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!
I tried this cake last night and I must say it’s really good… Thank you for the recipe!
My shoes are also gravy-stained, you’re not alone.
Joy,
I made this last night. I didn’t have any Lemons but had Limes. This cake is Awesome!!!
Thanks for sharing :-)
made it and loved it–going to take it for my students tomorrow! Honestly, your blog is so amazing. You inspired me to take prettier pictures for mine :-)
Haha, very cute post, I love the photo of your shoes :) I’m currently looking for matcha recipes, I think I shall try this one, as it looks pretty good!
hi joy,
i finally got around to making this cake today, thanks to a lovely friend of mine who GAVE me a whole container of matcha. god i love her to bits!!
but seriously now, i have a question: I followed the instructions correctly and set my oven to the correct temp (180 degrees C, which is roughly equal to 350 F) but the centre of my cake refused to cook, and i had to put it back in the oven repeatedly, before i decided to just up the temperature to 200 degrees C, and now the centre is kind of cooked.
what went wrong???
Ummm, wow. This was delicious. I can’t wait to make the matcha-malted milkshake next!
You have ruined me, woman.
You lured me onto a tea site with promises of matcha when you KNOW I can’t control myself around full leaf teas. They have a category called desert tea?! I now have 50 dollars of tea coming to me.
Thanks a lot (for the recipe I’m so excited to make it! Haha…)
Very yummy! I purchased some matcha but couldn’t find a fine powder. My green wasn’t nearly as pretty but I’ll make this again and look out for the powder :)
thank you. thank you. thank you for this incredible recipe. as a tea lover who recently started to explore ways in which to infuse food with tea, I couldn’t have been more thrilled to try this recipe. I loved it, and will definitely baking it during the holidays. It’s so green and festive. The bold matcha is the perfect partner for the bright lemon. Move over fruit cake….a new sweet bite is in town!
I also shared the recipe at culinary/craft tea class that I recently led, and I’m so happy to lead the guests in the direction of your blog. Thanks for inspiring me!
Photos make me crave for some green and yellow crumbs. It looks delicious.
Joy! I totally made this and blogged about it! Of course I gave you all the cred. You rock.
https://www.jennalaughs.com/2010/10/green-tea-pound-cake.html
This uses so much butter! Any ideas on how to cut back on it a little? And would Greek yogurt would well for sour cream? I’m not a sour cream fan so yogurt is all I have on hand. If there’s no way to cut back on the butter I’m probably still gonna try and make this. It looks way too good!!
I often use coconut oil to replace some or all of the butter in recipes. Yes coconut oil has saturated fat but it is has a different composition than animal-based saturated fat :) the medium-chain triglycerides even help your body metabolize fat more efficiently. The oil adds a slight coconut flavor which can be enjoyable. Another thing you can do is replace the butter with earth balance or non-hydrogenated shortening. Or you could probably get away with replacing half the butter with yogurt. Also if you want to cut the animal-based saturated fat you could do half yogurt and half earth balance :)
Joy that looks soooo yummy to me. Where would one purchase this tea?
How can you say that it looks nice it’s green it looks moldy but prob. tastes good? ;)
moldy? no.
Made this for an office party and turned out great!!!
the Yellow and Green was beautiful!!!
Moldy? dont know why someone would think that AND write that.
It was Pretty and Yummy!
Hey Joy! Thanks a lot! I made this and it came out DELICIOUS!
Cheers from Greece ! I love your blog!
PS. My name means “joy” in greek :)
xara! pretty!
Just made this and I’m eating it right this moment. It’s sweet, tangy, and really yummy! Mine didn’t turn out as green and pretty as yours …I used cheap matcha. Just starting to blog myself…no posts yet, but maybe I’ll post my results there :)
How have I never heard of this stuff – I’m crazy about all things green tea! Just about to buy a load from ebay – thankyou for bringing matcha into my life:)
Hi Joy, do you think this would keep for a couple of days? I’ve got a work party on Monday afternoon, but no time to bake on Sunday. If I made this Saturday night do you think it would still be yummy and OK to serve on Monday? The recipe looks STUNNING and I would love to make it!
