Green Tea Cake & Cupcakes

by Sarah

in Cakes, Desserts

Post image for Green Tea Cake & Cupcakes
Spring is finally here, and what better way to celebrate than a pastel-colored green tea flavored dessert! This cake is not too sweet.

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Green Tea Cake & Cupcakes

Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 40 minutes
Calories 654 kcal

Ingredients
  

Cake (dry ingredients)

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup cake-flour I use Swan's Down, in the red box
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 teaspoons powdered green tea you can get this at your local Asian grocery
  • 1 1/4 cups white granulated sugar

Cake wet ingredients

  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup plain yogurt not greek, just regular yogurt
  • 3 eggs

Icing

  • 3 3/4 cups confectioners powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon and 2 3/4 teaspoons green tea powder
  • 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons butter softened
  • Three 3 oz. packages of cream cheese
  • 1 tablespoon and 1 1/2 teaspoons milk whole, 2% both fine

Top Decorations

  • Chocolate swirl tubes. Chocolate swirl rods can be found at your local Asian grocery. Get extra so you don't run out while decorating.
  • Ferrero Rocher chocolates 2 milk chocolate flavor
  • Chocolate mushrooms. These can be found at your local Asian grocery.

Instructions
 

Cake Baking

  • Preheat oven to 325-350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 cake pans. [I usually butter the bottoms and sides of the pan, and then sift flower over the buttered pan insides using a meshed flour sifter]
  • In a medium size bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula till well combined
  • In your largest bowl, beat sugar, oil, and eggs together with an electric beater/mixer until smooth.
  • Beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture, alternating with the yogurt. Mix till just incorporated. Pour batter into the 2 pans. If you are making a 6 in cake, put cupcake liners in the cupcake pan and then pour the rest into a cupcake pan.
  • Bake until golden brown. Do the toothpick test: If the toothpick inserted at the center of the cake/cupcake comes out clean, it is ready. Usually bake for 30-40 minutes, but check back every 15 min to make sure nothing burns.
  • Place on wire rack to cool for 1/2 hour, and then remove the cake and cupcakes from the pan. To remove cake, place it on a cutting board and invert the cake. The cake should slide out of the pan easily because you buttered and flowered the pan
  • Before icing the cake, let the baked cakes and cupcakes chill overnight in your fridge, or at least a few hours so it is cold.

Icing and assemblying the cake

  • Sift confectioner's sugar, green tea powder in a small bowl.
  • In a large bowl, beat butter, milk, and cream cheese together. Add the sugar and green tea mix gradually, and beat till smooth.
  • Torte the cake if you want a 2-layer cake to look like it has 3 layers. This means using a cake leveler to slice each of the two layers into half.
  • Use the icing to assemble the cake layers, and then use a large cake-decorating spatula to do a crumb coat. This means a quick layer of icing (no need for perfection) that covers all the crumbs so they don't pop up into your final outer icing. Place cake in fridge to chill for 30 min so crumb coat icing can seal all the crumbs in.
  • Place cake on a cake turn-table, and ice the rest. The best way to ice a cake is to start from the top, and then move on to the sides (in my opinion). Put on a lot of icing at first, and then use your flat spatula to scrape away as you turn the cake turn-table for a smooth finish. A great video on cake icing can be found here. The sides of this cake don't need to be perfectly flat, because you are going to cover them with chocolate swirl rods anyways.
  • Cut chocolate swirl rods with a knife (cut fast so you do not crack the rod, which is brittle) so that the pieces are the same height as your cake. Place rods side-by-side on cake.
  • Put 2 Ferrero Rocher chocolates in the center of the cake. Lean 2 chocolate swirl rods (uncut length) against the chocolates. To help the two rods stick together, you can add some green tea icing in between the rods where they meet. Don't add too much icing, or else it'll show on the rods. Place chocolate chocolates around the rods and chocolates in any pattern you like.

Cupcake icing and decoration

  • Fill a pastry bag, with Wilton tip 2110 at the front (any large star tip will do).
  • Pipe a swirl on the cupcakes. Place the swirl a bit inside the cupcake edge, so the icing does not slide off the side of the cupcake.
  • Take a small piece of chocolate swirl cookie, and put it on top of the cupcake.

Notes

This recipe makes either one 2-layer 9 inch. cake, OR one 2-layer 6-inch cake + 6 cupcakes. Remember to place cupcake liners in the cupcake pan before you pour the batter, or else the cupcakes won't come out after baking. Calorie counts are based on 12 servings made from this recipe, and do not include the chocolate swirl tubes, chocolate balls, or chocolate mushrooms (in case you want to use something else to decorate).

 

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Enjoy!

Let me know what you think or if you have any questions!

Leave a Comment

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Natalie @ Obsessive Cooking Disorder September 24, 2014 at 2:48 pm

this is soooo pretty! Love the green tea and choco combo 🙂

Reply

2 Sarah September 24, 2014 at 7:16 pm

Thanks Natalie!

Reply

3 Lily August 28, 2013 at 8:12 pm

These are so beautiful! There are not only a delicious cake but also a fantastic art. Lovely recipe!

Reply

4 Bjork June 27, 2013 at 1:38 pm

When I was in elementary school my family visited Japan. When we were there some friends invited us to a traditional green tea ceremony. It was such a cool experience. I wasn’t a huge fan of green tea back then, but I’ve grown to really love it. This looks great Sarah!

Reply

5 Grace April 19, 2013 at 2:46 pm

This cake looks too beautiful to eat!

Reply

6 Luo April 15, 2013 at 6:03 am

I really like green tea and the green tea cake is my favorite!

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