Daring Bakers Challenge: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

I’ll admit it. I’m still in Japan mode. My family and I are still coming off our high so when I saw this month’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge, I decided that I needed to make something with some of my spoils from the trip – Green Tea, Sakura Essence, and Azuki.

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge.  Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

I love Japanese pastries – never overly sweet but rather light and fluffy in nature with just enough sweetness to let the eater know that it was dessert.  I saw a recipe for a Green Tea Roll in Orange Page, a Japanese Magazine and thought I’d give a variation a try.  The Sakura Ice Cream came out as a screaming pink concoction mainly due to very shaky hands.  The fudge layer was mixed with azuki beans which I started to eat by the spoonful. 

In my  mind’s eye, I pictured a perfectly layered creation that was even all around, smooth without bumps and creases. The reality was much different:

This pink sakura ice cream that managed to seep through?  It was a lot worse on my first attempt – the  whole thing was pink.

I have to say, when i took a bite of it, it was really good.  I was a little surprised seeing as how the combination was a little crazy but it married together well. I’m still tweaking the recipes a bit and will post up when I’m happy with it.