It’s kind of hard to believe that for a while there, I went off matcha. I remember I’d just bought a box of matcha, adzuki and mochi ice cream and was so excited to get into them and then WHAM. Puke city. It feels like a lifetime ago that I was retching at my favourite things, that brushing my teeth made me sick, that (on a positive note) walking was something that I could just do.

And then time flew, as it so often does.

And then it ran out, as it also often does.

Well, mine hasn’t run out per se, but you know when you’re reaching the final grains of sand in an hour glass and they seem to slip through so much faster than every other grain before? That’s a little like how I’m feeling now, when I’ve longed for the end of my pregnancy for so many weeks and now? Now we’ve got three weeks up our sleeve. Max. And it’s scaring the hell out of me.

I’m no miss-originality when I say this. It’s been said a squiggillion times before. But the enormity of the situation is kind of bearing down on me now, the fact that a little person is going to rely on me to Keep Him Alive. That he’s going to be my number one priority above everything else. That I will pretty much not be able to do anything on my own time, ever again (well, for a good while).

So while I still can, and even though it’s uncomfortable to sit / stand / walk / sleep / lie on my left / right / back – basically everything sucks – I’m going to do what I want when I want, like lying in for 30 more minutes. Or watching a full episode of Dr Phil. Or baking.

Baking. I suspect this is going to fall by the wayside for a while, so since I’ve recently rediscovered my love for all things matcha, I’m going to bake as madly as I can.

ps. If you’re looking to buy matcha in Australia, check out KenkoTea. They sell cooking grade matcha as well as fantastic drinking grade matcha. And same day shipping!

Matcha swirl butter cake
250g butter, softened
1 cup castor sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
2/3 cup milk
4 teaspoons cooking grade matcha powder
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/355°F. Line a loaf tray with grease proof baking paper.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one by one and continue to beat until well mixed.
  3. Slowly add the self raising flour and milk alternately, mixing with a spoon until all incorporated.
  4. Remove half the mixture into a separate bowl.
  5. In a small bowl, dissolve matcha powder with a tiny bit of hot water, making a paste. Add the matcha paste to one portion of the batter and mix with a spoon until well combined.
  6. Alternately drop spoonfuls of plain and matcha batter into your lined tray.
  7. Bake in heated oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Makes 1 large loaf, or one 8″ round cake.

5 Thoughts on “recipe | matcha swirl butter cake

  1. Weeeee… I’m so excited for you. Seriously, you and Panu will be awesome parents! Enjoy your freedom while it lasts but also enjoy bringing a human being into the world, teaching him to walk, talk, eat and everything in between.

  2. Catchychan on October 3, 2013 at 9:06 pm said:

    Thanks for sharing the recipe catty! Will definitely be making this soon 🙂 All the best with baby!

  3. This recipe stipulates quite a bit of butter…but that can’t be a bad thing, right?

  4. I baked choc brownies a day before going into labour and had thought, this will be the last baking in a while!

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