Wow.. that’s green!! I never tried matcha, so cant imagine how it would be!
I am looking forward to trying this. I looked at your blog and have become entranced by your recipes.
Anyway, for those that want a somewhat cheaper place to get matcha tea, the english tea store sells 2oz (roughly 57 grams) for $8.29:
https://www.englishteastore.com/loose-leaf-tea-matcha.html
I’m not sure on the quality, but it might be something to look into.
~A
Step away from the Rachel.. before she kills anymore of your brain cells!! I am guilty as well, that show is like a train wreck.. you cannot look away!
Lovely cake, even lovelier photograph of said cake! Love ya PW!
I made this yesterday, it came out perfect, I used a bundt pan, drizzled with a lemon glaze and topped with crushed pistachios to play up the colors of the cake, it looked great, tasted even better! Thanks Joy, I was never a baker before (the extent of my baking was pillsbury chocolate chip cookies in the package that you cut up and bake, LOL!), but your recipes are simply yet delicious, and your sense of humor, LOVE IT!
high five!! teamwork!
I think maybe I did something wrong… I made this cake and it came out tasting like play dough. It wasn’t great.
Oh Girl!!! Those colours! Those pics!! and that combination!!… If I knew where to get the matcha powder, here in Utrecht, I swear I would spend the whole weekend try out this recipe!! What wonderful shapes and figures can come out of this combination!… Thanks!
I love Rachel Zoe and Rodger with a d! Obsessed really. Anyway, can I make this cake without the Matcha? I have everything else on hand and love, love lemon pound cake.
Is it just me or does that cake look positively springy? I’m expecting it to start blossoming any minute now.
love the cake, love it
i have the exact same shoes, comfy, cute, adorable, like joy the baker!
This makes me laugh :-) This summer I got stuck watching “marathons” and I found myself staying up till 1am going, “just one more episode”! I have been wondering about matcha, it is new to me, but baking it in a cake makes me feel confident in it! Thanks
Amazing! Looks delish. And, I just wanted you to know that I have a grease stain on my slippers. Glad to know this happens to other people. (Did you curse like a sailor when you spilled the gravy?)
OMG! I love matcha! Anything matcha flavor is a weakness. Matcha lattes, matcha cookies and now a lemon and matcha cake! oooh so glad I stumbled upon your website, because I’m in the mood to bake :)
this cake is gorgeous! i wonder how prominent the matcha flavor is in this? i have some matcha powder but it’s sweetened and not the pure stuff…
hmm….. this might be a perfect cake for the weekend. my sis and niece are in town, and i just happen to have some matcha in the pantry from a matcha panna cotta i made. aaaaaahhhhh….. but i should wait until friday to bake this or else i might eat it before they show up….;)
i love me some rachael zoe. and brad–dear, darling brad. i want you in my back pocket.
and i might just have to make that cake for my family when they come for a visit next weekend. they like lighter desserts, something fresh. also, it’s just so darn purrrty…
Bananas!!!!
I’m seriously sad that the season is almost over!!
love this blog… i have recently gotten sucked into episodes of cupcake wars. and the good wife. i really like the good wife.
can’t wait to try this recipe – since the last green thing of yours i tried was the avocado cake which was absolutely amazing – i can only imagine how excellent this will be too!
Your writing is captivating, infectious and funny – I love it!
And that cake doesn’t look bad either ;)
A.Co @ A.Co est. 1984
I love the green yellow swirl. How fun and creative!
I have red TOMS, too!
Thank you for this lovely recipe… I love the whole green tea and lemon flavor combo. Just the way I take my drink..and now I can even eat it too:)
Ok, this is perhaps the most fantastic thing you’ve ever made. Almost fantastic enough for me to forget that you are wasting your amazing life watching Rachel what’s-her-face. Almost….
