My Matcha-Blackberry Cake does just that! I love the earthy (even grassy) taste of the matcha tea up against the sweetness of blackberries. It’s such a flavorful experience.
Matcha tea is basically Japanese green tea leaves ground into a powder, unlike whole tea leaves harvested for your more well-known green teas.
According to healthline.com, matcha tea promotes brain function, aids in weight loss, is high in antioxidants, and more.
I have created this recipe specifically for a white cake mix and white chocolate instant pudding mix. You could substitute a cheesecake pudding mix. I chose these two ingredients to allow the matcha powder to shine through and not compete with vanilla cake nor vanilla pudding. If you choose to switch up ingredients, it will not taste the same and results will not be the way they are intended. Please, just be aware of that.
Matcha tea has taken off over the years. Most uses are in drinks, but matcha powder can be used in foods and desserts especially. I paired the flavor of matcha powder with the sweetness of blackberries. I’ve used a jar from my grocery store of blackberry jam and I’ve also made my own blackberry preserves. Both methods worked well and were yummy. If you decide to make your own blackberry puree/preserves, it can be made a couple of days beforehand to help with time. Side note, if you do purchase a jar, it may need a good stir to loosen before trying to spread onto your layers. Also, I purchased a can of a name-brand blackberry pie filling to try. While I did like the sort of “congealed” texture, the filling tasted like the can, so I went back to the glass jar of blackberry preserves.
I tinted my buttercream with a small amount of purple food coloring. I wanted a very pastel lavender. The recipe below uses an American Buttercream (ABC), but in one of my trial runs of this cake, I frosted with an “easy” Swiss Buttercream (by sugargeekshow.com) that uses pasteurized egg whites. Both types of frostings results were great!
I did add a tiny bit of green food color to the matcha batter. I wanted a little more brightness to the matcha green. You can leave out the coloring all together if you prefer.
A note on one of my favorite baking essentials… Wilton’s baking strips produce fairly flat-top cake layers, which are super-convenient for layered cakes. If you don’t have them and your cakes dome, just use a cake leveler or a serrated knife on the cooled cakes to make a flat top. You can find baking strips online, at baking shops, and in the baking aisles of Hobby Lobby (keep an eye on when they are on sale!).
Enjoy!
Matcha-Blackberry Cake
Equipment
- 3 8" round cake pans
Ingredients
- 1 15.25-ounce box white cake mix, I prefer Duncan Hines
- 1 3.3-ounce box white chocolate instant pudding mix
- 3 1/2 tablespoons matcha powder
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup full-fat sour cream, room temperature
- 1/2 cup neutral oil, (avocado, vegetable, canola, etc.)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
- green food coloring, optional
- 1 1/2 cups blackberry jam or preserves, store-bought or homemade
- 4 ounces fresh blackberries, for garnish
American Buttercream:
- 12 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 2-4 tablespoons heavy cream, or whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the Matcha Cakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease three 8” cake pans with nonstick spray, butter, or cake release, and line with parchment and grease the parchment. Wrap the pans with baking strips, if using. Set aside.
- Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place the cake mix, pudding mix, and matcha powder. Blend on low for about 30 seconds to combine. You can alternatively use a hand-held mixer.
- Add the eggs, sour cream, oil, vanilla, and milk. Combine on medium speed for two minutes, stopping about halfway to scrape the bowl and blade.
- Evenly divide the batter between the three pans.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Adjust baking times as needed for your oven.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and remove the baking strips, if using. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 20 minutes.
- Invert the cakes onto a rack to finish cooling. (At this point, you can wrap in double layers of plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.)
Make the Frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the soft butter. Mix on medium-low until well blended, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl and blade as needed, approximately 2 minutes.
- Add the sifted confectioners’ sugar, salt, and vanilla and mix on low until most of the sugar is blended. Turn the mixer to medium and mix for two minutes.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream and mix on low until blended. Turn the mixer to medium and mix for three to five minutes until lightened in color and smooth.
- Adjust the consistency of the frosting as needed by adding more confectioners’ sugar to thicken or heavy cream to thin.
- Tint the frosting if desired.
Assemble the Matcha-Blackberry Cake:
- Place one cake layer on a cake stand or cake plate. Pipe a ring of frosting around the perimeter of the cake; this will keep the preserves from oozing out.
- Spread ¾ cup of the blackberry preserves over the layer, spreading to the edge of the piped frosting.
- Place another cake layer on top. Pipe another ring of frosting and spread the remaining ¾ cup blackberry preserves in the middle.
- Lay the third layer on top with the flattest side of the cake facing upward. This gives you a nice flat-top cake.
- Frost the cake with the remaining frosting. You can frost completely or in a semi-naked style, which is what I have photographed.
- Pipe any pretty swirls on top if desired. Place as many blackberries as you’d like on top of the cake
- Slice and serve.
0 Comments