This cake is for Tuyen's official graduation party and also his birthday party (May 22nd) with all of his friends and family members from New York and Seattle. Tuyen suggests a mousse cake, Chi Y Uyen likes green tea mousse, and I myself is a fan of green tea too, so I decided to make a green tea mousse cake for the party.

The recipe is from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/green-tea-mousse-recipes.html. I used recipe #1 and found it really simple with wonderful result. So there was no need for me to try other recipes on this website.



Here is the recipe:

Ingredients for Green Tea (Matcha) Mousse:
1 tbsp gelatin powder
2 eggs yolk
4 tbsps water
1 cup milk
½ cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp warm water
1 tbsp matcha green tea powder



Preparation
Mix gelatin powder in 4 tbsps of water. Dissolve the powder completely and remove any lumps.
Mix sugar and egg yolk in a bowl.
In a pan, heat milk and then slowly add the gelatin. Make sure that the gelatin is dissolved.
Now add the milk in the egg yolk mixture.
Use 3 tbsps of warm water to dissolve green tea powder.
Add this to the milk in the egg yolk mixture.
Stir well and cool the bowl in iced water.
Whipped the heavy cream and then gently fold into the cool mixture.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before placing another layer of cake on.

Use the same amount of ingredients above to make more mousse. This becomes the second mousse layer. So, my cake has 2 layers of cake and 2 layers of mousse in between them. Above is the mousse only. Here is the recipe for the cake.
http://my.opera.com/trangskitchen/blog/black-and-white-cake-for-springs-birthday



Don't be surprised! The cake has two tiers because there was two events for this party: graduation and birthday celebration. Here is the full picture of the cake with 2 tiers:


The 2nd cake I made for this party was smaller and it was a red velvet cake with a fondant figure on top, wearing UT Ph.D. Graduation Clothing. Tuyen is not a fan of red velvet cake but I am, and I know other kids at the party will love it too because the cake is super moist and chocolatey. I made red velvet cake before, if you recall this post: http://my.opera.com/trangskitchen/blog/red-velvet-cake-wrapped-in-a-fondant-bow
Now I just copy the recipe here for you:
RED VELVET CAKE



Ingredients for the cake:
2-1/2 c. cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for dusting the pans
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1-1/2 c. sugar
1-1/2 c. canola oil
2 large eggs
4 T. red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. buttermilk
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. white vinegar

Ingredients for the cream-cheese frosting:
16 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 c. butter, at room temperature ( I used 60% vegetable spread that is good for baking and less fat)
4 c. powdered sugar
1 table spoon fresh lemon juice


PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 350°. Generously butter two 9" x 2" round cake pans. Dust with flour, and tap out the excess. (You can use parchment paper instead) Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, salt, and cocoa. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat sugar and oil on medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add food coloring and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add the flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

In a small bowl, whisk together the baking soda and vinegar. Add to the batter, and beat for 10 seconds. Evenly divide batter between the prepared pans.

Place in oven and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Remove from the pans, and return to the rack, top side up, to cool completely. After the cake is completely cool, cut it into 4 layers.




Make the frosting by creaming together the cream cheese, lemon juice and butter (or vegetable spread) on medium high speed for a minute or two, until well incorporated. Beat in the powdered sugar until fluffy.Using an offset spatula to frost the cake, starting by frosting between layers and then finish with a thin layer all over the cake surface. Cover and refrigerate before applying the fondant. For my cake, I also dust a thin layer of cocoa powder on top but this is optional.



Look at him...He's wearing a UT Ph.D. uniform and his hand means " Hook 'em Horn " But he doesn't look like my boyfriend at all