Tea-Cake Ceremony : An Exotic Dessert Made With Japanese Ingredients and French Techniques

ALMOST FROM the day it opened in West Los Angeles, Mousse Fantasy has been crowded with Japanese customers downing the delicate green-tea mousse cake and other Franco-Japanese treats. “Pastries like these,” owner Makoto Takahashi says, gesturing toward the display case, “are enormously popular in Japan.”

The pastries look classically French--but they are not. They’re neither as sweet nor as rich. Even the customary chocolate and vanilla flavors have an unexpected lightness. Asian ingredients--kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), sweet red beans and green tea--ended up in Mousse Fantasy’s desserts in a time-honored fashion: French pastries were borrowed and adapted to Japanese taste.

The Japanese began borrowing sweets as early as the 7th Century, starting with the Chinese-style confections referred to as “Chinese fruit.” Before that, fresh or dried fruits were the only desserts available. Centuries later, Portuguese and Dutch traders introduced cakes made of eggs, flour and sugar, which the Japanese adapted, filling them with sweet bean-paste puree, sweetened chestnuts and other indigenous foods.

About 20 years ago, according to Takahashi, a few French pastry shops opened in exclusive Tokyo neighborhoods. Young Japanese chefs soon were flying to Europe to master pastry techniques. At home, they modified their charlottes, Bavarian creams and creme patisserie to suit the tastes of their clientele, sometimes incorporating Asian ingredients. Today, Japanese-style French pastries are everywhere in Japan.

Before he conceived Mousse Fantasy, Takahashi, a former restaurant manager in Tokyo, came to California for a visit and ended up staying to teach scuba diving. “I fell in love with California’s relaxed way of life,” he says. “But one of the things I missed was the kind of French pastries we have at home.” He reasoned that the growing Westside Japanese community missed them, too.

So, with the Japanese flair for merging cultures, he borrowed Japan’s kissaten , a Tokyo-style coffee-and-pastry cafe, and put it down in a mini-mall--a typical Los Angeles setting.

This spectacular green-tea mousse cake is Mousse Fantasy’s signature dessert. The sponge-cake base is drizzled with green-tea syrup and topped with layers of sweet red-bean and green-tea mousses. As a finale, Takahashi dusts the cake’s top with a mist of matcha --the powdered tea used in a tea ceremony.

GREEN-TEA MOUSSE CAKE

SPONGE CAKE

4 large eggs, room temperature 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1 cup cake flour, sifted 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8-inch springform cake pan. Combine eggs and sugar in bowl of electric mixer; beat 10 minutes at medium speed until mixture has tripled in volume and looks like soft whipped cream. Fold in flour and butter. Pour into greased pan, and bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven, cool and unmold before slicing horizontally into three layers. Cake can be made ahead and frozen.

Place springform ring (without bottom) on foil- or parchment-lined cookie sheet. (A 9-inch parchment circle under ring will help transfer finished cake onto serving dish.) Carefully place one cake layer in bottom of ring mold. Save remaining layersfor another use.

GREEN-TEA SYRUP

2 tablespoons granulated sugar 2 tablespoons water 1/2 teaspoon green-tea powder (found in Japanese markets)

Combine ingredients in small pan; boil 2 minutes. Cool syrup and brush on cake layer. Set cake aside.

OGURA AN (RED-BEAN) MOUSSE

2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin 1 tablespoon cold water 1/3 cup ogura an (canned, sweetened red beans--found in Japanese markets) 1/4 cup milk 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 3/4 cup whipping cream

Dissolve gelatin in water; set aside to soften. In small saucepan, combine ogura an , milk and sugar. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat, and stir in softened gelatin until completely melted. Pour into mixing bowl and cool. Whip cream to soft peaks. Fold whipped cream into cooled ogura an mixture, and spoon into mold on top of cake slice, spreading evenly; refrigerate to set. GREEN-TEA MOUSSE

1 package (1 tablespoon) unflavored gelatin 2 tablespoons cold water 2 egg yolks 1/4 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup milk 2 tablespoons green-tea powder 3/4 cup whipping cream

Dissolve gelatin in water to soften; set aside. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in bowl until blended. Pour milk and green-tea powder into small saucepan; bring to boil. Immediately pour milk-tea mixture into yolks and sugar, stirring constantly. Pour back into saucepan with softened gelatin, and stir over low heat until gelatin dissolves, about 2 minutes. Strain through fine sieve into mixing bowl and cool. Whip cream until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into cooled green-tea mixture, and spoon over chilled ogura an mousse layer. Spread evenly, and refrigerate to set.

TOPPING AND GARNISH

3/4 cup whipping cream 1 tablespoon granulated sugar Pinch of green-tea powder 1-2 tablespoons korizato (rock-crystal sugar, found in Japanese markets), coarsely crushed

Whip cream to soft peaks; add sugar to sweeten, and spread evenly over chilled Green-Tea Mousse. Make design with cake comb, or swirl cream with spatula to make decorative pattern. Sprinkle top with green-tea powder and coarse sugar; refrigerate. Unmold by running knife carefully around edge and releasing spring on cake ring. Transfer to doily-lined serving plate. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Note: Asian ingredients can be found at Safe & Save Market, 2030 Sawtelle Blvd., and Granada Market, 1820 Sawtelle Blvd., both between Santa Monica and Olympic boulevards; Hughes Market, 11361 National Blvd., and Japanese food stores in Little Tokyo and Gardena.

Photographed by Viktor Budnik; food stylist: Norman Stewart; marble slabs courtesy of Scapes.