I've never been good at sponge and so I decided to give cakes a miss on my mum's birthday this year. It's a rather interesting dessert I'd say, as it consists of macarons, and also glutinous rice (which are more common in Asian countries).  

The first component, Peach-Basil Compote was something I came across in Johnny Iuzzini's Dessert Fourplay (it's a great book!'s  gosh I'm Johnny's #1 fan!). The sticky rice are first soaked before steamming until chewy but not crunchy, while the peaches are diced and the coconut milk are combined with a little potato starch.

(SORRY! I'm not too sure about whether it's alright to post the recipe from his book online anot!!)

In the middle are the couple of green tea macarons. I piped them w dark chocolate ganache as I felt that macarons, on its own are already extremely sweet and my mum has never been a fan of sugar. Finally, the drink is actually japanese cucumber and sour plum juice.

Green Tea Macarons
50g Icing Sugar
5g Green Tea Powder
30g Finely Ground Almond
35g Egg White
30g Sugar

Sift the icing sugar and green tea powder together. Prepare 2 11 x 14 inch baking tray, lined with silicon coated parchment paper (draw circles behind the parchment if required).

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Add the ground almond to the icing sugar mixture, break up clumps if any. In another clean and dry bowl, whisk the egg white till frothy. Add sugar in 2 additions and whisk till soft peak. Add in the ground almond mixture into whisked egg whites in 2 addition, fold till incorporated. Lift the spatula to see if it falls ribbon-like. 

Load the batter into a piping bag with round tip. Pipe into circles. Bake for about 5 to 8 minutes. The feet will start to form. Lower down the temperature to 110 degrees and further bake for another 15 minutes. Set aside to cool and remove from paper. Pair them up and sandwich with Lemon Curd, buttercream or ganache. Refrigerate before serving.  

Cucumber w Sour Plum juice (makes 2 small glasses like above size)
1 cucumber 3 sour plum (w seed ones)
water and ice

Chop the cucumber and remove the seed in the sour plum. Together with the remaining ingredients, put them in the blender and blend till smooth. Extremely refreshing and cooling. Remember to refrigerate before consumption!

Have fun too! =DD  

Green Tea Macaron Recipe from http://allthatmatters2rei.blogspot.com/ =)
Cucumber sour plum juice recipe from a distant aunty.