First, the bad news. This afternoon, I failed catastrophically at creating a genoise, an Italian sponge cake named after the city of Genoa. Specifically, it was a Green Tea Roll with Red Bean Filling. The recipe came from Chocolate and Zucchini, a wonderful website full of what I now realize are recipes that only lovely French women and Italian pastry chefs can replicate. It involved folding egg whites into a mixture of cornstarch, flour, egg yolks, sugar and matcha. The problem was that this mixture had the consistency of Play-Doh that has been sitting out for an hour. Trying to fold egg whites into this mixture was like trying to fold a cardboard box into a paper crane. I gave up and beat the mixture, resulting in a flat cake that much resembled a whole-wheat spinach wrap. I had a pretty easy time rolling it. I used almond pie filling, and way too much of it. It squished out in unattractive ways.
But now, the good news. While the filling is chunky and cloying and the cake is technically not genoise, with some mango sorbet and tart berries, the roll was a nice, chewy addition. The earthiness of the green tea balanced the slight soapiness of mango. The tartness of the raspberries helped counteract the sweetness of the almond paste. And don't even get me into color theory.
I'm not sure what I'll do with the rest of the roll. There's quite a bit. Wish me better luck with my next project. From now on, if I can't pronounce it, I may pass on it.
