I’ve been so busy in the last few days you’d be amazed. I’ve already been on 3 planes in the last week and about to board another one tomorrow morning. Although it’s been very tiring and hectic at times, it has also been quite fun and rewarding. For starters, I had my very first scuba diving experience, even though I can’t swim. I will be posting up a lot of exciting posts about my travels over the coming weeks so stay tuned for those!
The busier I am, the more I miss the comfort of my own bed and being able to blog to my heart’s content. Right now, I hardly have time to check my emails let alone write a few sentences here. I am literally decreasing the amount of sleep time I have by writing this (I have to get up in 5 hours). But, this blog is my baby, how can I leave it alone?
Just before I began this epic adventure to take my cousin and his wife around Australia, I had to make a lot of travel preparations and it’s not just of the travel booking type. Even though Yuye stayed behind this time, I knew there was no way he was going to clean after my kitchen messes and help me make (or even eat) the ingredients I had left in the fridge. To be specific, there was a whole lot of strawberries, thickened cream and a lot of slightly failed green tea and lemon marble cake. What do I do with all these ingredients?
When in doubt, just throw them all together I say! So I came up with this – a green tea (matcha) and strawberry parfait using my failed cake as part of the ingredients. It was such a good idea that I couldn’t stop beaming from ear to ear. It turned out to be quite delicious and even my newly wed cousin and his wife were impressed.
Of course, if you’re going to make this, you can use any type of sponge, pound or other cake that you want or have left over, although I thought using a green tea and lemon cake in a green tea parfait sounded like a good pairing. Hopefully this can be a bit of an inspiration for when you don’t know what to do with your ingredients. 
Here’s the short and easy recipe for now, the next time I post my Australia journey would have ended and I will be back to proper blogging, hopefully. 
Till then, I will miss you (for just a few days more).
I decided to add a green tea liquor Yuye and I bought in Japan during our most recent visit, but I don’t think it had as much of an impact as I thought, especially when I added actual matcha powder. This is obviously optional, but I would just omit it next time anyway. You can also add a few drop of vanilla extract to the cream if you want to but I didn’t and it tasted fine.
Matcha (green tea) and strawberry parfait
Serves 4
Ingredients
• 3 tbsp hot water
• 2 tsp matcha (green tea) powder
• 2.5 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 cup thickened cream
• 180g pound cake (or other cake), cubed – put less if you don’t like as much cake in the parfait, I just wanted to get rid of mine
• 1 punnet strawberries (about 250g), hulled and diced
• Extra 4 strawberries as garnish (can be taken out from the 1 punnet above)
• 1 tbsp green tea liquor (optional)
Instructions
1. Dissolve the matcha powder in the hot water and set aside to cool, try to get rid of all the lumps.
2. Put the sugar and cream in a medium bowl and whisk until soft peaks form.
3. Add cooled matcha paste and green tea liquor to the cream and mix through.
4. Taste the mixture and add more sugar if not sweet enough for you. Whisk or mix again if you added more sugar.
5. Assemble cake, diced strawberries and cream mixture in alternating layers in 4 tall parfait glasses. Eg, put one layer of cake, then a layer of cream then a layer of strawberries and repeat until the glasses are filled to a desired height.
6. Cut the remaining strawberries with a sharp knife into 4 sections (vertically) but do not cut through the top (where the leaves are). Use these to garnish the top of each glass.
7. Chill in the fridge for at least half an hour before serving.
Note, this dessert can be made a day in advance as long as they’re kept in the refrigerator.
Question time: Do you often have trouble finding what to do with left over ingredients? What are some great ideas you’ve come up?
33 comments… add one
Rosa September 29, 2012, 12:43 am
Wonderful clicks and gorgeous dessert! What a refined combination.
Cheers,
Rosa
Choc Chip Uru September 29, 2012, 5:54 am
What an absolutely stunning combination my friend in a beautifully presented parfait
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Girlnpurpledres September 29, 2012, 6:07 am
Absolutely beauuuuutiful photos!! You are so talented, well done!
Ms. Grace September 29, 2012, 6:37 am
Looks so good!!!
missgraceworld.blogspot.com
yummychunklet September 29, 2012, 9:43 am
If those aren’t the most wonderful photos of parfaits I’ve ever seen, I don’t know what is.
buttercream bakehouse September 29, 2012, 9:55 am
This looks amazing. I love anything with strawberry. Your food styling and photography is amazing. Do you use natural light?
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake September 29, 2012, 6:01 pm
Thanks so much! Yes I generally use natural light, I find it a lot more appetising than artificial and I’m also not very good at using artificial anyway…
Parsley Sage September 29, 2012, 7:26 pm
What a FABULOUS second-life for your cake. This parfait looks stunning and totally delicious
I hope you have a safe and exciting trip! Can’t wait to see the pictures
Jessie September 30, 2012, 4:48 am
Those pictures are fantastic! Those parfaits look awesome and the strawberry on top is perfect!
