SAKURA CAKE RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8-by-8-inch square baking pan; line with with parchment paper (leaving a parchment overhang on two of the edges) and lightly oil parchment.Whisk egg yolks with half of granulated sugar until smooth and barely lightened in color. While whisking, slowly drizzle in oil until evenly incorporated.Combine matcha and sakura powders in a small bowl. Drizzle in about 1 tablespoon milk and whisk to dissolve powder. Slowly add more milk, slowly whisking until smooth. Add to egg yolk mixture and mix until smooth. Sift over cake flour and salt and fold until completely incorporated.In a mixing bowl, whip egg whites using an electric mixer until frothy. Add remaining granulated sugar and continue to beat until whites hold very soft peaks.Spoon about 1/3 of whipped egg whites into batter and stir to lighten. Add batter to bowl with the remaining egg whites and fold until incorporated, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl with a large rubber spatula to ensure there are no stray streaks of egg white.Pour batter into prepared baking pan, spreading into an even layer. Drop the pan a few times a few inches from the counter to get rid of any large air bubbles and to level out the top.Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove from oven, then use the parchment overhang as handles to lift the entire cake out of the baking pan and place on a wire rack. Peel back parchment from edges and let cool completely.Cut out a 6-inch round of cake to fit your cake ring (you can also use the cake ring basically as a giant cookie cutter). With cake nestled inside cake ring, line the inside of the ring with acetate. If your cake ring is at least 3″ tall you can technically skip the acetate, although it does make removing the cake much easier.To make the mousse layer, cut gelatin into strips and place in cool water to soften. If using powdered gelatin, sprinkle over 1 tablespoon cool water and allow to bloom.Heat milk in the microwave until steaming. Grab the softened gelatin with your hands and wring out any excess water. Add to hot milk and whisk until completely dissolved. For powdered gelatin, add bloomed gelatin to hot milk and whisk until melted.Place room temperature mascarpone in a mixing bowl. Add warm milk-gelatin mixture and sugar and whisk until smooth and no chunks are visible and sugar is dissolved. Mix in vanilla.In a mixing bowl, whip cream with an electric mixer until the top shows texture, but it doesn’t yet hold soft peaks. Add about 1/3 of whipped cream to mascarpone mixture and stir to lighten, then add back to bowl with remaining whipped cream. Just like you did for the cake, fold to fully incorporate the whipped cream, scraping the bottom and sides of bowl as needed.Transfer half of the whipped cream mixture to another bowl, and mix in cherry purée or food coloring as desired.To achieve the striped effect, scoop about 1/3 cup (I used two large cookie scoops worth) of white mousse onto the center of the cake in the cake ring. Then drop 1/3 cup of the pink mousse into the center of the white batter. Repeat, dropping scoops of alternating colored batters onto the center of the previous scoop, essentially making a bullseye of concentric circles. After 4 or 5 scoops, reduce the quantity of batter per scoop to about 3 tablespoons or half of a third cup, one large cookie scoop (the stripes towards the center of the cake require less better per stripe).Refrigerate cake until set, at least 3 hours or overnight.Prior to serving, place cake on a serving plate and remove cake ring and acetate (if you skip the acetate, it might help to warm the outside of the cake ring with a hair dryer to help release the mousse). Slice using a hot knife for perfect, clean slices. Keep refrigerated for up to 3 days.