This easy-to-make marbled Meyer lemon matcha cake is a blend of fragrant Meyer lemons and Matcha green tea and would be perfect with coffee or tea. (Jump directly to the recipe for Meyer Lemon and Matcha Green Tea Bundt Cake.)
This post was sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of Macy’s; however all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’m an odd mix of Asian heritage coupled with Midwest roots and California cuisine sensibilities. I grew up in St. Louis where my Taiwanese mom cooked every meal for us, often something Asian inspired. My Thanksgiving dinner was a mix of traditional Midwest American dishes like roast turkey, Stove-Top stuffing, and those instant mashed potatoes that came from a box, as well as Asian dishes like sticky rice casserole and napa cabbage with dried shrimp. After college I moved to San Francisco where I quickly adapted to the fresh, local and seasonal food movement that is so pervasive here (thanks to Alice Waters). Even celebrated food writer John Birdsall noticed it when he bought my recent cookbook Marbled, Swirled and Layered and commented on Facebook. “The recipes are all polish and rustic edges. They apply fruit and other produce in a way that marks them as Northern Californian, part of a tradition.”
So I’m thrilled that I’ll be at Macy’s Basement in San Francisco Union Square on Thursday, May 25th at 6pm for the celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! I’m even more excited about this event because I’ll be interviewing and talking to Top Chef winner Kristen Kish about her Asian heritage and how it has impacted her life. If you’ve watched the show or know Kristen at all, you know she has an interesting heritage similar to mine, born in Korea but adopted and raised in Michigan. I can’t wait to chat with her about her own story and Asian heritage. There’ll be some tasty Korean samples there, as well and a chance to get a photo with Kristen! I might even have a few cookbooks to sell there (or you can just bring a copy of a cookbook you already own and I’ll sign it). You can find details about the event at the Macy’s website or follow along with the hashtag #MacysAPAHM.
In the meanwhile, here’s recipe for a Meyer lemon and matcha green tea marbled bundt cake. It’s vaguely Asian (matcha green tea), slightly Northern California (Meyer lemon) and a little bit of a nod to my Midwest roots (bundt cake). Basically it’s me in dessert form. Just go with it. Hope to see you at Macy’s!
Meyer Lemon and Matcha Green Tea Marbled Bundt Cake
By Irvin Lin
Meyer lemons are a cross between the regular store bought lemons and oranges and have a fragrant sweet scent and flavor. You can find them at Farmers markets or some upscale grocery stores. If you can’t find Meyer lemons, feel free to substitute an even mix of orange and lemon in it’s place. You can find Matcha green tea powder at Asian grocery stores, some upscale markets or online.
Ingredients
3 cups (420 g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups (400 g) white granulated sugar
zest from 2 to 3 Meyer lemons
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup (155 g) Greek-style yogurt
1/4 cup (2 to 3 medium sized) Meyer lemon juice (see headnote above)
1 tablespoon Matcha green tea powder (see headnote above)
Powdered sugar for dusting on top
Directions
1. Preheat an oven to 350ºF.
2. Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl. Use a balloon whisk to vigorously stir the dry ingredients together until uniformly blended together.
3. Place the oil, sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix together for 15 seconds to blend. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure it is incorporated before adding the next egg. Add the egg yolk in the same manner.
4. Mix the yogurt with the lemon juice together. Beat in the dry ingredients and lemon yogurt, alternating half of the amount of each, starting with the dry ingredients and ending with the lemon yogurt, making sure the ingredients are incorporated before adding the next ingredient.
5. Scoop out about 1 1/2 cups of the batter into the bowl that held the dry ingredients and mix in the Matcha green tea powder to it.
6. Spray a 10-cup bundt pan with cooking oil then dust with flour. Spoon a third of the plain lemon batter into the pan, then half the matcha green tea batter over it, spread it out as evenly as possible. Repeat with the remaining batter, ending with the final third of the lemon batter. Take a chopstick and swirl it in a “figure-eight” pattern throughout the batter to marble it.
7. Bake in the oven for 55 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the pan comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then invert it on a wire rack (the pan should still be warm) and release the cake onto the rack. Let cool completely, then dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Makes 1 bundt cake, serves 10-12 people.
heather (delicious not gorgeous) says
sounds like a good mash-up to clone yourself into cake form (oh, and i guess it sounds pretty tasty too ?). i didn’t realize apahm was so big; there was a free concert in la last weekend for it in front of city hall, and they had a lot of great acts.
Gemma says
Delicious and easy to make. Love it 🙂