Love you anyway. Sigh….
oh and those are some sweet-ass shoes.
i’m certainly not wasting my amazing life… thanks for lookin’ out for me though.
Um, Rachel Zoe is pretty much my favorite show ever. I totally watched it as “research” while preparing for Fashion Week! (Also — I met Brad outside the tents one day!! Photo on my blog!) :-)
SHUT UP!!
That cake looks gorgeous – totally jealous right now. You have such creative ideas!
matcha and lemon? I die…
Dear Joy, do you think I’d need to add a little baking soda because there’s sour cream (acidity) in this? I’m worried the cake might turn out a tad gummy.
I love the swirl pattern, so beautiful.
oh gravy . . . i luvs gravy
Joy,
Were those Tom’s shoes?!?!
I LOVE THEM.
I am like dying for those rockin’ shoesss…
Love your blog!!!
–Lena
Joy!
Thanks so much for another great blog!
Question: Where did you purchase the Matcha powder?
The bread looks great and I know that my parents and their friends (who are Asian and dig all this Asian-y flavor in their food) are going to love it!
-Cyn.
there’s a link in the post that you might find helpful.
I die.
I love your blog!!! And I love matcha powder! I usually use it in smoothies, sometimes frosting. Never thought to use it in a cake!
Your cake matches your carpet! And both are beautiful. I have never baked with matcha, I’m going to have to give it a try. These would probably be greta as cupcakes too. Yum!
geez, i have a dirty mind…
lemon and matcha. I am MATCHA OBSESSED. and i like lemon too…. what an awesome combination!
Rachel Zoe needs to worry less about what she’s wearing and more about EATING SOMETHING. My Goddess above, the woman is a walking skeleton. I can see all her upper ribs around her sternum and also her heart beating behind them. Yuck. Rachel, please, please, please make yourself this cake and eat it all by yourself while browsing JoyTheBaker.com for some further ideas. You know, to EAT. No wonder you need a furry vest . . . you’d freeze to death in LA in July if you didn’t.
TJ
she could use a sandwich. you’re not wrong.
I’m sorry if my former comment was too rude. It just hurts my heart every time I see a “glamorous role model” for young women who is demonstrating conformance to an impossible and unhealthy standard.
TJ
I’ve only seen the show once and know what you’re talkin bout – skinny in a scary way. The women on this site are too funny! I’ll never get a job if I keep reading these hilarious comments … uh, yeah … back to craigslist and career builder. Bye!
Sorry..the green cake is not appealing to my senses. The thought of having tea IN a cake does not appeal either. Drinking something green leaves me wondering why too.
I’m so wild about baking with matcha. Bakerella got me hooked with her dark chocolate and matcha marbled bundt cake. i’ve done cupcakes, blondies, icing… make it stop! I’m going to have to try this….. TONIGHT
That is one good-lookin’ cake! Wow.
Cathy B.
Ooooo…prettiness! A while back I tried making some matcha tea cookies, but thought I could wing it by using green tea instead of matcha…umm…bad idea. They were super gross. If I’m gonna splurge on matcha, I’m thinking I should make this instead of boring cookies.
Wow, that’s gorgeous, and I bet it tastes a great as it looks! I actually bought some matcha last month with the intention of making green tea ice cream (haven’t yet). This might get made first!
p.s. my sister is obsessed with those shoes. (Toms?)
I’m pretty sure we could be best friends and just sit around in our chunky sweaters eating this pound cake, drinking vodka and watching zoe. I die!
I have always been a bit leery about using matcha. It’s different, it’s green… But your post has convinced me to take the matcha leap. This cake looks absolutely delicious. The perfect thing to eat in between meals.
I totally ordered a furry vest last night after seeing Rachel on QVC! I have a Zoeddiction.
