Marbled Matcha and Lemon Pound Cake

MAN! I am so on Team Matcha. I used to think green tea tasted a bit like fish food... I won't lie.

But now I can't get enough! I find myself dreaming about what I can make into a "green tea version"... Matcha cookies, cakes, lattes, pancakes, muffins, truffles, milkshakes... pretty much anything. Except cheeseburgers. I will keep my green tea out of my burgers. For now.

Matcha powder is the magical ingredient in this pound cake. It is not the easiest thing to find however, and is often quite pricey. I managed to buy some for a good price at a Japanese/Korean specialty food market. I have also seen it sold at health food stores, and online. If you can find some (and not spend your life savings on it) then please buy it! You won't regret it. 

It's crazy green and tastes like the earth. Makes you feel really healthy. Feel the goodness of the green, my friends.

Matcha also pairs deliciously well with lemon, which is the other half of this marble cake. Don't be afraid of the green! Embrace it! The lemon and sweetness of this cake help to balance the grassiness of the matcha flavour so it's not overly strong. Grassiness is a word, right? Now it is.

Marbled Matcha and Lemon Pound Cake

Recipe from Joy The Baker

Note! I halved the orginal recipe to make a couple mini loaves, and some muffins. Baking times will vary depending on the size of loaf or muffin tins you use.

Also! You can see that I topped the muffins with some chopped pistachios, they add an awesome crunch and their flavour pairs really well with the matcha and lemon. Also, the more green the merrier! If you wanted I bet almonds would be a great addition as well.

• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/6 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest (about half a lemon)
• about 1 tbsp lemon juice (about 1/4 of a lemon)
• 1/2 tbsp Matcha green tea powder
• 1/4 cup plus 3 1/2 Tbsp melted butter, cooled slightly
• Handful of chopped pistachios if desired

1) Preheat your oven to 350. Grease and flour your loaf tins, and line with parchment paper to make life easier! Line muffin tins with paper liners.

2) Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3) In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thoroughly incorporated. Mix in the vanilla and sour cream.

4) Stir in the dry ingredients in 2-3 additions, switching to a rubber spatula if needed. Next, stir in the melted butter, in two or more additions if necessary.

5) Divide the batter into two bowls. In one bowl, mix in the lemon zest and juice. In the other bowl, mix in the matcha powder.

6) In the loaf and/or muffin tins, layer the two different kinds of batter and gently swirl with a knife just a bit to make MARBLE MAGIC!

7)Baking times will vary depending on the size of the tins you use, but generally:

Mini Cupcakes: 15 minutes

Regular Cupcakes: 20-25 minutes

Mini Loafs: 30-35

Or until the tops are springy and a toothpick inserted comes out clean!

Let the loafs cool a bit in their tins before turning out onto a wire raack to cool completely.

Enjoy with a cup of tea, preferably green and especially Matcha :)

<3 Lari

Lemon Raspberry Yellow Rose Cake

I love having an excuse to make a fancy cake! Especially when it is for somebody special. And especially when it is a surprise for them. Surprises are always the best.

This particular cake was for my Aunt Joan. I have three aunts in total, and two of them are named Joan. How does that happen? THIS Aunt Joan is from my Dad's side of the family and her birthday just happened and I totally got to make a cake for her! I had a massive brainstorming session for what kind of cake I wanted to make, and how to decorate it. All free time was dedicated to cake thoughts.

I wanted to make it special for her, so I asked around the family for some inspiration. Turns out, she has a thing for roses, yellow roses in particular. BAM! Inspiration. And the Yellow Rose Aunt Joan Cake is born.

This cake was to be served after a family dinner, in the summertime... so I wanted it to be light and summery, not too rich. Also, YELLOW! (After much indecision and debate) I decided to create something lemony and raspberry-y. Seemed like the right thing to do. And when in doubt, cream cheese frosting.

Lemon and raspberries feel like summer! Yellow and white with a splash of pink makes me happy.

I seriously had a lot of fun making this cake, from designing it, to baking, to decorating... Give me an occasion. I'll make you a cake. Please? Cool, thanks. Let's be friends.

Lemon Buttermilk Cake

Recipe from Martha Stewart

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (8 oz.) butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• zest of 3 lemons (about 3 tbsp)
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk

1) In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2)Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend in the lemon zest and vanilla.

3)Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of buttermilk and lemon juice. Blend until just combined.

4)Pour batter into greased and floured 8" cake tins. (I saved some batter to make into mini cupcakes... you know, for mandatory taste-testing and quality control)

5)Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes or until cake tops are springy and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

*If you are making mini cupcakes, they will take about 15 minutes.

*If you are making regular sized cupcakes, they will take about 20 minutes.

6)Let cakes cool at least 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

*Cakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for one day, or wrapped in plastic and frozen for much longer!

