It may be nearing the end of summer but don’t fret, we can hold on to those days just a little longer with this matcha coconut cake.
While the summer was nice, it was hot. That’s where I took inspiration for this cake. I work at a coffee shop and one of my favourite drinks is actually an iced coconut matcha with one pump of sugar free vanilla syrup (basic, I know).
I thought how could I combine the drink and make it in cake form? Well here is the outcome.
Shout out to my boss who gave me the matcha to use – you’re a star!
It’s a something a little different, especially for those who like something different. It starts with two layers of coconut cake, filled and coated with a French matcha vanilla buttercream and finished with coconut flakes – the perfect cake for those who like matcha flavoured things but don’t like it to be the usual overwhelming potency that can come with matcha.
Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?
Ingredients:
Cake:
170g butter.
280g granulated sugar.
2 eggs.
240ml coconut milk, canned.
1 tsp vanilla extract.
1 tsp coconut extract.
340g plain flour.
1 tsp salt.
Simple Syrup:
100ml water.
100g granulated sugar.
1 tsp vanilla extract.
Matcha Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream:
250g granulated sugar.
62ml water.
70ml egg yolks.
500g butter, at room temperature.
2-3 tsp matcha powder (+ 2-4 tsp vanilla extract, to dissolve the matcha powder).
Decoration:
Coconut flakes.
Method:
Before you get started on any element of the recipe, you’ll want to start by doing some prep. I like to start by weighing up all of my ingredients, preheating my oven to 180c/350f and getting any equipment, such as a stand mixer and paddle attachment.
Start by placing your butter and sugar into a bowl and beating together until they are lighter and fluffy in colour and consistency – this usually takes around 5-7 minute for me but the time may vary for yourself.
Once you’ve achieved that, you can go ahead and start to add your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Now is the ideal time to add in the extracts.
Take the dry ingredients and coconut milk and alternate the two roughly in 2 to 3 additions). Repeat the process until you have no dry or wet ingredients to add.
Now you have the cake batter, you can divide the batter between your lined tins, smooth and level the batter out, then bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or hot I’m a tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
While the cake is baking in the oven, this is the ideal time to make the matcha French buttercream. If you don’t know what French buttercream is, you’re missing out. It’s butter and rich, without being too much, which is what everybody wants, right?
To make the buttercream, I will leave a link on how to make my French buttercream here – check it out!
Just to finish the buttercream, before you get started on it, make the matcha mixture by simply placing the matcha powder into a bowl with the vanilla,a and mix together until a liquid consistency forms. You’re just looking to dissolve the matcha in the vanilla extract.
Once your buttercream is made, add this into the mixture and mix until it’s fully incorporated into it. The buttercream should turn a lovely shade of green, matcha green haha.
Place into the fridge until needed, later in. If it’s not a warm day and you’re using that day, I’d say leave it out (for me, the UK was experiencing some unusually warm weather when I made this cake, so working with any sort of buttercream can go south at any point).
You can also ,are the simple syrup at this point if you’re intending on using it. Simply take a small pan and place in the water, vanilla extractand sugar, mix together until we’ll combined, then place on the hob and bring to a boil. Set aside until cool, then use or store in a container in the fridge and use within 2 weeks.
Now you have all the elements ready to use, you can decorate the cake straight away or the following, the choice is all yours.
Whenever you’re ready, take the plate/board/stand you’re using and place a small blob into the centre of it – this will act as the glue to secure the cake in place and prevent the cake from sliding around.
Pipe a ring of buttercream around the outer edge of the cake, then fill in the centre, smooth and level it as best you can. Then place the second layer of cake on top and press to secure in place.
I don’t really do crumb coats due to my cakes not being too crumbly. I just pipe as equal rings around the cake as possible, not forgetting the top. then smooth out the sides as much or as little as you’d like. Saying the buttercream to pipe on top.
Once you’re happy with the cake, you can then pipe either rosettes or blobs around the outer edge of the cake, I went with blobs and just topped them with coconut flakes, to further enhance the coconut flavour in a mild way.
Chill the cake in the fridge until firm, them you can take it out of the fridge and enjoy.
That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.
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