It's not easy being sweet.

This pound cake really doesn't need a fancy back story or long prelude. But I'll do it anyway 'cause it's a darn good pound cake that will please the hardest to please: my daddy. My dad is a great supporter of my baking and is always proud to tell people about my blog, but to be honest, he doesn't really like my baked goods that much. He's a snacker for sure -- he's always nibbling on peanuts and cashews while he watches tv, he's got after eights in the car, and popcorn is a must for movies. But he doesn't like the really sweet stuff like cupcakes and cookies. He's also got some diabetes going on so he really shouldn't be eating that stuff anyway.



So it's usually my dad reminding me how sweet all my baked goods are and that I should really consider making it less sweet. Slightly exasperated, I just tell him that it's how the recipe is, and that they are just supposed to be that way! Plus I'm afraid that it will dramatically change the outcome if I cut down on the sugar too much. So, that's how it is. Period. Unless you find a perfect green tea pound cake recipe, of course!!



My dad's friends were coming over for tea yesterday evening, so I thought I would delight them with a homebaked treat! I wanted use my expensive matcha powder I got a while back so I looked around for a good recipe that uses it. Alas, I found my green tea pound cake recipe from crummb and was definitely convinced at her words "it is moist, tender and – very important to Asian tastebuds – not too sweet." YES!! I found it!



It really is that. It's moist, tender, and not too sweet. It's perfect. The startling green color is beautiful (although I think the crust's brownish color is kind of ugly and sorta reminds me of the HULK). I gave a piece to my grandmother and she went on and on about how she doesn't usually like cake but this was just the most delicious thing she's ever eaten. She told me how she kept coming downstairs for more. And that's saying A LOT for my grandma. My dad also praised the pound cake in front of his friends and how it's so tasty, but "not to sweet". Hahaha!

Anyways, this really is a long intro to the cake, but maybe it'll convince you to try it as well. The recipe is by Nick Malgieri who wrote "the modern baker". It's slightly more complicated than a typical pound cake because you need to separate the eggs and beat the egg whites and fold it in later. But it's really not that hard, and if I did it, you can too. And I love love my second-hand-store mini loaf pans so I used them instead of the standard 9 by 5 pan. Enjoy!

Green Tea Pound Cake

makes one 9x5 loaf or two mini loaves
recipe from Fountain of Life Green Tea Company

ingredients

2 cups bleached all-purpose four
2 tablespoons Matcha green tea
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks soft unsalted butter
2 cups confectioners' sugar
5 large eggs, separated
Pinch of salt

directions

1. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan and line with buttered parchment or wax paper—cut to fit. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 325F. Combine the flour, green tea and baking powder and stir well to mix.
2. Cream butter and confectioners sugar in bowl of mixer with paddle attachment and beat for about 3 minutes or until light. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping bowl and beater occasionally with a rubber spatula. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the flour mixture by hand, with a rubber spatula.
3. Pour the egg whites and salt into a clean, dry mixer bowl. Place on mixer with whisk attachment and whip whites on medium speed until white and opaque and just beginning to hold their shape. Increase speed slightly and continue whipping egg whites until they hold a soft peak.
4. Remove bowl from mixer and quickly scrape whites from bowl onto batter in other bowl. Use a large rubber spatula to fold the egg whites into the batter, folding just until no streaks of white remain.
5. Scrape the batter into prepared pans and smooth the top. Bake the cakes for about 45 minutes (35-40 minutes for mini loaf pans) or until it is well risen and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges dry. Cool the cakes in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes, then un-mold and cool it completely.