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 2 oz butter
• 4 cups sifted icing sugar (you may need more depending on the temperature, my frosting was too soft so I added 1/4 cup extra)
• pinch salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1) In a mixer bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese until fluffy and completely combined. Gradually add the icing sugar about one cup at a time, beating until well combined after each addition. Beat in the salt and vanilla extract. Taste and adjust as needed. If frosting is too thin, add more icing sugar. Too thick? Add a tiny splash of milk.

Frosting can be used immediately  or refrigerated in an airtight container for a few days, or frozen for up to three months.

For the filling of the cake, all I did was take about 1/3 of the cream cheese frosting and added a big handful of fresh raspberries and mashed it all up. I didn't blend it together completely because I was going for the marbled look. Pretty!

(A warning note: the raspberries I added were particularily delicious i.e. JUICY like mad and thinned out the frosting quite a bit. This made things a bit runny and messy and oozing-out-the-sides style when I layered the cake. Perhaps next time I will add more powdered sugar to help thicken it up. Once you put the first layer of frosting on the outside, however, if you stick the cake in the fridge it will firm up and help things along.)

My first rose, woo!

Meringue Buttercream Roses
Recipe from Martha Stewart

• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 cup (8oz) butter at room temperature
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• Gel paste food colouring (I used a mixture or golden yellow and lemon yellow by Wilton)

1)In the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer whisk together the egg whites, sugar and salt. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved, about 2-3 minutes, the mixture should feel smooth when you rub it between your fingers. 

2) Once the sugar has dissolved, remove the bowl from the heat and attatch it to your standing mixer. Starting on low speed and increasing to medium high, whip the egg white mixture until it is completely cool, white and glossy and forming slightly stiff peaks. (this takes about 10 minutes)

3) Reduce speed to medium low and add the softened butter one tablespoon at a time, beating until combined after each addition. If the mixture appears to "curdle" after adding the butter, FEAR NOT! This happens to me every. time.  :( But the good news is all you have to do is keep beating, and whip that buttercream back into shape. Just beat it. Like Michael Jackson told you to.

4) Next mix in the vanilla extract and food colouring if desired. YELLOW!

5) You can use the buttercream immediately, or keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just bring back to room temperature and beat it some more to get the right consistency.

6) When you're ready to make the roses, fit a pastry bag with a petal tip, then fill the bag with your buttercream. You will also need 1 inch squares of parchment paper, a flower nail and an offset spatula is helpful when moving the flowers from the parchment to the cake.

7) I would reccommend watching a few youtube videos for a visual on how to pipe these flowers. They look complicated, but I found them to be quite simple. The petal tip does most of the work for you! And as always, Martha knows what's best: check out her instructions here. (I just used the petal tip, instead of switching back and forth between two and it worked out fine)

Cake Assembly

1) Place one cake layer on the platter you wish to serve it on. Spread with a thin layer of raspberry jam.

2)Spread the raspberry-marbled cream cheese frosting on top of the jam, no need to spread too far to the edges because it will ooze out otherwise when you put the next layer on.

3)Put the next layer on!

4)Spread a thin layer of cream cheese frosting over the top and sides of the cake, working fairly quickly because oh my goodness this frosting is oozing out the sides and turning my white frosting pinkish and hey maybe that's still cool it's kind of looking like ombre and that's totally in right now maybe I'll just let it happen! But please get a coat of cream cheese frosting on there, pop it in the fridge for at least 1 hour to firm up a bit. I left mine in the fridge overnight, and left the rest of the decorating for the next day which was the day of the party.

5) Using an offset spatula, transfer your buttercream roses from their parchment squares to the top of the cake, arranging how you like.

I had some leftover cream cheese frosting, so I tinted it green and piped some leaves around the roses.

6)Finish the cake off by arranging fresh raspberries around the bottom and TADAA

               

Slice it, serve with vanilla ice cream, on the patio in the backyard. Rock on.

<3 Lari

Blueberry Lemon Scones

"You can't be that kid at the top of the 

waterslide, overthinking it.

You have to go down the chute."

-Tina Fey

I have been saying this to myself a lot lately. I tend to sometimes (ALL THE TIME) overthink small details and drive myself (and others) a little crazy.

For instance it took me way too long to make up my mind whether I should make blueberry scones with lemon, or blueberry scones with almonds.

Sometimes the difference between lemons and almonds is a really big deal guys.

But like the wise Tina Fey reminds me, you have to go down the chute. So I just threw caution and lemon zest to the wind and went down the Blueberry Lemon chute.

And why was I ever doubtful!? Blueberry and lemon are like two really good friends that people like me tend to forget about when all they can think about is chocolate. But I didn't even add chocolate to this recipe! I kept things classy and classic, and the result was dang awesome. Proud moment.

Fresh blueberries and fresh lemons. It's hard to go wrong! I made six scones, plus one baby scone. That baby one totally has my name on it.

