Green tea marble cake

Gung Che Num Pla
King prawn cocktail with spicy garlic and lemon dressing
with Khai Look Koei son-in-law eggs

The G-man always feeds us well.

At a recent dinner party for eight, we knew we were in for a feast. We started with a fancy looking prawn entree surrounded by quartered son-in-law eggs. A barely-cooked prawn curled its way into a plunge pool of hot and tangy dressing, intensely flavoured with garlic, lemon juice and plenty of chilli. The prawn was soft and sweet, the dressing punched our tastebuds awake, and our tongues and lips were left tingling.

Khai Look Koei, also known as son-in-law eggs, involve hard-boiled eggs peeled and deep-fried until a pale gold on the outside. The creaminess of the eggs contrasted delightfully with the sweet salty splay of minced fish cooked with garlic, lemon, rock sugar and chilli.


Crisp skin salmon with Panang curry

Whilst conversations continued, salmon fillets were pan-fried skin-side down, until the skin became a brittle parchment of pure omega 3. These were assembled on a bed of blanched asaparagus spears and generously pooled with generous ladles of thick, rich and spicy Panang curry. The decadence was topped off with a small spoonful of coconut cream. A calorie-free main? Of course!

I contributed dessert to the dinner party, a green tea marble cake with green tea cream cheese frosting. In the swirl of activity involved with cutting the cake and serving it to friends I *shock horror* forgot to take photos. EDIT: I've been saved by fellow dinner party guest Leslie, who was also snapping photos that evening, and kindly supplied the photo below. The recipe is detailed below anyway, but imagine a loaf cake with pretty swirls of army green, topped with a thick layer of icing dusted with extra.

I thought the cake was quite heavy and dense cake although that could have more to do with my cake technique than the actual recipe.


Image courtesy of Leslie Liu

Green tea marble cake
with green tea cream cheese frosting
Adapted from http://blog.livedoor.jp/pain_au_chocolat/archives/6471025.html

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup full fat plain yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup of melted unsalted butter
2 tablespoons green tea powder (matcha)
1 teaspoon of lukewarm water

Frosting
125g cup butter, softened
225g cream cheese, softened
3 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons green tea powder (matcha)


Method

Preheat oven to 375°F / 190°C, remembering to subtract 20°C if using a fan-forced oven, and another 10°C if using a non-stick cake pan.

Line a 10cmx21cm standard loaf pan with baking paper or lightly oiled greaseproof paper.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until pale and creamy.

Add the sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined.

Add the vanilla and yoghurt and stir until well combined.

Slowly add the melted butter and using an electric mixer, beat until you have a uniform batter.

In a separate bowl, make a thick paste with the matcha powder and warm water. Add a third of the cake batter to the matcha paste and incorporate until the batter is an even green.

Place alternate spoonfuls of green and white batter into the loaf tin until all the batter has been used. This doesn't have to be exact. Using a skewer, make a few gentle swirls through the batter so the colours meld around each other.

Carefully tap the cake tin on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. You can also drop the cake tin onto the counter from a height of about 10cm to force out any air bubbles.

Bake cake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

To make the frosting, beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add sifted icing sugar and half the matcha powder and beat until combined. Add more matcha to taste. Spread icing on cooled cake and dust with extra matcha powder for decoration.