It’s December 1! Allow me a little OMG moment here guys. I feel so excited for Christmas, at the same time I cannot believe how quickly this year is about to come to a close. Every time I find myself on the first day of December, I want to tell Time to slow down so I can savour this last month of the year just a little bit more.
But whoa was time slow for me during the latter half of November! With the sudden influx of projects that had me working until the wee hours, I felt like I was back in university doing all those campaigns and papers! It was a feeling that left me missing my college years so much, despite the fact that doing double the work was exhausting. When you’re balancing your real job deadlines with your “second job” deadlines it can get pretty tough, but I refuse to sound like I’m complaining. I’m a firm believer that hard work always pays off in the end.
I’m really happy to get through what was without a doubt the busiest two weeks of my year in one piece. That period reminded me that I can power through a super heavy workload if I put my mind to it, even though being swamped made those weeks feel like an eternity! I’m breathing a little easier now even though I’ve still got some deadlines to meet, but I’m really looking forward to wrapping everything up in time to go on my Christmas vacation. That will be my reward for all the work I put in this year. 😉
Speaking of rewards, I don’t think I’ve mentioned here yet that last October I was nominated for this year’s Philippine Blog Awards. I was fairly shocked to have been selected as a top 6 Finalist in my category in the country, because there are so many great blogs out there and being nominated was already an honour in itself. But I guess this is why I believe in hard work so much– it reaps some pleasant surprises.
I attended the awarding ceremony last November 21 even though I already knew I wasn’t going to win because I was up against some “institutions” in the food blogging world, if you will, but getting up on the stage to accept my Finalist certificate still felt surreal in a good way. So I wanted to take this chance to thank everyone for supporting me thus far. Getting recognized in such a way was definitely in part thanks to you guys! 🙂
To keep those good vibes going, I made this cake. It’s a Chocolate Matcha Bundt Cake Recipe that will knock your socks off, because not only is it pretty with the colours reminiscent of a Christmas tree, it’s pretty darn delicious too.
This bundt cake is awesome: The crumb is soft, rich, flavourful, and utterly gorgeous even with my questionable marbling skills. I’m not sure if you can tell but I’m bad at it. Clearly I need to make more marbled cakes so I can practice this skill, but I managed to do a somewhat decent job with the bundt cake… I think. I just love this colour combination, and it helps a lot that I love the flavour combination as well.
I have to admit that the chocolate can tend to overpower the matcha part just a little bit, but when I turned my leftover matcha batter into cupcakes, I thought the flavour struck a perfect matcha chord on my tastebuds. It was a spot-on matcha flavour that was neither too strong nor too weak; and the cake itself wasn’t so sweet that you’d lose all that lovely earthy flavour to the sugar. It’s exactly the kind of thing I look for in a matcha cake. I’m actually considering turning this into a standalone matcha cupcake recipe in the future. (No offense, chocolate. Don’t worry, I still love you.)
As someone who adores both chocolate and matcha, I jumped on the chance to recreate this bundt cake in my own kitchen. But because I was feeling particularly festive when I made this, I wanted to top it off with white frosting ala snow on top. I even completed the Christmasy mood with pearly nonpareils! However that frosting and candy topping is entirely optional, and as my brothers told me, unnecessary. This cake is perfect all on its own.
Chocolate Matcha Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Batter
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Matcha Batter
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons matcha powder
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Wet Mixture
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1¾ cup milk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence or extract
For the frosting (optional but festive)
- 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 to 2 Tablespoons of milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the cake
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 10-cup bundt pan and dust with cocoa powder or flour. Also prepare a 6-cup cupcake tin or a smaller loaf pan for the extra batter.
- 2. In a medium bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the Chocolate Batter. In another medium bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the Matcha Batter.
- 3. In the bowl of a mixer (or use a handheld mixer, or a whisk and some muscle), cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing in until well combined before adding the next egg. Add milk and vanilla, then mix until thoroughly combined. (If the mixture curdles a bit that's okay. Just make sure you've mixed it as thoroughly as possible.)
- 4. Divide the Wet Mix evenly between the bowls with the ingredients for the Chocolate Batter and Matcha Batter. (I used my measuring cups and alternated adding the wet ingredients to the bowls.) Mix together until batter is smooth and combined.
- 5. Spoon the two batters into the prepared bundt pan in alternating portions, building up until the pan is 3/4 full. Then using a long thin knife, run it through the batter in random directions until you get a marbled effect. (I didn't drag my knife through my batter enough so my marbling wasn't as nice. Here's a super helpful video on how to marble.) Fill the loaf pan or muffin tins with the leftover batter. Whether you want your leftover cake in two flavours or marbled as well is up to you.
- 6. Bake the bundt cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cupcakes and loaf will take less time, about 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely before adding frosting.
If making the frosting
- 7. In a small bowl, cream butter with sugar, then add 1 Tablespoon of milk first and whisk to see if the consistency is spreadable. If not, add a bit more milk. Add vanilla. Spread just on top of the cake, then add decorations as you see fit.
Notes
Have you guys noticed that my blog’s snow machine has been turned on? That thing comes on automatically the moment the calendar hits December, and I always look forward to it to get me more into the Christmas mood! And it looks incredibly good with the Christmas food I’ve been posting about, don’t you agree?
Can you smell Christmas in the air? Or by chance do you smell more baked goodies to come? I’ve actually got a few more good ones up on my sleeve, and I can’t wait for you to try them out at home as well! For now, enjoy this super yummy cake!
