Author: Henrietta Ko

As an avid baker, I’ve tried my hand at many cake recipes over the years. However, amongst the plethora of recipes, the one that remains my personal favorite is the matcha sponge cake. This recipe, although a little trickier to master, is the cake recipe I’ve made the most times over the years. It can serve as a base for many occasions: if covered in mousse and chilled, it can be turned into a fancy layered cake. You can pair it with cream cheese frosting for a decadent dessert, or simply eat it with some whipped cream for a lighter option. This cake recipe is so versatile and only uses ingredients that can be found in most pantries.

Matcha Sponge Cake Recipe

Servings: 4-6

Preparation time: 30-45 mins

Cook time: 25-30 mins

Ingredients:

2 eggs at room temperature

40g granulated sugar

30g cake flour (or use all-purpose flour and some cornstarch to make your own, more detailed instructions can be found here)

2 tsp matcha powder

15g unsalted butter, melted

¼ tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.
Crack two room-temperature eggs into a large mixing bowl
Add the sugar to the eggs and mix well with a hand mixer.
Get a pot of hot water, place the bowl with the eggs and sugar on top of it, then beat at medium-high to high speed until the mixture has approximately doubled in size and become paler in color.
When the mixture has reached body temperature (around 35-40 degrees C), take it off the pot and continue beating at high speed until the mixture has almost doubled in size again.
At this point, the mixture should be very pale in color and at a ribbon stage. To test if the mixture is done, take the hand mixer and lift up some of the batter. If a ribbon of batter holds its shape on top of the batter for more than 3 seconds, then it is done. More info about determining if the batter is at ribbon stage can be found here.
Sift together the matcha powder and the cake flour, making sure that the matcha powder is evenly incorporated into the flour.
Sift ⅓ of the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Use a spatula to gently fold in the flour. Repeat until all the flour has been incorporated.
Add the vanilla extract to the melted butter.
Take a few spoonfuls worth of the egg mixture and mix it with the melted butter until well combined. Take this butter and egg mixture and gently fold it back into the original egg mixture. Be careful not to deflate the air bubbles or overmix.
Pour the batter into a 5-inch pan lined with parchment paper, then put a layer of aluminum foil over it (if needed, this depends on your oven- if you have a hotter oven, the foil will prevent the top of the cake from burning).
Bake for 25-30 mins.
Use a toothpick to check if the cake is done baking by poking it into the cake then taking it out. If the toothpick has crumbs on it when you pull it out, the cake has finished baking.
Flip the cake and the tin upside down on a cooling rack but don’t take the cake out. This will prevent the cake from deflating as it cools.
Decorate the cake however you’d like!

This is adapted from another recipe. The original recipe for this cake can be found here.