Green Tea Cake
– 2 1/4 cups Flour
– 1 1/2 cups White Sugar
– 1 3/4 teaspoons Baking Powder
– 4 teaspoons Matcha (Japanese Green Tea Powder)
– 3/4 cup Butter, softened
– 3 Eggs
– 3/4 cup Milk
Cream Cheese Frosting
– 8 ounces of Cream Cheese, room temperature
– 1/2-cup (one stick) butter, room temperature
– 1-pound Confectioner’s Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
– 6 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
– 1-2 teaspoons of Matcha (Powdered Green Tea) for decorative topping
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large mixing bowl place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and the four teaspoons of Matcha powder. Mix together.
Add the eggs, butter and milk to the dry ingredients, and blend together. Beat for five to seven minutes so that is smooth. Grease two nine-inch non-stick cake pans with butter, and pour half of the blended batter into each of them. Evenly smooth out the batter in the pan to avoid it from mounding too much in the middle.
Place the pans evenly in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 20-24 minutes. At 20 minutes test the cakes by poking the centers with a clean toothpick. If it comes out clean, the cakes are done. If it does not, place back in the oven and check back at two minute intervals. You want the two layers of green tea cake to be done, but do not over-bake them, or they will start to dry out.
As soon as they are cool enough to handle (about three to five minutes), take the cakes out of the pans. The easiest way is to place parchment paper on a large dinner plate, place it parchment paper side down on top of the cake pan, and flip the cake out of the pan.
NOTE: One of the nice things about this cake recipe is that it rises nicely and easily, but it doesn’t mound much in the middle. This makes it easy to get a two-layer cake stacked evenly, and not having to saw off the hump for a perfect cake. If your layers have humps, you can carefully saw them off with a long serrated knife. The cake in this photo came out of the pan perfectly, and didn’t need any behind the scenes surgery.
Place the bottom layer onto a large plate, or a flat-top pedestal cake plate, upside down, so that the top is face down on the plate, and the perfectly shaped flat surface of the pan side of the cake layer is facing upward. (This way the top of the layer is perfectly shaped, and it is easier to frost.)
Now it’s time to create the frosting. This is a really simple way to make frosting, and so full of flavor. The vanilla extract in the frosting is totally necessary here. It is delicious, and it is just sweet enough to set off the exotic not-too-sweet tea taste of the cake.
With an electric mixer, in a medium or large mixing bowl blend together the butter and cream cheese. As you get this process going on, you may have to stop and scrape the blades of your handheld or stationary mixer, to keep the mixture moving. Don’t be alarmed; once the butter gets mixed up and warmed up, it will all flow nicely.
Add the confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar) and the pure vanilla extract to the bowl, and continue blending. Beat until fluffy, and all of the powdered sugar is mixed in. Now you are ready to frost your cake.
NOTE: Do not use artificial vanilla in this recipe; use the real thing, even though pure vanilla extract is more expensive! Or else the Culinary Police will come by and issue you a flavoring citation!
If you are a total frosting freak, you could make a double batch of this frosting. However, this recipe gives you enough frosting to cover both layers and the sides of this cake. You don’t want this to be crazy sweet with frosting.
On your plate or cake plate, frost the top of the bottom layer, and evenly smooth it out. Lift the second layer of the cake up so that the top is face down, and the perfectly flat pan-formed side is facing upward. Place it onto the frosted bottom layer. Carefully and smoothly frost the top of the second layer. Frost the sides of the two layers of the cake, and smooth them out. The cake should now be a gorgeous ivory white masterpiece!
Now for the final touch. Using a fine-screened hand-held sieve, while hovering it over the cake…add one to two teaspoons of Matcha. Gently shaking the fine-screened sieve, give the top of the cake an even dusting of bright green Matcha.
What you should now have in front of you is one of the most outrageous looking cakes you have ever created. When it is time to cut the cake, the drama continues when you expose the delicious interior of peridot green colored layers of cake. You want rocking flavor? You want to make a really impressive looking cake? This is it. Welcome to
The taste of Tokyo: its Green Tea time!