Saturday, September 4, 2010

Green Tea Pound Cake

I don't know why I always get myself into fixes like competing against expiry dates of my ingredients. So there I have this can of good quality matcha powder expiring in a week's time, so I had to make something out of it. You see how my bakes are mainly due to practical reasons instead of inspirations. /snorts

I knew Nick Malgeiri because I'm a fame snob by surfing online for pastry chefs. Am currently awaiting for reviews on his new book Bake! Essential Techniques for Perfect Baking before I can call myself a proud owner of his baking books. His previous books are good, but I guess I would want something newer, on the assumption that bakers improvise on their old recipes?

The pound cake tastes pleasant with just the right amount of sweetness and floral blend fragrance from the matcha powder. However, the texture is relatively dry, instead of the ideal melt-in-your-mouth kind of pound cake and I know why...because I was nosey enough to open the oven door halfway, letting cool air rushed into the oven and my oven temperature took a drastic plunge. In attempt to save the cake, I turned the oven high and it went too high hahahahhahh!! Faiiilllllll Lesson learnt. :(
Green Tea Pound Cake (adapted from Nick Malgeiri's Perfect Cakes)

Ingredients:
280g all purpose flour
2 tbsp matcha powder
2 tsp baking powder
226g unsalted butter
230g icing sugar
5 large eggs, separated
pinch of salt

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C and prepare a 9" x 5" loaf pan
2. Combine flour, matcha powder and baking powder and stir well
3. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until light in color
4. Beat in yolks one at a time until well combined
5. Fold in flour mixture into yolk mixture and set aside
6. In a separate bowl, combine salt and egg whites and beat until soft peak
7. Add the meringue into batter mixture and fold in lightly until no more whites can be seen
8. Pour the batter into pan, smoothen the top and let it bake for 45 mins
9. Let the pan cool on rack for 10 mins before un-molding the cake and let it cool completely

1 comment:

  1. Hi Jean,

    I read reviews from amazon that some of his recipes do not work well. That made me apprehensive about trying out recipes from his books. While he may be an accomplished chef, he may not be a good bakebook author.

    I have came across 3 of his titles from NLB: 'The Perfect Cookie', 'Perfect Cakes' and 'The Modern Baker'. The book that is recommended by most reviewers would be his 'The Modern Baker'. Just my 2 cents worth

    cheers

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