I love matcha. Matcha in Japanese tea houses, matcha lattes, matcha cookies and matcha cake. It’s like a green goddess to me.
And so I’ve been thinking about matcha combinations for a while. Matcha-ginger; ginger-pear, matcha-ginger-pear. I think this one would lend itself beautifully to a mousse cake, but today, a more traditional loaf. It has a dense pear layer, and a matcha and ginger-turmeric layer which self-marbles as it bakes. A drizzle of matcha fondant, and some flame-toasted freeze-dried pear gives the cake a pretty, but modern finish.
I confess I wasn’t going to blog this cake, but the feedback was considerable and extremely positive. The cake is pretty to look at, full of comforting flavours and has a marshmallowy tenderness to the crumb. The turmeric ginger layer has a lovely yellow colour and a great spicy taste, without being savoury. I like to think it’s a bit of a nod to the new craze for turmeric lattes that’s sweeping Melbourne (for the record I think turmeric (golden) lattes are disgusting, but I have to say that a little turmeric makes good cake!).
In fact, this cake is practically health food with all the great press going round about matcha’s antioxidants, turmeric’s anti-inflammatories, and ginger’s immune boosting effects. The pear is just in there because it’s yummy.
Matcha powder can be found in Asian food stores or speciality tea shops. Freeez-dried pear slices from Absolutefruitz are sold in Australia in good supermarkets.
Matcha Ginger Pear Cake
ingredients
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
125g very soft butter
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
2 medium pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm dice
1/4 cup ground almonds
2 tbsp matcha powder
1/2 cup preserved ginger (preferably not cyrstallised, but if you can’t get “naked” ginger, just wash the sugar crystals off and pat the ginger dry)
1/3 tsp turmeric powder
100g liquid fondant, to finish
2 tsp matcha powder, to finish
freeze-dried pear, to finish
mixing
Line a deep 25 cm x 10 cm loaf pan with baking paper. Set aside.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, butter and milk and beat until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs and beat again until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Separate the mixture into three as follows. Place approximately one quarter of the mixture into one bowl, and add the ground almonds and chopped pear. Gently spread this into the bottom of the prepared pan. Place half of the remaining mixture into another bowl and add the matcha powder. Mix to combine, then spread this mixture on top of the pear mixture. Add the turmeric and ginger to the remaining mixture. Mix to combine, then spread this mixture on top of the matcha mixture.
Bake the matcha ginger pear cake at 180°C for approximately 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.call the cake on a wire rack.
Cool the cake on a wire rack.
When the cake is cold, gently warm the fondant until it is quite liquid, like warm honey. Mix in the matcha powder. Pour or spread the fondant over the loaf. Top with crumbled freeze-dried pear, if desired. I used a blowtorch to toast the pear before serving.
Enjoy!xxx
