Sunday, April 13, 2008

MATCHA CAKE with COCONUT BUTTERCREAM


I have been dreaming of food concoctions and pairings for almost a week now. I guess you can say I am truly a food blogger! Here is one of my combos thought of in the middle of the night.

MATCHA CAKE (adapted from Classic White Cake, America's Test Kitchen, 2006)

2 1/4 cups cake flour (9oz)
1 cup milk, room temperature
6 egg whites, room temperature
2 teaspoons matcha green tea powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups sugar (12 1/4 oz)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool

Preheat oven to 350. Spray jelly roll pan with cooking spray.

Pour milk, egg whites,green tea and Vanilla into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup and mix with a fork until blended.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of mixer and turn on low speed.

Add butter; continue beating at low speed until the mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.

Add all but 1/2 cup of the milk mixture to the crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 min.

Add remaining 1/2 cup milk mixture and beat 30 sec. more. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides. Return the mixer to medium high speed and beat 20 sec. longer.

Pour into jelly roll pan and bake for about 25 min.

Let the cake rest in the pan for 3 min. Loosen the sides. Let cool for another ten minutes and cut out rectangular shapes to layer.

Coconut Frosting (adapted from Userealbutter's recipe)

4 oz egg whites
8 oz sugar
2 sticks butter, room temperature
3 teaspoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl. Whisk constantly in a double boiler until 140F is reached. Place on mixer with whisk and whip until stiff. Turn down whip speed to 3rd and whip until cool to the touch (this takes a while - should be cooler than your hand). Change to a paddle and gradually add softened butter by tablespoon pieces. Mix to emulsify. Once desired consistency has been reached, add vanilla and coconut oil.


It was a good cake that my friends enjoyed. For me I would have liked more matcha flavoring and less coconut flavoring.

The coconut really helped to solidify the frosting too. I think you could probably decrease the butter a little. I would liek to play around with this a little more until I get the best coconut frosting. Then I will post again.

11 comments:

amanda. said...

Oh wow, send me some?

I'm definitely ordering some matcha tonight. I need to make this immediately.

snicketmom said...

Wow. I too WANT this cake. I have never used matcha powder. Where is the best place to order it? (Also, how do you pronounce it?)

Lori said...

I ordered my match (pronounced ma-cha, as in cha cha cha) through the cheapest dealer on nextag. That happened to be Vitamindeal.com. I also found some at the Asian store, very expensive. I will soon find out how they compare.

Anonymous said...

I love matcha and the frosting sounds amazing!

Unknown said...

the colour looks gorgeous. i just love anything with coconut! i'd love to try this when i can find matcha powder in the town. thanks for dropping by my blog and taking time to write me a comment :D

giz said...

Ok - this is about the third blog I've seen lately using matcha. I have absolutely no clue what it is.

Helene said...

Eheh!! I made a matcha cake too this weekend but no coconut buttercream. It looks excellent though!

Jessy said...

ohhh, i think that this is going to be made this weekend...also, what do you do with all of the egg yolks that you have left over?

Lori said...

jessy- I make lots of curd. Taste great mixed with plain yogurt and we also freeze it.

Dr.Gray said...

This cake looks good. Though I would probably change the frosting. I am not a big fan of coconut. Do you think matcha would work with a butter cream frosting?

Lori said...

Dr. Gray- absolutely. Yum a double matcha!