Green Tea Chiffon Cake : An Experiment

My sister in law's friend (I am not comfortable to call her MY friend just yet as I hardly know her) rang me yesterday to ask if I could help her make a cake.  Her husband, a psychiatrist, has been taking a series of exams he needed for his profession, and today was his last exam.  She wanted to surprise him.

I asked her what sort of cake her health-conscious husband would like.  She suggested green tea.  Of all cakes she could have thought of!  For one, I haven't tried baking green tea cake before (only cupcakes) and secondly, I was afraid I was going to risk wasting my precious (expensive) matcha powder.

But I am not one to back out of a cake challenge, daunting as it was.  (I say daunting because I have been told how very important aesthetics was to the husband!)  My initial idea was to combine green tea with chocolate. Here's how my green tea cake experiment went.

I used my aunt's basic chiffon cake recipe, only altering it to add in the matcha powder. I knew that by using a regular round pan, instead of a tube pan, I would not achieve the maximum height for the cake. My baking pan was 9" round, 3" high.

This was the cake after being halved horizontally. The colour was very "matcha-like".

I had some thickened cream and dark chocolate in the fridge.  What better way to use them up than for chocolate ganache?  I made half of this recipe to use as a filling.

Looked good so far...

My choice of frosting was Martha Stewart's Swiss Meringue Buttercream (chocolate variation).  

This was the crumb coat.  I did the laundry and washed the dishes while waiting for this layer to dry a bit.

Now fully frosted with borders!  At this point, I was feeling quite good and confident.

I had no idea how I was going to finish off the cake.  I decided to do something similar to one of the cakes I recently made.  I have to be honest...I stuffed up.  I could not pipe out leaves correctly and my writing was way terrible....I wish I could have done this better...I really need to practice...(sigh)

Don't ask where that name came from!  It's short for some foreign sounding name.

I got a call this afternoon and was given the good news that the cake was delicious.  The good doctor said the cake was moist and not too sweet and that the taste was sophisticated (TRANSLATION: The bitterness of the green tea blended well with the chocolate!).

So, was the experiment a success?  I guess so.  But until I have a taste of the cake myself, I do not want to make any conclusions.  The recipe for Green Tea Chiffon Cake follows.  You might be interested to do your own experimenting!

GREEN TEA CHIFFON CAKE

Ingredients:

{A}

1 1/2 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons matcha (green tea) powder

{B}

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup water (or milk would probably be better)

{C}

4 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

{D}

1/2 cup sugar

Procedure:

1.  Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

2.  In a large bowl, combine {A} well.  Add in {B}.  Beat with electric mixer or by hand until smooth and well blended.

3.  In a separate bowl, beat {C} on high speed until frothy.  Gradually add in {D} and beat until stiff peaks are formed.  Gradually and gently fold in egg whites into egg yolk mixture.  Pour batter into an ungreased 9" round, 3" high pan lined with parchment paper at the bottom (or a 9" tube pan). 
4.  Bake for about 45 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched.  Invert pan into wire rack immediately and cool completely.

5.  Carefully run a thin knife around sides of pan and invert cake onto a serving plate.

Enjoy!