Matcha Chiffon Cake

Just 2 weeks ago, I was on instant messenging with brother M and was casually asking if he could ask his friend in Japan to get me some good quality baking matcha (green tea powder). To my pleasant surprise, he mentioned his friend will be visiting soon. Of course, I can always get matcha locally but those sold in bakeware shops leaves an artificial aftertaste. Good quality matcha are available in local Japanese supermarkets but how often do I get a chance to go out shopping in town? Anyway, his friend came last week and brought me 2 cans of matcha :)

A simple but lovely packaging.

A close up of the matcha can.

Instead of baking in my usual 8" round, I baked them in 4 small cake pans. Only showing 3 here as the other cake was already eaten up by my kids ;-)

While I'm updating my blog here, I just realised the recipe calls for 1 TBSP honey which I swear I didn't see it at all. I went through my scribbled note and yes, there's no honey in my notes. And I found another "mistake", recipe calls for 2 - 3 tsp matcha but I've copied down as 4 tsp (I used 3 1/2 tsp though). Good grief, don't tell me my eye sight is getting from bad to worst? Too old for lasik now... Anyway, even without the honey, it taste good and despite the strong fragrance, my kids (including DD3) enjoyed this cake very much. However, I'll reduce the sugar by another 10g - 15g as I find it slightly too sweet for my family.

Recipe adapted from here

Matcha Chiffon Cake

(20cm tube pan)

Ingredients

(A)
4 egg yolks

30g castor sugar

pinch of salt

(B)

4 tbsp warm corn oil

80ml warm water

3 1/2 tsp matcha

(C)

100g cake flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

*sifted

(D)

4 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

40g castor sugar

Method

1. Cream ingredients (A) with hand whisk till sugar dissolved.
2. Add in ingredients (B) in the respective order and mix well before adding the next item.
3. Sieve in ingredients (C) and mix till no lumps.
4. Beat egg whites with electric beater till frothy, sprinkle in the cream of tartar. Beat till white in colour and add in sugar by thirds. Egg white should be beaten till stiff peaks are formed.
5. Put half portion of egg white into yolk mixture and mix it with a hand whisk in 6 strokes.
6. Pour yolk mixture into the rest of the egg white and mix well with hand whisk.
7. Put batter into a chiffon cake pan, bang the pan on a hard surface several times to release the bubbles and bake at 170C - 180C for 35 -45 minutes or till cooked.
8. When the cake is cooked, remove from oven and give it another bang on a hard surface to loosen the cake texture then invert cooked cake on a wire rack to cool for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove cake from cake pan and leave aside to cool completely.