Matcha Vanilla Cake

A light, airy, green tea cake that has the best matcha frosting! This matcha vanilla cake will delight and surprise.

A green cake, a day late! But, St. Patrick’s Day is not actually the reason I made this cake. Today happens to be my Dad’s birthday! Or, what would have been his 63rd birthday. My Dad passed nearly 7 years ago, but I still make a cake every year to celebrate.

Last year’s cake was this lovely lemon cake – it was SO pretty and so luscious. If you need a spring-themed cake, I highly recommend it! Obviously, I highly recommend this cake too – if you like the taste of green tea, that is! I love it. My matcha no churn ice cream is still one of my favourites!

It’s a little funny that I’m celebrating my Dad’s birthday with a green tea cake, because I’m pretty sure he would have been fairly skeptical of it. Dad liked most sweet things (like Father, like daughter ;)) so I’m sure he would have come around after the first bite!

As much as I miss him, and as tragic as his death was, I have so many good memories of my Dad. You know when someone laughs so hard that they can’t breathe, no real sound is coming out, and their whole body is shaking in laughter? That was my Dad, when he heard something really funny or was trying to tell a funny joke that he just couldn’t get through without practically crying in laughter. This is how I like to remember him!

My Dad died by suicide, and I as write these words I cringe a little. It is very hard for me to talk about, but I am trying to do my best to make sure that we CAN talk about these things. I am trying to help change the stigma. The way my Dad died should not define his life. He was my favorite person in the whole world, and I will continue to remember and honor him as much as possible.

Thank you for reading this and sharing along with my journey!

So…should we talk about the cake!?

What goes into a matcha vanilla cake?

I am so happy with how the cake turned out. I like to use buttermilk in a lot of my cake recipes, as it helps to add just the right amount of fluffiness! I’m a big fan of buttermilk in general – I pretty much always use buttermilk for my pancakes, including these whole wheat blueberry buttermilk pancakes!

Along with buttermilk, using oil and 3 whole eggs ensures a nice, moist, cake. That’s right, I said it. MOIST.

To get that vanilla flavor in the cake, I strongly recommend you use vanilla bean paste. This is the one I use. If you can’t find vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract will work too, it just won’t have as much of a vanilla flavour.

How you make matcha frosting?

For the frosting, I like to use half vanilla and half matcha flavour. I use the vanilla buttercream in between the layers and cover the outside of the cake in matcha buttercream. Just writing these words is making me want to bake another cake and double the frosting. It’s so good!!!!

Oh, last note. I bake the cake in 2 cake pans, but I cut each cake in 2, to make a total of 4 layers. I like the way this looks, but you can definitely just keep it as 2 layers!

Hopefully you all had a festive St. Patrick’s Day weekend – and you don’t mind this little bit of extra green coming at ya!

I love matcha! If you do too, you’ve GOT to try my no-churn matcha ice cream. It’s terrific.

You might also like some of these other cake recipes from the blog:

• keto coconut lemon cheesecake
• lovely lemon cake
• orange-carrot cake

Matcha Vanilla Cake

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5 from 16 reviews

• Author: Katherine
• Total Time: 1 hours 60 minutes
• Yield: 1 cake 1x

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Description

A light, airy, green tea cake that has the best matcha frosting! This matcha vanilla cake will delight and surprise!

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Ingredients

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Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp matcha powder*
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup oil (grapeseed, canola)
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Buttercream Frosting

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
• pinch salt
• 2 tsp matcha powder

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F, grease and lightly flour two 9″ cake pans. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and matcha powder. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed together, and smooth (about 3-4 minutes). Add the oil, and mix together for another couple of minutes. With the mixer running on low, add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla bean paste. Scrape down the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary. With the mixer still on low, add half of the flour mixture to the batter, followed by the buttermilk, then the remaining flour mixture. Mix just until there is no more flour visible.
3. Pour the batter into the two pans, using a scale if necessary to ensure they’re evenly distributed. Bake the cakes until done, about 25 minutes; check to see if they’re done by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, remove the cakes from the oven. If not, bake for an additional couple of minutes. Cool the cakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
4. Prepare the buttercream. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium until light and fluffy. Add half of the powdered sugar, followed by half of the cream, all of the vanilla bean paste and salt. Add the remaining powdered sugar and heavy cream. Remove half of the frosting to another bowl. Add the matcha powder to the remaining frosting in the mixing bowl and mix on high until thoroughly combined.
5. Assemble and frost the cake by placing one layer on a cake stand or cake circle, adding a layer of vanilla frosting, and placing the second layer on top. Use the remaining vanilla frosting to lightly coat the entire cake (this is your crumb coat). Ice and decorate the rest of the cake with the matcha frosting!

Cake will keep well at room temperature for 3-4 days. Leftovers can also be frozen in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Cake layers may also be prepared in advance and frozen for up to 2 months.

Notes

1. I buy my matcha powder at Bulk Barn.

• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Category: cakes
• Method: oven bake

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