Originally, these were going to be honey tiramisu, but I felt like the term “scoop cake” just sounded a lot more cute and fun. So we’re going with that description instead. With these little cakes, we have layers of bee pollen infused castella(Portuguese/Japanese honey cake), chamomile tea and gelee, honey-bee pollen infused quark(German cheese yogurt), and a turmeric and bee pollen infused white chocolate bark on top to finish. There’s a lot of fun and colorful components to this dessert, and I really wanted to just do something vibrant and fragrant!

For the castella:
1 egg
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon bee pollen
1 tablespoon canola oil
a pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Whip the egg, honey, and bee pollen together in a bowl until it reaches ribbon stage-thickness. Mix about 1/4 of that mixture into the oil, salt, and vanilla. Fold fold that mixture with the flour and the remaining egg mixture. Pour and spread into a super thin layer on a parchment-lined sheet tray. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Allow the cake to cool down before cutting into 2-inch by 2-inch squares.

For the chamomile soak:
2 tea bags of chamomile tea
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup water
a pinch of salt

Bring everything to a simmer and allow the tea to steep for 5 minutes, minimum. Reserve 1/4 cup of the liquid for the gelee, and then use the rest for the cakes.

For the gelee:
1/4 cup chamomile soak
1 1/2 tablespoons agar agar

Bring ingredients to a simmer until agar is fully dissolved. Pour into a small but shallow container and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes, or until set firm. Cut into smaller cubes for assembly.

For the quark:
6oz quark yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon bee pollen
a pinch of salt

Whip everything together until fully combined. Keep refrigerated until time to use.

For the turmeric and bee pollen bark:
2 tablespoons white chocolate
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon bee pollen

In a double boiler, heat the white chocolate, turmeric, and salt together. Once the white chocolate is half-liquid, take off heat and stir using the residual heat to fully melt it. Once the white chocolate registers 87 degrees F, pour onto either bubble wrap, a honeycomb shaped mold, or onto parchment. Sprinkle the bee pollen onto the other side and refrigerate until set. Crack into smaller pieces to garnish with.

To assemble:
Start by soaking a layer of cake in the chamomile then place that onto the bottom of a serving container(I used 2-inch by 2-inch wooden sake cups). Place in about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the quark, three cubes of your gelee, then repeat this step. For the final layer, place on a piece of soaked castella and spread on the quark. Garnish with the gelee and pieces of bark to finish.