Awesome Matcha Choco Banana Cake is awesome: "
Banana, pecan nuts, chocolate chunks
Originally uploaded by Manne.
This month is officially Matcha Madness month. Catty said so (@Catty), so it has to be true.
In a challenge issued to everyone who loves matcha green tea powder, Catty in cooperation with (the great, we've bought some excellent tea from them) Teapigs online tea shop asked us all to go a bit matcha crazy. Who am I to ever turn down a challenge, be it for the most porky goodness, the greenest ice cream or the weirdest classic Swedish dish.
Actually, Flying Jacob may have to step down as weirdest dish now that I discovered herring ice cream... But that's a topic for another blog post. This is about celebrating matcha powder!
The rules laid out are simple: just use matcha in a dish and submit it to Catty before end of July. Easy peasy. Two other submissions were already in as I wrote this:
- Green Tea Chiffon Cake from Scandi Foodie, and
- Green Tea Cheesecake from Sarah Cooks
Using about three tablespoons sounded intuitively about right, and as you can see in the photo the effect was instant and almost terrifying. Monster green!
Let's call this green colour 'interesting' or 'eye-catching'. It certainly isn't appetising. ;)
Originally uploaded by Manne.
Banana cake is at its best when some pecan nuts and chunky pieces of chocolate are mixed in, and we also decided to pretty it up a bit by adding a cream cheese icing.
The icing itself ended up being so tasty we spread it like actual cream cheese on the cake slices...
Piggy in action. That cream cheese frosting is so damn good I could eat it with a spoon!
Originally uploaded by Manne.
Catty keeps going on about how healthy green tea is. While I am sure she is right, I am equally certain that this way of consuming matcha completely negates any health benefits whatsoever. It is basically sugar, with starch, more sugar and chocolate. But hey, who is counting carb calories or insulin spikes?
Having just watched the 2010 FIFA World Cup final, as I look at the photos of the cake it is clear a streak of orange is missing. We should have put some orange peel or stripes of orange marmalade in the frosting to make it a suitable comfort food for the runners up.
Matcha Choco Banana Cake dusted with green tea powder
Originally uploaded by Manne.
For more photos, check out the full set on Flickr.
Ingredients (serves 6-8, or 4 piglets)Cake:
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
185 gr caster sugar
185 gr self-raising flour
3 tbsp matcha green tea powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp olive oil
60ml milk
100 gr milk chocolate chunks (or grated choc)
100 gr pecan nuts, chopped
Icing:
200g Philadelphia cream cheese (1 packet)
50g butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
60 gr icing sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Grease a medium (20 by 10 cm) loaf tin with some butter.
Mix the mashed banana and sugar in a large bowl, you will see the banana dissolve almost going liquid with the sugar. Add sifted flour, matcha powder, eggs, oil and milk. Stir the mixture gently. Marvel at the deep green colour from the matcha.
Fold in the chocolate and nuts, mix it all thoroughly so the nuts and choco chunks are evenly distributed.
Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 55 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake.
A lovely smell spreads in the kitchen...
Originally uploaded by Manne.
Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool further. It may help if you 'cut' along the sides of the tin with a knife before turning it over to get the cake out.
While the banana cake is baking, prepare the frosting mixture.
In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese and butter. Then add in the vanilla and icing sugar and keep mixing until completely smooth. Put in the fridge to make it set a bit before spreading it on the cake.
In our case, the icing didn't set much, but we decided not to worry as we didn't expect the cake to survive very long... When the cake has cooled, spread a generous amount of icing on top of the cake. Use a sieve to sprinkle some green tea powder on top as garnish.
Slice, eat, have another slice.
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