Green Tea Layer Cake

  4.4 – 126 reviews  • Japanese

I recently used smoked paprika to roast a chicken, so I thought I’d try it on a full cauliflower. Absolutely delicious! I suggest serving this paprika-rubbed cauliflower with a sizable green salad as a vegan or vegetarian main course.

Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 40 mins
Additional Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins
Servings: 12
Yield: 1 8-inch cake

Ingredients

  1. 1 cup all-purpose flour
  2. 1 cup cake flour
  3. 1 teaspoon baking soda
  4. 1 teaspoon salt
  5. 4 teaspoons powdered green tea
  6. 1 ¼ cups white sugar
  7. 1 cup vegetable oil
  8. 3 eggs
  9. 1 cup plain yogurt
  10. 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  11. 1 ¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
  12. 2 teaspoons powdered green tea
  13. 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  14. 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
  15. ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  16. 1 ½ teaspoons milk

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 8-inch round pans. Sift together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, salt, and green tea powder; set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil, and eggs until smooth. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.
  3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes before turning out of the pans.
  4. To make Green Tea Frosting: Sift together confectioners’ sugar and green tea powder. In a medium bowl, combine tea mixture with butter, cream cheese, vanilla and milk. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
  5. To assemble the cakes: when the cakes are completely cooled, put one layer on a flat serving plate. Spread a thin layer of frosting over it. Place the other layer of cake on top, and spread frosting to cover the top and sides of cake. Dust with green tea powder if desired. Serve cold or at room temperature.
  6. Optional: 1 cup of adzuki beans (small red beans), soaked overnight and boiled until tender, can be folded into batter before it is put into the pans. Pat dry and allow to cool before use.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 449 kcal
Carbohydrate 53 g
Cholesterol 61 mg
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Protein 5 g
Saturated Fat 6 g
Sodium 366 mg
Sugars 35 g
Fat 24 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Nicholas Johnson
I’ve been making this cake constantly for the past few years, simply because everyone keeps requesting it. I do almost double the macha powder (I get mine from Coscto). I cannot speak to the icing, as I’ve always used my own recipe. I love how moist this cake is and how well it ages. If you can stand to wait, let the cake age overnight. I feel it brings out the green tea flavor and the texture is a little more relaxed.
Debra Hickman
The taste is good but the proportions need to be adjusted. I believe this would be better with 6″ rounds or a bigger batter and frosting quantity. It’s pretty thin with 8″s
Melanie Torres
Second time making it and came out great. This time I used it as a twist on a margarita cake which got rave reviews. 🙂 Also love that my coworkers with food sensitivities get to enjoy it 🙂
Crystal Williams
Overall a good recipe, the cake layers in particular taste great. Like others, I increased the frosting recipe, since the amount provided will barely cover two layers. I also didn’t bother getting cake flour, and used two cups of all purpose, taking extra care not to over mix. The one thing I didn’t anticipate to be an issue was that cooking and decorating with matcha can mean a high concentration of caffeine! In an attempt to amp up the matcha taste, because like other reviews mention the matcha taste in the cake layers is subtle, I dusted the top of the frosted cake liberally with matcha and cocoa power for color contrast. Went a little overboard, and there were a few bitter bites of frosting, and I’ll probably have a hard time falling asleep later tonight. TLDR: Cake texture great, double frosting recommended, cake flour optional, subtle matcha flavor can be increased but don’t overdo it. Don’t serve too soon before bedtime.
Eric Oconnor
Love this cake! I didn’t have cake flour, and just used 2 cups of AP flour and it turned out wonderfully! The Frosting recipe is only enough for a very thin layer so don’t glob it on thickly…and you do not need a large amount of Frosting anyway, it’s a very flavorful Frosting and perfect in small quantities!
Gabriel Huber
Love this cake! I didn’t have cake flour, and just used 2 cups of AP flour and it turned out wonderfully! The Frosting recipe is only enough for a very thin layer so don’t glob it on thickly…and you do not need a large amount of Frosting anyway, it’s a very flavorful Frosting and perfect in small quantities!
Julia Bender
Followed the recipe to a T and this turned out PHENOMENALLY. It was delicious and very moist. Everyone immediately went for seconds! There wasn’t a ton of icing so I loosened up a little bit of guava jelly to put in between the 2 layers of cake (plus a very thin layer of icing) and then had enough icing for a pretty thin layer on top and sides of the cake.
Nicolas Jordan