Alex September 30, 2012, 11:38 am
This is absolutely beautiful…
tastyfoodsnaps September 30, 2012, 6:03 pm
ahhh it was so hot last friday in Sydney!! this would have been the perfect dessert! such a summery dessert
Erika September 30, 2012, 8:52 pm
Wow! Beautiful photography! I’m so in awe. And what a great way to use leftover ingredients
Ali September 30, 2012, 8:58 pm
I love strawberry parfait…and this looks fabulous! Enjoy your travels! I also miss my bed and creature comforts when I am away!
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake October 6, 2012, 4:04 pm
Thanks Ali! I loved every bit of my trip, sad to be back but happy at the same time.
Can’t wait to share the stories!
kitchenriffs October 1, 2012, 3:03 am
I haven’t had a parfait in ages! This looks great – and a nice way to salvage that cake! (Although I thought the cake was fine the way it was, I know you were disappointed.) Great looking strawberry garnish topping those parfaits – excellent job.
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake October 6, 2012, 4:01 pm
Trust me the cake wasn’t the best, but in the parfait they tasted a lot better.
Xuan @ My Kitchen Fixation October 1, 2012, 4:15 pm
Oh my goodness! That looks SO GOOD. Wish I could just go around thinking up delicious recipes on a whim like that
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake October 6, 2012, 3:59 pm
I usually don’t think up of things like that either, but that day it somehow clicked.
JasmyneTea October 1, 2012, 10:47 pm
It looks stunning! I love the combination of matcha and strawberry.
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake October 6, 2012, 3:59 pm
Thanks Jasmyne! It was quite a nice and refreshing combination which wasn’t too sweet.
LEAH October 2, 2012, 2:47 am
So awesome you’re learning to scuba dive! That’s something on my to-do list!
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake October 6, 2012, 3:59 pm
It was quite scary I can assure you! But totally fun when you get used to it. Should try it some time.
Daisy@Nevertoosweet October 2, 2012, 10:37 am
I am so super jealous of your travel adventures
I love travelling and lol i really don’t mind catching planes ~ and wow scuba diving! Can’t wait to read and look at all the amazing photos you will be posting soon!
I know exactly what you mean! That the blog is your baby because hehe it’s my baby too and it’s so hard to not blog and just forget about it and ‘enjoy’ my travels as my friends say LOL Anyhow, this is an amazing recipe and I love how you can use left over cake hehe ohh where did you get your Greentea liquor? I’d love to try some!
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake October 6, 2012, 3:58 pm
I’m back!!
It’s going to take me so long to sift through the photos though, hopefully I can get some posts up before people forget I even went on a trip! 
I got the green tea liquor from a liquor store in Tokyo, it’s not actually as good as it sounds…I reckon just add green tea to your own liquors…:P
Libby October 2, 2012, 10:00 pm
Green tea parfait?! Whoa!
I can’t wait to read about what you got up to in Cairns (as well as all the other places you’ve been to!). I, too, was sh*tscared when I first tried scuba diving. I’m someone who hates swimming and large areas of water but the beauty of the reef and seeing all the little fishies and sea turtles made me forget that I was 5 metres underwater
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake October 6, 2012, 3:56 pm
Haha I don’t really mind the water when I have a life jacket on!
My cousin’s wife on the other hand can’t swim and was quite scared even snorkelling with a life jacket, she was clinging onto my cousin the whole time…scuba diving though was so scary!!! I almost gave up but the no-refund policy kept me there…and I’m glad I stayed for it. 
We didn’t get to see any sea turtles!! 
Marta @ What should I eat for breakfast today October 5, 2012, 12:26 am
you’re so creative and this pictures are so delicious. If this is what you do when you don’t have time, I’m your big fan
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake October 6, 2012, 3:55 pm
Haha thanks Marta.
I was quite frantic for time but managed to whip this up…hopefully I can make more delicious things now that I’m free again. 
Lilly Sue October 7, 2012, 8:00 am
So beautiful and tasty looking!
Jenn and Seth October 7, 2012, 8:32 am
oh my gosh, these look so wonderful and such an interesting flavor combination! love it!
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com October 12, 2012, 3:40 pm
LOVE LOVE LOVE the styling and this delicious recipe!!!
Yy October 12, 2012, 8:05 pm
O M G next time invite meeeee
faeryn619 March 1, 2015, 5:59 pm
I love this combination strawberry and green tea:3 and it wasn’t too sweet thanks for share this tasty deasert i’ll try it soon