Hello
February, the happiest month of all! Here’s
why. The month starts with my birthday
on February 1st, I celebrate.
Then on February 14th is the Valentine’s Day, I (and everyone
else) celebrate. Follow by the Chinese
New Year on February 19th, I (and everyone including non-Chinese)
celebrate. (There are also Abraham
Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12th, the President’s day on Feb. 16th,
and Mardi Gras on Feb 17th where people around the world celebrate
in the most magnificently colorful and fun way!) Now you understand why I say February is the
happiest month of all! Hooray for
that!
Every year
on my birthday, I will usually bake my favorite chocolate cake, every time. And this year is no exception. Recently, however, I am craving for Matcha
green tea a lot. When I hit Starbucks
to meet up with my girlfriend lately, I’d order hot soy green tea latte,
instead of my usual coffee mocha I used to love. Sorry coffee mocha, I still love you BTW! Anyway, my birthday cake this year I couldn’t
decide what I really want, chocolate cake or Matcha green tea cake. After I’d been thinking back and forth for a
couple of weeks, I decided to make both! Why not?
And I’d never baked green tea
cake before. So, it’s about time!
I've come up
with this easy recipes for both chocolate and green tea cake which they are
almost identical, except for a few things different as I adjusted while I was
mixing up the batter. Honestly, I was
not even sure about the result and this cake was not in my intention to be
posted. But I changed my mind after I finished
a big piece because the cake came out soooooooo good, moist, soft, and
awesome. And the strawberry cream cheese
icing just gave the cake that “wow” effect and it’s just right! (I wanted to say “perfect” but there’s no such
thing is “perfect.” I stopped!) It may sound so exaggerated because of my
crazy for chocolate and green tea. But
if you tried it once, you would probably agree with me. Let’s
do it!
For chocolate:
1 cup cake
flour
3 tbsp.
cocoa powder
1/2 tsp.
baking powder
1/8 tsp,
salt
1 large egg,
room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp.
butter, soften
1/3 cup milk
4 tbsp. hot
brewed coffee
>>
Preheat the oven to 350’ F and grease the Bundt cake pan with butter, set
aside.
1. In the
medium bowl, sift together cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and
set aside.
2. In the
medium mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a handheld mixer until the sugar
look fluffy for about 4 minutes, then add an egg and continue beating until the
mixture turn yellow pale, about 4 minutes.
3. Add in
half of the sifted flour and beat just to combine. Then the milk and hot
coffee, beat to combine. Add the rest of the flour and beat until the batter is
well blended smoothly.
For green tea:
1 cup cake
flour
1/2 tsp.
baking powder
1/8 tsp.
salt
2 tbsp. Matcha
green tea powder
3/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp.
butter, soften
1 large egg,
room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1. In the
medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, salt, green tea powder,
and set aside.
2. In the
medium mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter for 4 minutes and add an egg and beat
another 4 minutes until it turns in pale color.
3. Add half
of the sifted flour and beat just to combine.
Then add milk, beat to combine. Add the rest of the flour and beat until
the batter is well blended smoothly.
Bake at 350’F for 35-40 minutes: at this
point, you decide with you own imagination which batter you want to put in
first. There is no rule for that. But my green tea batter was a little thicker
than the chocolate batter. So, my
chocolate batter went in the cake pan first and then the green tea batter which
I smoothed it out a little before I put it in the oven. Bake the cake at 350’F for 35-40 minutes or
until the insert come out clean. When
the cake is baked, let it cool down before pour the icing on top and garnish
with some more fresh strawberries as much as you like. Enjoy!
Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing
1 cup fresh
strawberry puree
1 stick (1/2
cup) butter, soften
8 oz.
Philadelphia cream cheese
2 1/2 cups
powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp.
vanilla extract (optional)
**Some fresh
strawberries for garnish
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