Create & Savour The Galaxy With This Matcha Mirror Glaze Galaxy Cake Recipe

By Karmen on 15 Jun 2020

Digital Editor

If you've already tried the easier baking recipes like Oreo brownie cake, coffee cake and Milo lava cake, now's the time to level up your skills and make the most aesthetically pleasing cake!

Baker Kelly Liu has created a stunning glazed matcha cake with a beautiful and realistic-looking galaxy design in honour of Space X and NASA's historic launch. She generously shared her recipe so you can create it at home. ?

Keep reading to check out the recipe!

There are four parts to this recipe, making the sponge cake, mousse, glaze, and then finally assembling them together. It will take some time and effort but just look at that cake, it's definitely worth it! ✨

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A post shared by Kelly (@usagi_baking) on Jun 5, 2020 at 8:11pm PDT

#1 Matcha Sponge Cake ?

2 large eggs (room temperature)
50g flour
7g matcha powder
60g sugar
25g melted butter
20ml milk (warm)
2 tsp water

Steps:

Sift matcha powder and flour 2-3 times until there are no large clumps
Line a cake tin with parchment paper and preheat oven to 170℃.
Using a hand mixer on high speed, whisk eggs and sugar in a bowl while
it is warmed over another bowl of water at around 60℃.
Once the eggs reach 36℃, remove from warm water and continue whisking until the mixture is thick and creamy, about 5min. Lower the speed and whisk for 3 more minutes until glossy.
Add 1tbsp water and whisk lightly to loosen the batter.
Gently fold in matcha and flour mixture until smooth, then fold butter and milk to the mixture until creamy.
Pour mixture into lined cake pan and bake for 20-25min, or until putting a skewer through the center of the cake comes out clean. If there is still batter stuck to the skewer, bake for 5 more minutes but watch the cake carefully.
Once removing from the oven, quickly drop the pan from a 20cm height to shock the cake and prevent shrinking.
Turn upside down onto a rack and let cool. Once fully cooled, cover and place in fridge to chill for 2 hours.

After you've prepared your sponge cake and let it cool in the fridge, you can start making the mousse!

Photo from @usagi_baking via Instagram

#2 Matcha mousse ?

Ingredients:

1 tbsp gelatin powder
4 tbsp cold water
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp matcha powder
3 tbsp warm water

Steps:

Whisk gelatin and 4tbsp water and set aside until the gelatin absorbs the water.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl.
Heat the milk on medium-low heat in a pan and dissolve gelatin in milk.
Slowly add milk to egg mixture.
Dissolve matcha in 3 tbsp warm water.
Combine matcha, egg and milk mixture, and whisk thoroughly while cooling bowl in ice water
In another bowl, whisk the heavy cream until medium peaks form.
Carefully fold whipped heavy cream into matcha mixture, making sure not to overmix.
Take the sponge cake from the fridge and carefully remove it from the pan. The sponge cake will be the base for the mousse. Depending on how high you want your cake to be, cut at least 2.5cm through the bottom of the cake with a serrated knife.
With a springform pan or a cake mold, put the base sponge layer on the bottom, and fill the rest of the pan with mousse. Work quickly on this step before the mousse sets.
Place in fridge to chill for several hours until mousse is set.

Once the sponge and mousse cake are assembled and chilled for several hours, you can move on to the mirror glaze.

Photo from @usagi_baking via Instagram

#3 Mirror Glaze ?

Ingredients:

21g gelatin powder
1 cup water
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar (300g)
1 cup sweetened condensed milk (200g)
1.5 cups white chocolate (340g)
Gel food colouring (Royal blue, light blue, purple, pink, white)

Steps:

Whisk gelatin and 1/2 cold water in a bowl and set aside until the gelatin absorbs the water
Combine remaining 1/2 cup water, sugar, condensed milk in a saucepan over medium heat.
Stir mixture until sugar dissolves, bring to a simmer, then remove from heat and add all the solidified gelatin and whisk until dissolved
Add white chocolate, and let the remaining heat soften the chocolate. Then, whisk slowly until smooth.
Divide the glaze into different bowls, one holding a different colour.One should be a larger portion to contain a base color, while smaller bowls will contain accent colors. For galaxy colours, Kelly recommends Royal blue or sky blue. Accent colors can be purple, pink, or white.
Whisk a few drops of food colouring into its designated bowl. Let the glaze cool down until 35C, or until it barely feels warm when touched. (This is very important!) Stir frequently to prevent it from settling.

Once that's done, you can now assemble everything together and watch the magic happen! ?

Photo from @usagi_baking via Instagram

#4 Assembly ?

Take the mousse cake from the fridge, and carefully remove it from the pan. Place it over a covered baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper for easy cleanup .
In a new bowl, pour about 1/3 of the base glaze and add some accent glaze drizzles on top. Use a chopstick or spoon to give it a few swirls for a galaxy effect. Then, pour this combined glaze over the cake until the top and sides are fully covered.
Add edible sprinkles, glitter, or accents to complete the look.
Let the cake rest for about 15min until the glaze is set, then transfer to the fridge if saving for later. Can be eaten either chilled or at room temperature. Now, it's time to dig in!

This recipe can be made for a 15 - 22cm diameter cake. Expect to have some leftover sponge cake depending on how you assemble the cake.