Perfectionist. This is what I am… A trait of a Virgo. No matter what I do, my goal is to do it 100% perfectly, so when things don’t turn out the way I’d like them to be I can get annoyed and cranky sometimes. I am my own worst critic.
A friend from uni was leaving for Europe for a while so I decided to bake him a cake to send him off (I’m a nice person like that). In my mind, I had intended to bake two batches of this cake because I couldn’t possibly give him a cake that was already cut up for photographic purposes. All was going fine until this happened. I had only greased the tin but didn’t bother to floured it and as a result, a few huge chunks of cake remained on the bundt tin; you’d think I would’ve learnt my lesson after this cake. Damn it!
So all up, I had made this cake 3 times!
This cake was soft, dense (but not dense like a mudcake) and packed with chocolate and matcha. The bitterness of the matcha was subtle and toned down by the sweetness of the chocolate. I had tweaked the original recipe to make this cake more richer by substituting cocoa powder for chocolate and water for milk. Even if you don’t have matcha, this cake would be incredible if you made it entirely of chocolate (just double the amount of chocolate in the recipe) because it doesn’t feel heavy/insanely rich at all when you eat it.
So do you have any traits typical of your star sign that have acted against you?
Recipe
Adapted from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum (for the cake)
Serves 8-10 people
Chocolate and matcha cake
225g butter, cubed and room temperature
1 1/2 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups cake flour (or 2 cup plain flour and 1/4 cup cornstarch/corn flour)
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp matcha
100g milk chocolate, melted
Vanilla bean chantilly cream
1/2 cup thickened cream
1/2 vanilla pod, seeded
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 175C (350F). Grease and flour a bundt tin (I “floured” it with a mixture of cocoa and flour) or line a cake tin.
- Cream butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Whisk eggs, milk and vanilla together in a small bowl, add to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
- Sift the flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
- Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
- Divide the cake batter in half, into 2 separate bowls.
- Mix matcha into 1 half of the cake batter until incorporated.
- Mix melted chocolate into the other half.
- Spoon alternate cake batters into the prepared cake tin and using a knife, create swirly effect with the batter.
- Bake in the oven for 50-65 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean and the cake springs bake when lightly pressed.
- Cool cake for about 20 minutes before inverting onto a baking rack.
- Ice the cake with chantilly cream (if using) when cake is completely cooled.
For the chantilly cream
- Whip cream with icing sugar and vanilla seeds until soft peaks form.
- Chill chantilly cream in the refrigerator until required.
Sounds really interesting, The colour looks a little off putting, its an army cake!
my cake stuck in a bundt tin the other week too, i was sooooo sad. I greased so so well, didn’t know i needed to flour it as well.
I am scared of bundt tins…… but this is speaking from someone who just started experimenting.. By the way, been a long time follower.. didn’t realise you were my boyfriend’s friend! LOL
yum yum! I’ve only discovered recently that chocolate and matcha go so well together 🙂
I have match at home but havent actually used it in a cake. Only macarons which didnt turn out too great. Hopefully I will make the cake better :/ lol
heh i would cut my cake to take pics and then smoosh it back in and cover with icing to hide the cuts 😛
thats really nice of you to make a cake for him 😀
sux that the cake stuck to the pan, but im sure it was still edible? not a total waste!
I love the look of marble cakes and especially this one which is so unusual. Shame you lost one to the pan — I always find that so frustrating! That’s why I’m a bit of a stickler for flouring as well as greasing (I’ve been burnt too often in the past). I’m an Aries — but I enjoy embracing my adventurous side!
What’s worse is when that tried-and-proven recipe which you’ve used time and time before decides to fail you when you’re needing it to be presentable to someone!
And you already know what star sign I am so, um, no secrets there =D
Ooh green tea and chocolate sounds like an awesome combination! Love the marbling as well!
Wow, sounds delicious! (And I’ve had my cakes stick to the pan more times than I care to remember!)
but that means 3 times the delicious cake! This recipe is saved! Must try this mmm matcha and chocolate
This is a first for me. I’ve always had a mug of tea and a slice of chocolate cake but this recipe is genius. Bless your heart. 🙂 I would have to remember and bold note the greasing and flouring part though.
What a beautiful cake!! I love having matcha and chocolate together!
Ooh! I love the flavour combination going on here…and yes I understand perfectionism in baking!
Beautiful cake, Phuoc! I love the marble pattern. Matcha is a favourite ingredient of mine. Love!
Muppy: I never noticed that before.. “army cake” 🙂 I think because of the decorative nature of bundt tins it is important to grease and flour every nook and cranny of the tin. Sometimes you can get away without flouring it but I think it’s just easier to make sure you do flour it to prevent all possible mishaps. If it’s a light cake, I use flour but if it’s a dark cake I’ll use cocoa mixed with a little flour.
Tina: Such a small world we live in! Don’t worry, keep up with the experimenting, you can only get better from then on 🙂
Sharon: I know hey? I combining bitter matcha with sweet chocolate just makes perfect sense 🙂
Nic: I think that’s what I initially bought my matcha for as well; to make macarons. But because I didn’t have much success they’ve been left lying around. My matcha expires at the end of the year so expect more matcha-inspired desserts to come 🙂
Chocolatesuze: lol Even birthday cakes for friends?
Betty: Yes it was still edible and delish 🙂
Keely: I was contemplating on icing that poor cake with icing but because there was a part of the cake that had a huge chunk missing I made the decision to just make another; more cake to go around I’d say 🙂 I think I might have to stick with flouring the bundt tins in the future..
Mademoiselle délicieuse: It always has to happen when that’s the case, something has to go wrong when you need it the most.
Jacq: Thanks!
Naomi: It is such a pain when that happens hey?
FFichiban: You are right! Always such the optimist you are..
Jenn Brigole: Thank you 🙂
The Pleasure Monger: Thanks!
Peter: Glad to know that I’m not the only one…
Anh: Thanks! There’ll be more matcha-inspired desserts coming so stay tuned!
Yum — love matcha and with chocolate, even better! Thanks for showing how to achieve the marbled effect – I’ve actually never done it before, so great to see how it works!
I’m a Leo… so the list of fiery traits is a long one 🙂
Good on you for perfecting it in the end. Don’t you hate it when you have to make things over and over again because of the perfectionist streak? 😛
Well they say Sags are stubborn and that sure is true for me! What a lucky friend to have you baking going away cakes like that for him.
Your end result looks delicious. So craving cake atm 🙁
Yasmeen: Not a problem! Glad to be able to help someone out 🙂
Lorraine: Yes, that’s one of the downfalls of being a perfectionist but I guess it also means a lot of cake to be had 🙂
Sylvie: That’s interesting because I can be fairly stubborn too!
Sara: Thank you.. My second cake wasn’t too bad but I didn’t bother with icing that because I was lazy and tired. I’m craving for cake too!
You know what they say third times a charm! Looks great, and what an interesting flavour combination!
Ladybird: Thanks! Third times a charm indeed and three times the amount of cake to be had! 🙂 It’s a winwin situation
I never realized how beautiful the blend of chocolate and matcha! This is officially my first visual experience with this special cake… totally awesome 🙂
Bake in paris: Thanks! I’m thinking of playing around with the matcha and chocolate combo to create more goodies so keep an eye out for it.
i personally tasted this cake and it was heavenly!!! Love the choc and green tea combination!! And phuoc, is this “uni friend” joe? lol
Ireeene: Yes it is 🙂