Homemade sushi with a cup of hot matcha…
Just kidding! It’s ‘Sushi’ and ‘Teh’ Chiffon Cupcakes!
Sushi rice: Vanilla chiffon cake
Nori: Pandan chiffon cake with charcoal powder
Cucumber: Pandan chiffon cake
Pickles: Vanilla chiffon cake (with Queen’s natural turmeric-based coloring)
Roe: Cut from gummies jellies
Tea: Matcha chiffon cake
Cup: Vanilla chiffon cake
I baked the ‘sushi rice’ in small cupcake liners and the ‘tea’ in medium cupcake liners. I baked the ‘nori’ and ‘tea cup’ in baking-paper lined 6-inch trays, and then rolled them like swissrolls around the cupcakes. I baked the ‘pickles’ and ‘cucumber’ as thick layer cakes side by side in baking-paper lined 6-inch tray, and then chopped them up just like how you chop vegetables. I cut the roe from gummy jellies.
Sushi and Tea Chiffon Cupcakes (makes 4 sushi and 2 teas)
1 egg yolk
20g sugar
39g corn/vegetable oil
42 ml water
60g cake flour
Matcha powder
Charcoal powder
Pandan paste
A drop of yellow food coloring (Queen’s natural coloring)
Meringue:
4 egg whites
45g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale yellow before stirring in oil and water.
3. Add in sieved flour and whisk till no trace of flour found.
4. Scoop out 8 tsp batter into 2 bowls each. To the first bowl, add 1/3 tsp pandan paste and charcoal powder (a sprinkle) – for nori. To the second bowl, add 1/3 tsp matcha powder – for matcha tea. Mix well.
5. Scoop out 4 tsp batter into another 2 bowls. To the first, add ¼ pandan paste – for cucumber. To the second, add a drop of yellow food coloring (Queen’s natural turmeric-based coloring) – for pickles. Mix well.
6. Meringue: Beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till stiff peak, mixing in caster sugar in 2 additions. Transfer 16 tbsp into pandan/charcoal batter (for nori) and matcha batter respectively. Transfer 8 tbsp into pandan batter (for cucumber) and yellow batter (for pickles) respectively.
7. Gently but quickly fold in the meringue into the respectively batters in 2 additions. Fold the rest of the meringue into the remaining plain batter in 3 additions gently and quickly – for rice.
8. Scoop the plain white batter into 4 small cupcake liners (leaving 0.8 cm from the top) and matcha batter into 2 medium cupcake liners. Bake at 160°C for 10 min, then 150oC for 7+ min. *Oven timings may vary, do check if skewer comes clean.
9. Pour the pandan/charcoal batter into a baking-paper lined 6-inch tray. Pour the remaining plain white batter likewise into a baking-paper lined 6-inch tray. Bake at 160°C for 14 min. *Roll the cakes during cooling to prevent cracking.
10. Pour the pandan and yellow batter side by side in a baking-paper lined 6-inch tray. Bake at 160°C for 14 min. Flip over to new sheet to cool.
11. To assemble, unmould the cupcakes from the cupcake liners by peeling the paper off. Wrap the plain white vanilla cupcake (rice) with the matcha/charcoal layer cake (cut to corresponding height).
12. Cut out a hole using a bubble tea straw and another hole beside using a drink straw in the ‘rice’ for inserting the vegetables.
13. Slice up the cucumber and pickles layer cakes into 1 cm strips, and then cut to corresponding height, and insert them into the ‘rice’ cake.
14. Wrap the matcha cupcake with the white vanilla layer cake. Cut a circle from the white cake for the cupcake base base.
Tada! ‘Sushi’ and ‘Tea’ Chiffon Cupcakes set, aka ‘Sushi Teh’ for the dear teachers hehe!
With love,
Susanne
