides with red bean hearts arranged in a ring around the center tube. Make sure you line the hearts upside down! Cover the red bean cakes with the remaining green tea batter. Air pockets may be introduced so do release any air bubbles trapped inside.

8. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes, followed by 150 degrees Celsius for another 20-25 minutes.

This cake is not only pretty to look at. It also tastes great with red bean cream :).

With love,

Phay Shing