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, wearing heels and my chunky sweater. 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. I’m not sure.
Swoon.
In other news… I made this really beautiful cake.
I’m so happy with this little darling. It’s marbled, green, flavorful and delicate.
Dreamboat situation.
Matcha.
The lemon portion of this pound cake is pretty simple. Lemon. Juice and zest. We all know what that is. Bright and delicious.
What’s Matcha?
Matcha is a finely milled green tea. When combined with hot water, it creates the most beautifully green, super flavorful, luxurious green tea. It’s the whole tea leaf, ground super fine so you get all the goodness of green tea in a super powerful way. Fancy.
Matcha is used as a ceremonial tea so there are often fancy whisks and bowls to accompany the tea. 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. Green secret weapon.
But! 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. 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. The earthiness of the green tea. Eggs, butter and sugar. This cake is delicate and impressive. See, I just used food words.
But be prepared to get stray powder on your shoes and your jeans. 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 (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 a mini muffin pan or line a regular muffin tin with cupcakes papers for the small amount of excess batter. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk the eggs into the sugar. You can use a large bowl with a whisk for this. You don’t really need a big mixer for this recipe. 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. In one bowl add the zest and lemon juice. In the other bowl, fold in the matcha tea powder.
Pour some of the lemon batter into the pan. Top it with a portion of the green tea batter. Add more lemon and top with more green tea batter. Fill the loaf pan, leaving at least 1-inch of room at the top of the pan for the cake to rise. Swirl gently and minimally with a butter knife to get a good swirl effect. 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.
peachkins
I love Matcha, you know. I love the Green Tea Frap from starbucks and the Green tea Froyo from red Mango.. If only i could get ahold of that matcha powder….
Bheng
you can get the green tea (matcha) powder at Teavana Store or you can order it online.
Tabitha (From Single to Married)
That looks so cool – like a work of art! Love how each marble cake turns out different from the last!
Adriana
Whatever comes out of your hands is amazing!
Please Joy, can you add the quantities in grams as well? Please, please, please….
Wei-Wei
I just LOVE matcha, but I really am not sure that that combination would work out… I might do a vanilla/matcha one, though. Thanks ;)
annie
Sweet, you have Toms shoes! I just ordered my first pair… love! :)
joythebaker
best shoes EVER!
Joe @ Eden Kitchen
Seriously, you are a girl after my own heart! I absolutely love matcha. Beautiful pictures :)
Silvia
Such a beautiful cake…
Amanda@EasyPeasyOrganic
What a great idea! Green tea in baking! You’ve inspired me … matcha watch out …
:)
notyet100
wow,…such a nice colour,..
Kitchen Corner
This pound cake looks very nice! I wonder how it taste like with the combination of matcha and lemon. Must be the unique one!
Jessica Skiftun
I like your shoes.
kangli
Strange, I’ve never thought of this combination before! Always associated matcha with cheesecake. The pound cake looks gorgeous! Can’t wait to try it. :)
Chaitali
Lemon and matcha sounds amazing!
Can’t wait to try this.
Jamieanne
Wow, I’ve been wanting to make a lemon & matcha cake for a long time but haven’t gotten around to it! This is inspiration to stop fooling around and make it! It looks beautiful! :)
tea
marble cakes are the prettiest things, i wonder if it’s possible to make a polka dot cake? delicious work as always!
p.s. now that you mention it, why i literally cannot watch rachel zoe: http://jezebel.com/5599824/rachel-zoe-literally-repeats-herself?skyline=true&s=i