Stop overthinking things and go down the chute. Make scones with the bounty of blueberries sitting in your fridge. Make them for you and your mom before you go to work. Eat them warm with butter and serve with milky tea. Enjoy it.

Because Tina Fey and I told you to.

Blueberry Lemon Scones

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

(I halved the recipe to make just a small batch, but it can be easily doubled. Unbaked scones can be frozen and saved in the freezer to bake up when you want them!)

Makes about 6 small scones

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• scant 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp (1.5 oz) cold butter, cut into cubes
• 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest (about 1/2 lemon)
• 1/6 cup almond milk (or any other milk if you prefer)
• 1 egg
• Cream for brushing (optional)
• Turbinado sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 (375 for my hot oven) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Use your fingers to mix in the butter with the flour mixture. You don't want to blend the two together completely, just until the butter is in pea sized clumps. This equals flakyness!

Gently fold in the blueberries. In another bowl, whisk the egg into the almond milk. Combine the wet and the dry until they form a dough, you may need to knead it a bit. Need to knead, ha. (Sorry)

Gently roll out dough (don't flatten your butter too much!) onto a lightly floured surface. Use a knife or cookie cutter to cut out your scones. I used a small glass dipped in flour to cut out round scones.

Place on prepared baking tray. Brush the tops with a good amount of cream, then sprinkle with turbinado sugar if desired. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Make a pot of tea and serve up some scones, warm from the oven, with butter. Yes.

Warm food straight from the oven with melty butter is probably one of the most magical moments in life. Yes, I am easily pleased.

<3 Lari

PS: Have strawberries instead of blueberries? Make these Strawberries and Cream Scones instead! Equally awesome.

Candied Citrus Peel

This Christmas I have been experimenting! With candy making. I love baking (duh) and have been doing it my whole life. However, the whole candy making thing is very foreign, slightly terrifying, and extensively exciting to me. I find it rather mysterious... if that is not weird  And something that I would like to get better at. So far my candy making adventures have come in the form of marshmallows, and chocolate truffles (coming soon)... and today's treat: Candied Citrus Peel!

There was a recipe for Christmas cookies (also coming soon) that I have been eager to make, and as part of the ingredient list it calls for candied lemon peel, and candied orange peel. Yes, you can indeed trot off to the store and buy some pre-maid... but where is the fun, I ask? I have always wanted to try making my own anyways, so it seemed like an appropriate time. 

You can use this recipe for any type of citrus fruit. I have tried it with lemon and orange so far, but I think it would be really interesting to try lime and/or grapefruit... Keep in mind that you should not mix the fruits, because the resulting flavour would be wack (but this is an assumption). Making candied peel is an excellent use for something that you would otherwise throw away! I am a fan of the idea of not letting anything go to waste.

Candied Citrus Peel
Recipe inspired by and adapted from Food Coma and Smitten Kitchen

You will need:

• citrus fruit of your choosing (I found it easy to use about 3 at a time)
• 1 1/2 cups water (plus more for blanching)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar

There is a reason why we do not eat the peels normally. They are gross and bitter! But by blanching the peels three times in boiling water, changing the water each time, the bitterness will happily boil away.

So, fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. Whilst waiting for the water to boil, you can prep the peels for blanching. The easiest way to do this I found was to cut a small piece off of the top and bottom of the fruit. Then, cut long strips from the top to the bottom. Be careful to only cut the peel and not too far into the fruit, otherwise resulting in frustration when you try and separate the two. Not that I know what that feels like...

Peel away the peel from the flesh of the fruit.

Once the water has boiled, place the peel slices in the water and blanch for about 3 minutes. Drain and rinse, then repeat this process but with fresh boiling water. TIP! If you can, have two pots going at a time so you dont waste time waiting for the water to boil. It's Christmas. We are busy. We do not have time to watch water boil. Once the fruit has been blanched three times, it is time for the candy-ing part!

In a small saucepan over medium high heat, boil together equal parts water and sugar to make a simple syrup. I found for working with three fruits at a time, 1 1/2 cups of each worked well.

When the Sugar has completely dissolved and the syrup is bubbling and boiling, add the peels. Lower the heat, cover the pot, and leave the peels to simmer for about 1 hour. Stir the peels every so often.

After an hour, use a slotted spoon to remove the peels from the syrup and leave to cool on a wire rack.

At this stage, there are a few options for the future of your peels. As I was just going to use them inside cookie batter, I left them as is and kept them in an airtight container in my fridge. You could go the Food Coma route and roll them in sugar, or you could go the Smitten Kitchen route and dip them in dark chocolate (Oh yes, I think that is what will happen with the leftovers).

I think a cute little package of chocolate dipped homemade candied peel would make a darling gift for friends and neighbors this Christmas!

Happy Candying!

<3 Lari