That cake is SO lovely! I’ve been wanting to use matcha in a bunch of things but the price does put me off some. It sounds really wonderful with the lemon. I think I can say with certainty that this will be the next green cake I make!
Your cake is beautiful! I’m a huge fan of all things lemon…especially in dessert form. I’ve never used matcha before, but I just might have to look into it now :)
And about the stains on your shoes–you can usually tell a story about my day based on the small stains I accumulate (“She must have made pancakes for breakfast, baked brownies this afternoon, and she definitely made marinara sauce for dinner.” Awesome.)
Gosh that’s pretty. I’m going to try it this weekend.
Oh and you may want to know that Top Chef: Sweet dessert starts tonight. Can you say GLUE TO THE TV?
RZ is my secret… like you I’m totally vested in her life.. and cannot pull away. Psst, the same with Flipping Out – he is a total tyrant, but I cannot seem to pull away.
Oh and the cake looks Yum!
JOY! Im watching Say Yes to the Dress (which im obsessed with) and the girl on there looks almost exactly like you. You for serious have a twin on the east coast.
BaNaNAS! I mean really, shut the front door! That looks tasty.
:P
I love working with matcha! The beautiful, NATURAL color is amazing, I’m the kind of person who loves color but hates using food coloring. I will definitely have to try this recipe! I usually do chocolate with green tea, but I made green tea macarons and filled them with lemon curd, they were absolutely divine.
For those trying to find matcha, it was kind of a hard quest for me, and when you go you realize how EXPENSIVE it is. I would go to an asian grocer, preferably Japanese or Korean, and they have tiny tins of it for around $8-11. A tip for dealing with asian grocers, just go to the nutrition facts sticker and read list of ingredients if you find yourself scratching your head. If they just list green tea power, you’re in luck! A lot of matcha powders are enhanced with powdered sugars and after baking with it once I had to throw the cake out, so incredibly sweet… so be wary of that! And try to feel a bag cause most of the time it’s just the tea leaves for instant drinks, not usually powder.
I bought a 30g bag for $22 at H Mart, they had so many varieties to choose from but I thought bulk is better. And a little goes a long way, only about a teaspoon or two is enough to enhance anything so if you’re worried about price it’s well worth it!
you are excellent!
I’ll definitely make this. I love everything green tea. Well, except the green tea I’ve made with matcha that I bought in Korea at the green tea fields – I found the tea to be way too strong tasting. maybe I’ll try it again at a much weaker strength. But I’ve since used it to make cookies and now I’ll make your Lemon and Matcha Pound Cake!
I will definitely be trying this recipe. I’ve never tried matcha! As for Rachel, I’m overjoyed to hear there is someone else watching that show. My friends have no idea what I’m talking about! I loved last night when she was accessorizing her salad! :) I hope she gets pregnant! Her hubby seems a bit blue…they need a boost! :) Can you imagine her (of course she’d have a girl) her little wardrobe?
I needed something to bring to a baby shower on Saturday and this is perfect. I just ordered some Matcha from amazon…
Joy where did you get the matcha powder? Do they only sell it online? I went to the grocery store and searched all over but couldn’t find it/:
Danielle,
I’ve found matcha at tea places like Teavana in the mall. I’m not endorsing them or anything but I couldn’t even find it at Whole Foods last I looked. :(
savin’ it. and ordering some matcha!
I will have to give this recipe a try. The green in it looks so intriguing. Thanks for sharing!
This is beautiful! So different, I love it. Does the flavour of the matcha really come through? It looks bloody delightful.
yes! the green tea flavor really does come through!
Now, that is creative. I have had green tea in many things but a marbled cake . . . well that takes the cake!
Joy- I just recently stumbled upon your blog, your writing is wonderful, as well as your recipes!
And I feel your pain- I have a very unhealthy obsession with Bethenny Frankel and her Bravo shows. I blame Bravo, these shows they create just do this to us!
