Matcha Tea Cake
On my recent trip to japan, I brought with me a few souvenirs, a few fridge magnets, a kimino, a bunch of fruit-flavoured teas. But because it was Japan, the home of Matcha, I had to get a pack of nice culinary-grade matcha to begin my experiments with the sublime green-tea flavour. I took help from a friend to select the "best for baking" matcha and brought it all the way to India without a clue on how to get started. I had tasted a few store-bought Matcha goodies and I was still deciding whether I like the strong rustic aroma in my cakes or not. So, I decided to take it slow with my first cake and instead of making an all-matcha cake I went for a matcha-marble so I can have the matcha taste, albeit a more delicate version fantastically intertwined with the vanilla.
This turned out amazing, the matcha wasn't overpowering and the vanilla complimented it perfectly. I feel more confident now and next time I am going to be more generous with the matcha and see that gorgeous green shine through. I also plan it make a matcha-chocolate marble cake and will post the recipe soon.
Ingredients -
1.5 cups or 180 gm flour
0.75 cup or approx 160 gm powdered sugar
3 large eggs
60 gm softened butter
0.5 cup vegetable oil
2-3 tablespoons Matcha powder
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
0.5 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch of salt
2 table spoons milk
Method -
Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line the baking tin with baking paper
In a bowl, sift flour, baking powder, soda and salt
In another bowl, whisk butter, oil and sugar till light
Add flour to the butter mix and fold in by gentle whisk, add one egg and gently whisk.
Continue adding flour and egg alternating and ending with flour
Divide the batter into two halves
Add vanilla extract to one half and fold in
Now to the other half, add matcha powder and fold in lightly. Add 1-2 tablespoons milk to make the batter similar in consistency to the vanilla batter
Put dallops of alternating matcha and vanilla batter in the baking tin
Swirl through the batter using a tooth pick in circular motions to mix up the two batters creating marble effect
Bake for approx 30-35 mins depending on oven setting
Let cool in the pan for 5 mins before taking out
If you are in a hurry or simply wish to make an all-matcha cake, skip the steps to divide the batter and add 1 additional spoon of Matcha to the batter.