Delicately soft and fluffy, this matcha sponge cake with earthy sweet green tea powder is a perfect everyday cake.
Why you’ll love this matcha sponge cake?
This no-fuss simple sponge cake is basically a half portion of my classic angel food cake. You’ll love this cake for its:
- soft and fluffy, yet incredibly moist texture
- not overly sweet flavor with earthy sweet notes of matcha powder
- simplicity in preparation.
What is matcha?
Matcha is a Japanese green tea powder made from finely ground dried green tea leaves. I shared more about it in my matcha latte recipe.
And I love baking with matcha, it adds very subtle but unique flavor to cakes and that gorgeous green color is all natural! I didn’t add any food coloring.
That being said it’s important to use good quality green tea powder. Matcha tea doesn’t keep its quality for very long, and you won’t get great flavor and color with an old matcha powder.
I used this culinary grade matcha for this recipe.
How to make matcha sponge cake:
It’s incredibly quick and easy to make this green tea sponge cake. No special tools or pans required. And you need just 4 ingredients + salt.
For this recipe, I used a basic loaf pan.
- Sift together cake flour, matcha powder and salt.
- Whip egg whites until foamy. Then slowly add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, while continuously beating the egg whites. Beat until stiff peaks form.
- Sift the flour mixture into the meringue and gently fold the batter until well combined. Try not to deflate the batter as much.
- Transfer the batter into a loaf pan (no need to grease it or line it), run a bread knife to remove excess air pockets and bake for about 25 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cake upside down until cooled completely.
- To remove from the pan, run a knife along the edges of the pan and then gently peel it out of the pan.
Tip
Cooling the cake upside down prevents the cake from collapsing. Make sure there’s enough room to circulate around the cake to cool it properly.
Tips for successful matcha sponge cake:
- Make sure your mixing bowl and whisk are completely grease-free and there’s no broken egg yolk was in contact with your egg whites. I explained why it’s important in my Meringue 101 video here.
- Cake flour ensures the cake is light and fluffy. If you don’t have it, you can it yourself. See below.
- Make sure to use fresh matcha powder. Old matcha powder that’s been opened for more than 2 months looses its quality and will produce a cake with dull color and won’t add matcha flavor.
DIY Cake Flour:
For this recipe, you’ll need 1/2 cup for cake flour. So, measure out 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour, remove 1 tablespoon of it and add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Sift and you have a DIY cake flour!
What to serve with matcha cake:
This’s such a great everyday cake. I most often serve it dusted with powdered sugar and fresh berries.
You can also serve it with homemade whipped cream!
Enjoy this delicious cake with a cup of matcha latte!
Matcha Sponge Cake
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (65g) cake flour Note 1
- 2 tablespoons matcha powder Note 2
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 6 egg whites Note 3
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C).
- Sift together cake flour, matcha powder and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy on a low speed. When the egg whites get white and foamy, start adding sugar one tablespoon at a time. Continue to beat on medium high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Add flour mixture and carefully fold everything together. Be careful not to deflate the batter much.
- Transfer the batter to an ungreased loaf pan. Even out the surface. Run a butter knife through the batter to remove any large air pockets. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the inserted wooden stick comes out clean.
- Cool the cake upside down until completely cooled. Allow plenty of room to circulate air around the cake. This will prevent the cake from collapsing.
- To remove the cake from the pan, run a knife along the edges of the pan and then gently peel it out of the pan.
- Dust powdered sugar over the cake and serve with fresh berries or whipped cream, if desired.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Facts:
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