So four stars per my modification. I used organic coconut oil and added an extra teaspoon of matcha powder into the batter per the reviews. I also used greek yogurt instead of plain yogurt. My cake did not need to be in for 30 min. It actually was fully baked within 15 minutes. I burned the first layer and had to cut off the edges and bottom. As for the second layer, I kept an eye on the browning of the edges and tested with a toothpick. Perfection at 15 minutes. The coconut oil substitution may be to blame. If you’re interested in the coconut oil substitution, I would like to note that I heated the coconut oil to liquefy it before adding it to the mix. Other than that, cake turned out very delicious and the frosting is divine. I wish I had strawberries on hand to decorate the cake with or add in between the layers. I used Rishi brand sweet matcha powder sold at World Market in my local area.
Gina Pratt
I thought it was ok, but the rest of the family loved it. The icing was excellent, but should be doubled. I think I’ll try the icing on a chocolate cake next time.
Adam Patterson
I’ve made this recipe as the directions indicated and I’ve also made it with modifications. All are good. The 1st time I made it as directed. The second, I substituted homemade buttermilk for the yogurt and coconut oil for the vegetable oil (melted and all ingredients at room temp). The third time I used the buttermilk and instead of using all coconut oil, I used half a cup coconut oil & half a cup of applesauce. I liked the springiness of the third cake best. I don’t like oily cake and the third modification helped with that.
Jose Shelton
I made the matcha cake but used a different recipe for the icing. The cake turned out perfectly. Thanks for the great recipe.
Sean Bell
Used brown sugar instead of white and cut to one cup and used greek plain yogurt. The taste is amazing! It’s a bit crusty outside and moist and soft inside. Not sure if it’s because I used brown sugar the color turns out brown instead of green! It looks more like banana bread 🙂 will put more green tea powder next time too. Didn’t make frosting as I’m not a big fan of but will try it next time!
Susan Stuart
I love this recipe! I made it as a cake the first time and as mini muffins the second. Rave reviews from all that tried it.
Matthew Hall
it is a easy to make recipe and the cake is very light and refreshing; I only use one cup of sugar. It tastes good without frosting. I use mini loaf pans instead. This recipes yields 4 mini loaves. everybody loves it.
Laura Bennett
I made this recipe as written, except I made it into cupcakes rather than a layer cake. It was outstanding. They got rave reviews. I recommend using the matcha powder. It is a little expensive, but you only use a little, and it really imparts a delicious, fresh green tea flavor. So so so good!
Nicolas Lopez
My modifications: 2 C all purpose flour, 4-6 tsp matcha (green tea) powder (depending on how subtle/strong you want the green tea taste to be), 3/4 – 1 C white sugar (depending on how much of a sweet tooth you have), and 3/4 C canola oil or 1 C butter (softened). If you use butter for the cake batter, make sure you beat it well with the sugar before adding the eggs. Beat eggs one at a time, and beat well before each addition. Also, instead of beating the flour mixture and yoghurt, fold flour and yoghurt alternately into the batter as quickly as possible. Bake in a single 8-9″ round pan, and slice in half horizontally once cooled. For the icing, I used 4 tsp matcha, 4 tbsp butter (softened), icing sugar (to taste), 150g cream cheese, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1 1/2 tsp milk, and 1 C whipped cream. To make the icing, combine all ingredients EXCEPT the whipped cream and beat until smooth. Fold in whipped cream quickly and lightly. Refrigerate for at least half an hour before icing the cake.
Andrea Allen
This cake turned out nice and moist. Loved it! Definitely something I’ll be making again. The icing was really good too. Oh, I forgot to add the vanilla extract for both the cake and icing part and they both seemed with enough flavor, maybe for the next time I’ll try it.
Zachary Chavez
This was great just the way it was. Hubby generally dislikes cake and baked goods but this isn’t too sweet and he ate more than his share of his birthday cake!
Kelly Taylor
great cake I’d just add more green tea powder
Brianna Jones
not bad at all. i love green tea itself and so, i thought this would be a great treat for the whole family. i added more green tea powder than the recipe called for because i thought it needed a more “green tea” flavor to it. then, as i baked the second layer i noticed that the amount of green tea frosting wouldn’t be nearly enough to frost the whole cake. i made more (not measuring anything admittedly) and was able to cover the whole cake from top to bottom. i will try this recipe on cupcakes next time and see how it turns out. meanwhile, i have yet to cut the cake! can’t wait to taste the finished product. 🙂
Kimberly Alexander
I just finished baking this cake for the first time and wow it’s delicious! I didn’t change a thing from the recipe and it came out perfect. The cake is very moist and the icing compliments the cake very well. Yummy!!

 

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