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Baker’s Formula: Green Tea Opera Cake

A home cook’s version of Miku Toronto’s famous Green Tea Opera Cake

Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cake layers:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoon instant coffee powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Espresso Syrup:

• 100ml boiled water
• 1 rounded teaspoon instant coffee
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon kahlua

For the Matcha Buttercream:

• 1 1/4 cups softened butter
• 1 tablespoon matcha powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg

For the Chocolate Hazelnut Rice Crunch mixture:

• 1/2 cup of chocolate hazelnut spread
• 1/2 sugar
• 4 cups rice puffs
• 5/8 cups dark chocolate (melted)
• 2 tablespoon butter

For the Adzuki Cream:

• 1/2 cup of adzuki paste (red bean paste)
• 1/2 tablespoon butter

Directions
For the Chocolate Cake layers:

1. Preheat the oven to 350º.
2. Prep a 12’ round Springform pan with parchment paper.
3. Combine dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
4. Put liquid ingredients into another bowl and mix. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients bowl and mix until smooth.
5. Pour batter into the baking pan, then bake for 25 minutes. Let cool.
6. Remove cake and cut into 3 even layers with a thickness of 1 cm each.

For the Espresso Syrup:

1. Combine all ingredients. Let cool completely.

For the Matcha Buttercream:

1. Mix egg yolks and whole egg using the mixer on low speed.
2. Put sugar and water in a pan, and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, slowly pour into mixer with the mixer on high speed until the mixture is fluffy.
3. Let cool completely.
4. Next, mix butter and matcha well and add it to the mixer bowl. Combine all ingredients until smooth.

For the Chocolate Hazelnut Rice Crunch mixture:

1. Place dark chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave in 30 second increments until melted.
2. Combine remaining ingredients with melted dark chocolate and butter mixture.

For the Adzuki Cream:

1. Mix Adzuki paste and butter together to form the Adzuki cream.

To Assemble:

1. Brush all cake layers with the espresso syrup.
2. Put one slice of cake back into the springform pan.
3. Spread a layer of the chocolate hazelnut rice crunch on the slice of chocolate cake in the pan.
4. Spread a layer of matcha buttercream on top of the chocolate hazelnut rice crunch layer.
5. Add another layer of cake to the pan. Spread another layer of matcha butter cream and put the last layer of cake on top.
6. Spread a layer of the Adzuki cream on it, then finish with rest of Matcha buttercream, chill it in fridge for 6 hours.
7. Frost the cake with the remaining Matcha buttercream. Optional: Decorate with assorted berries and fresh cut flowers.