milk&honey cafe

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

It's not easy being sweet.

green tea pound cake

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.

green tea pound cake

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!!

green tea pound cake

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!

green tea pound cake

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.


25 comments:

  1. Wow, it's the same story with my dad, guess it's the asian taste buds. And I liked your intro, its convinced me to try this recipe! Thanks for sharing :)

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  2. Your photos really sell the poundcake - great post! Those look like they're just begging for some vanilla bean ice cream... but then, I tend to add ice cream to almost anything. :)

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  3. sarah, your blog is ... simply... freaking AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! i have been secretly stalking you for a while now and... i think i am in love with you. hahaha

    i want to try all these recipes you put up but im so scared of failing. baking is not my forte :(

    any way, keep this up! :D it is always a joy to visit your page.

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  4. Looks delicious! I just recently found your blog, and it's definitely on my bookmark list. Where did you get the great matcha powder from?

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  5. Hiya Grace! Mmhmm I guess us asians aren't really born with a sweet tooth. Although... I have an extremely demanding sweet tooth. :P Let me know how it goes when you try the recipe! Good luck!

    Hiya Tara. Thanks for coming by. And yes... vanilla ice cream goes with anything. The list would be very very long. :)

    Hiya Laura. HEEHEE. Thanks for coming by!! You should've commented a while ago. We are all stalkers inside. I love stalkers!! And I've always been in love with you.. ;)

    Hiya Karen! I got my matcha powder from Whole Foods. It's called Do Matcha. www.domatcha.com. It's a great quality matcha, but it's quite expensive too! I had to close my eyes when I paid for it. Hehe.

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  6. I've been looking for something like this for a very long time! Thanks Sarah! I've also featured this recipe page on StumbleUpon!

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  7. That looks like fantastic pound cake! My dad isn't into eating sweets at all (regardless of how much or little sugar is in them), which is a pity. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find another reason to bake this :)

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  8. OMG my family is the same EXACT way... "It's too sweet!!" and I'm the same way too in that I am way too afraid to cut down on the sugar for fear or ruining the recipe!! This pound cake sounds divine... I'll have to make it soon.

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  9. the batch looks like guacamole.
    i'm glad grandma liked it too!

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  10. can you make these pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee? http://www.flickr.com/photos/katedw/sets/72157617528706606/

    p.s. your blog doesnt lets me paste the url, so i had to type it in =(

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  11. this looks so good I love pound cakes using whipped egg whites always so light and moist, ive never made a green tea anything but this looks very tempting

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  12. Oh my what a beautiful color your pound cake has. I love sweets. I would add a strawberry coulis on top of it.

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  13. we are big tea drinkers so i cannot wait to make this cake- thank you for sharing!

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  14. I love your blog and I want to try this recipe. It calls for 2 sticks of butter.. I'm wondering what is the measurement of that exactly, ie is there a standard size for sticks of butter?

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  15. I'm going to make this. I don't want to buy Matcha because it's the most ungodly expensive thing in the universe, so I'm gonna substitute cocoa powder. I'll let you know if its the grossest thing in the universe or good.
    Much love

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  16. Update: It's good.

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  17. hey sarah, i was wondering if i can use another brand of green tea or do i gotta use matcha? any ideas of good substitude?

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  18. I have an awesome, to die for..sooo moist and delicious Matcha Chiffon Cake recipe from Okinawa, Japan! Will share it with you and please try it out!

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  19. I made this recipe last week and it was a big hit! This was the last recipe I had to bake (made 5 batches of other cakes) and it was late (made 2 batches of this recipe)... so I got lazy and did not separate the egg yolks/whites.... but it still was moist, soft, and delicious! Love it and I love your blog! Any other Asian pleasing, not too sweet cake recipes?

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  20. I dunno how but I severely screwed up this recipe :/ will be trying again soon hopefully!

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  21. Sarah, I baked this pound cake a couple weeks ago and it was amazing! I think the colour of Matcha is gorgeous! I want to find an eyeshadow in that colour! Keep up the good work, girl!

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  22. I just finished making some Matcha shortbread for Christmas and this recipe is now on my 'must bake' list. It looks and sounds delicious!

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  23. Hi Sarah
    I live in Toronto aswell and was wondering where you can get matcha powder from? I have been searching for it all over downtown and have no idea where to get it from. I suspect Chinatown somewhere may have it?

    Your help would be greatly appreciated! :)

    Thanks
    Phelia.

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  24. First time that I see green tea cake, it looks very cool and seems to be good, I'm going to try the recipe this Saturday.
    bmpharmacy

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  25. My house smells incredible after baking this loaf cake and its cooling now so am yet to try. Did anyone else have trouble with cooking times? As I had to bake it for 1hr 20 minutes which is quite a big difference to you :( .... I'm worried now that the inside will be dry. Thanks so much for the recipe :)

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