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    Home » Recipes » Cakes

    Published on: February 26, 2013 by Janice Lawandi; Updated on: February 13, 2024 3 Comments

    Easy Matcha Cake

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    Matcha loaf cakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting on a wire rack.

    Learn how to make this easy matcha cake recipe. The green tea cakes are made with matcha powder, which adds lots of flavour and colour. You can serve them plain but I like to top these matcha cakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting for a simple yet elegant green tea dessert.

    Mini matcha cakes with white chocolate frosting piped on top, served on dessert plates.
    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    These easy matcha cakes can be served plain, but I made them into an elegant green tea dessert by frosting them with this thick white chocolate cream cheese frosting made without powdered sugar.

    Jump to:
    • Ingredients
    • How to Make Matcha Cake
    • Matcha Cake Baking FAQs
    • Other Green Tea Desserts
    • 📖 Recipe

    Ingredients

    Ingredients to make green tea cake with matcha powder and white chocolate cream cheese frosting.
    • flour—bleached all-purpose flour is used in this recipe. Unbleached should work fine too!
    • green tea—use fine matcha powder
    • leavening agents—use baking powder, not baking soda in this recipe. Please read about baking soda versus baking powder if you aren't sure the difference.
    • salt— use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt or if using table salt, add half the suggested amount because it's saltier.
    • butter— use unsalted butter or reduce the salt in the recipe if you are going to bake with salted butter
    • sugar—use regular white granulated sugar to avoid adding any taste or colour to the matcha cake so that the green tea flavour will shine
    • eggs—use large eggs, not smaller
    • vanilla—I used pure vanilla extract. It's optional but I find vanilla and matcha are a nice flavour pairing
    • milk—I've tested this recipe with low-fat milk (1 % fat) and whole milk (3.25 % fat). Both work!

    Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

    How to Make Matcha Cake

    This easy matcha cake recipe works as a single loaf, mini loaves, or even a layer cake. Here's how to make the cake recipe:

    Creaming butter, sugar and eggs while whisking matcha tea and dry ingredients to make green tea cake.

    Step 1: Sift the green tea powder over the dry ingredients in a medium bowl (image 1). Whisk the dry ingredients together to make sure they are evenly incorporated.

    Step 2: Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed with a spatula. Add the vanilla with the last egg (image 3).

    Alternating dry and wet ingredients to make cake batter for green tea cakes.

    Step 3: Add the whisked dry ingredients (image 4) alternately with the milk (image 5), beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

    Green tea cakes before and after baking in mini loaf pans.

    Step 4: Transfer the green tea cake batter to the prepared loaf pan(s) (image 6) and bake until set (image 7).

    Please note that you can bake this easy matcha cake recipe is a regular loaf pan or in mini pans. The baking time will vary according to the size of the pan. Baked in a single loaf pan, this cake may take 45 minutes to 1 hour to bake.

    Mini matcha loaf cakes on a cooling rack before and after piping on white chocolate cream cheese frosting.

    Step 5: Transfer the loaf cakes to a wire rack to cool completely (image 8). You can top them with a thick layer of classic cream cheese frosting or this white chocolate cream cheese frosting (image 9).

    Please note that if you choose to decorate the cakes as I have done, you will need a half batch of either of the frostings mentioned above (about 400–450 grams of frosting) and a St-Honoré piping tip (either Matfer brand or Ateco will work).

    Matcha Cake Baking FAQs

    Does green tea cake have caffeine?

    Because matcha powder has caffeine, green tea cakes made with matcha powder will also have caffeine.

    What flavours go well with matcha cake?

    Matcha pairs beautifully with sweet, creamy white chocolate but also with bright flavours like passion fruit and cream cheese. This is why pairing this easy matcha cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting is so brilliant!
    Berries are also great with matcha. You could serve these with raspberries, for example.

    Why is my matcha cake brown?

    The colour of matcha powder will change over time, but also when exposed to heat or air. The colour of the green tea powder will darken and become brown after opening the container, and when you bake with it, the edges will brown (also because of Maillard browning).
    An open container of matcha powder will oxidize, most notably on the surface of the powder, changing the colour from bright green to dark green or even brownish. Unfortunately, it's difficult to avoid oxidation upon storage, and the colour change will affect the colour of the matcha cake.

    Green tea cakes on dessert plates with frosting piped on top of the cakes decoratively.

    Other Green Tea Desserts

    If you love baking with tea, especially green tea as much as me, here are a few other recipes to try:

    • Matcha gingerbread cookies
    • Matcha tarts filled with passion fruit curd
    • Matcha crêpes served with black sesame pastry cream

    If you tried this recipe for easy matcha cake (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

    📖 Recipe

    Mini matcha cakes on dessert plates.

    Easy Matcha Cakes

    AuthorAuthor : Janice Lawandi
    Learn how to make the best matcha cake with this easy recipe. The green tea cakes are made with matcha powder and topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting for a simple yet fancy green tea dessert.
    5 from 1 vote
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    Prep Time 20 minutes mins
    Cook Time 20 minutes mins
    Total Time 40 minutes mins
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine French
    Servings 9
    Calories 338 kcal

    Equipment

    • Mini loaf pan
    • 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
    • GIR spatula
    Need measurements in CUPSUse the button options below to switch from Metric to US measurements! It's that easy!

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 190 grams bleached all-purpose flour
    • 19 grams matcha green tea powder
    • 7.5 mL baking powder
    • 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
    • 175 grams unsalted butter softened
    • 200 grams granulated sugar
    • 3 large egg(s)
    • 5 mL pure vanilla extract
    • 90 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat the oven to 325°F (165 °C). Grease 9 mini loaf pans (I used this pan from Amazon. Set aside.
    • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, matcha, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
    • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar for a few minutes until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed with a spatula. Add the vanilla and beat the mixture again.
    • Add the whisked dry ingredients alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
    • Give the mixture a couple more stirs with the spatula to make sure everything is evenly incorporated, then divide the batter among the prepared loaf pans.
    • Bake the cakes until a cake tester inserted in the middle of one comes out clean and the edges begin to pull away from the sides. This takes about 20 or so minutes.
    • Cool on a wire rack in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely.

    Notes

    • This cake can be baked in mini loaf pans (up to 9, depending on dimensions), a standard 9x5-inch loaf pan or even better, a smaller 8.5x4.5-inch loaf pan. Baking the recipe as one cake as a large loaf cake will mean a longer baking time,  at least 45–60 minutes. Use visual cues and tests to determine when the cake is done baking.
    • Use high quality fine matcha powder. The colour may vary according to the brand of green tea powder, the type, and also the age of it, so the green colour of the cake will vary.
    • I garnished these matcha cakes with this thick cream cheese frosting without powdered sugar.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 338kcalCarbohydrates: 39gProtein: 6gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 98mgSodium: 161mgPotassium: 148mgFiber: 1gSugar: 23gVitamin A: 687IUCalcium: 65mgIron: 2mg
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    Matcha tea loaf cake
    Matcha tea loaf cake
    Matcha tea loaf cake
    Matcha tea loaf cake

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    Comments

    1. La Table De Nana says

      February 26, 2013 at 1:49 pm

      McGill..I went there:) Just 1 semester though.. many many many moons ago..
      I have Matcha powder..Thank you.
      Baking IS therapy:)
      Good luck..with anything you chose..It usually works out..the career area:)

      Reply
      • Janice Lawandi says

        March 19, 2013 at 12:03 am

        Thanks! I hope so 😉

        Reply
    2. Medeja says

      February 26, 2013 at 6:09 am

      The color looks so cute!

      Reply
    5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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