My friend makes one small mention of Rachel Zoe this morning and here I am, shoulders deep into a Rachel Zoe Project marathon.
Shameless.
I keep telling myself that I’ll just watch one more episode… one more… then I’ll think of something to write on my blog.
Five hours later… here I am, alone in my house,ย wearing heels and my chunky sweater. ย I may or may not have just shopped for a furry vest online… and I’m so invested in Rachel getting pregnant, it’s ridiculous.
I need a Rodg… or a psychiatrist… or a bottle of vodka… or just someone to come turn off this program. ย I’m not sure.
Swoon.
In other news… I made this really beautiful cake.
I’m so happy with this little darling. ย It’s marbled, green, flavorful and delicate.
Dreamboat situation.
Matcha.
The lemon portion of this pound cake is pretty simple. ย Lemon. ย Juice and zest. ย We all know what that is. ย Bright and delicious.
What’s Matcha?
Matcha is a finely milled green tea. ย When combined with hot water, it creates the most beautifully green, super flavorful, luxurious green tea. ย It’s the whole tea leaf, ground super fine so you get all the goodness of green tea in a super powerful way. ย Fancy.
Matcha is used as a ceremonial tea so there are often fancy whisks and bowls to accompany the tea. ย I forgo those items and manage to make myself a beautiful cup of matcha with just the powder almost every morning.
Besides a nice morning cup of matcha (with milk and honey), the green powder is great in ice creams, custards and cakes.
Matcha is a really lovely ingredient in baking. ย Green secret weapon.
But! ย Matcha is a tad bit more expensive than regular old green tea.
I use The Art of Tea Matcha… it’s really lovely.
Splurge a little. ย I think you’ll really like it.
But maybe I’m just saying that because I really want you to make this cake.
I mean really… look how pretty this is!
The brightness of the lemon. ย The earthiness of the green tea. ย Eggs, butter and sugar. ย This cake is delicate and impressive. ย See, I just used food words.
But be prepared to get stray powder on your shoes and your jeans. ย And please pay no mind to the gravy stain I also have on my shoes.
That’s just embarrassing… but seriously, who doesn’t love gravy?
You get the idea, right?
I’m sorry to leave you like this… it’s just that I have a few more episodes of Zoe to go.
Lemon and Matcha Marble Pound Cake
makes one 9x5x4-inch pound cake, plus 12 mini muffins ย (see… I had a little extra batter and I didn’t want to overflow my baking pan)
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
zest of one lemon and juice of half a lemon
1 Tablespoon matcha powder
1 stick plus 7 Tablespoons (15 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the loaf pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Also butter ย a mini muffin pan or line a regular muffin tin with cupcakes papers for the small amount of excess batter. ย Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk the eggs into the sugar. ย You can use a large bowl with a whisk for this. ย You don’t really need a big mixer for this recipe. ย Beat until the eggs and sugar are thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the extract, then whisk in the sour cream. Continuing with the whisk, or switching to a large rubber spatula, gently stir in the dry ingredients in 3 or 4 additions; the batter will be smooth and thick. Finish by folding in the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions.
Divide the batter in half (just eyeball it) into two separate bowls. ย In one bowl add the zest and lemon juice. ย In the other bowl, fold in the matcha tea powder.
Pour some of the lemon batter into the pan. ย Top it with a portion of the green tea batter. ย Add more lemon and top with more green tea batter. ย Fill the loaf pan, leaving at least 1-inch of room at the top of the pan for the cake to rise. ย Swirl gently and minimally with a butter knife to get a good swirl effect. ย With the remaining batter, make mini muffins or cupcakes.
Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. The mini muffins will take about 15 minutes and the cupcakes will take about 18-20 minutes.
Once removed from the oven, allow the loaf to rest in the pan for 20 minutes before running a knife along the edges of the pan and inverting the cake onto a cooling rack.
156 Responses
Hi Joy! You are an amazing baker. I love all your recipes and have received a lot of compliments for the same. Thank you so much. I just need a clarification on this recipe. I live in India, where I don’t come across Matcha. Is there any other alternative? Can I use fresh peppermint leaves instead?
No, different things, different world. Very different, different flavors and textures.
is it supposed to use cake flour? I used plain flour but it does not result in a soft texture like cakes but more of bread?
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Thanks for sharing this. I just made it and even with my sloppy measuring skills (I’m a metric kinda girl) it turned out great. Matcha and lemon go together really well and the whole house smells amazing.
is it 7 tablespoons or 15? recipe says both!