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.
Juliette
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?
clausula suelo banco popular e
Además, claro, de que hay que ir caso pro caso para considerar que
en efecto es nula la cláusula suelo específica, pues no siempre y en toda circunstancia
lo es.
insomnia_in_the_kitchen
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.
Christina
is it 7 tablespoons or 15? recipe says both!
Valentina
I tried this cake last night and I must say it’s really good… Thank you for the recipe!
Ellen
My shoes are also gravy-stained, you’re not alone.
Z
Joy,
I made this last night. I didn’t have any Lemons but had Limes. This cake is Awesome!!!
Thanks for sharing :-)