Green things are always pretty. :)
I have no idea who Rachel Zoe is, but I am glad you took a break to make this. I love Starbuck’s green-tea frappucino, and TJ’s had a green tea pound cake that was awesome, so I must go looking for that matcha powder. Oh, and Japanese green tea ice-cream is also awesome! I hope you get on a green-tea kick and show us more stuff. Maybe mix it with avocados?
I’d love to have a slice! This green ! So addictive.
It LOOKS so pretty, but I’m not sure about the taste. hmm I’m not really into tea. But it’s gorgeous. I’m conflicted.
Beautiful! I have never heard of “matcha” until just now….what a beautiful beautiful magical tea. I will be on the look out for it from now on. Thank you Joy! And what a gorgeous looking cake too! ;-)
I’ve wanted to buy matcha for baking for a while now, but I’ve never been able to find it unflavored around here. Thanks for sharing your link! It IS expensive, though… with 20 grams in the tin, how many tablespoons do you suppose you could get out of it?
That Rachel Zoe. She will suck you right in. I’m not even going to tell you how much time I spent watching a RZP marathon this weekend – mainly because I have no idea, but suffice it to say that I, too, am all caught up on her baby-making woes and her escapades in London with Kate Hudson for the Burberry show…
And the cake – beautiful! I love a good pound cake, and adding matcha is pure genius.
We call it the Zoe problem. We can’t help it – she’s SO addictive! And we really want her to have a little Zoe baby – we’re with you. And yummy green pound cake! Matcha is deliciousness but we’ve never baked with it…we love fun colored food – so of course this is a must.
I love this idea. Would have never thought of adding match to anything but water. Thanks for the nice surprise. Love the post…and your shoes.
Mmmm, Matcha. I want to go to there.
love the green! and i think it’s best that i not turn on rachel zoe after this…i don’t know if my hubby can stand another addictive show in my life!
Oh I’ve never had matcha baked into anything before. Only as a drink.
Bookmarked
What an interesting cake!
Your lemon and matcha marble pound cake looks sooo yummy, I’ve tasted pound cake many times on trips to the USA, and it really is tasty. So adding matcha and lemon would give this popular treat a real tasty twist.
interesting- looks like a refreshing dessert! i can definitely see how rachel zoe’s show is addicting…
Everytime I bake everything I ended up dusted with flour. Sometimes I mistake my skirt or jeans for an apron. Next thing you know powdery handprints are everywhere.
So, high five for the matcha matchy shoes!
And high five for the gravy!
Save this one for St. Paddy’s Day! It could be added to a coffee cake, served with green eggs (spinach) and ham…. I see a blog topic coming!
And here I thought matcha only appeared from the Starbucks gods when I ordered it in my smoothie.
And yes, RZP is ten kinds of addictive. I don’t have a Rodger or a shrink either… but a bottle of vodka does seem to help. :)
Love your TOMS!
You’re going to help me get though my fear of matcha. One step at a time. This looks fab.
Brilliant!
That is so pretty! I have a tin of matcha that I have never used!
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….
you can get the green tea (matcha) powder at Teavana Store or you can order it online.
That looks so cool – like a work of art! Love how each marble cake turns out different from the last!
Whatever comes out of your hands is amazing!
Please Joy, can you add the quantities in grams as well? Please, please, please….
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 ;)
Sweet, you have Toms shoes! I just ordered my first pair… love! :)
best shoes EVER!
Seriously, you are a girl after my own heart! I absolutely love matcha. Beautiful pictures :)
Such a beautiful cake…
What a great idea! Green tea in baking! You’ve inspired me … matcha watch out …
:)
wow,…such a nice colour,..
This pound cake looks very nice! I wonder how it taste like with the combination of matcha and lemon. Must be the unique one!
I like your shoes.
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. :)
Lemon and matcha sounds amazing!
Can’t wait to try this.
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! :)
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: https://jezebel.com/5599824/rachel-zoe-literally-repeats-herself?skyline=true&s=i