LEMON MATCHA MOCHI CAKE

Happy New Year!! I’m pretty glad that 2015 is over with and am excited from what 2016 has to offer, with the many changes and milestones to come. Before I rang in the new year, I wanted to get some last-minute baking in, so I tried this lemon matcha mochi cake since it’s something different and also looked amazing with its earthy tones and use of winter fruit! My mother ended up taking this with her to a New Year’s Eve dinner as a dessert and the general reaction was positive, so I would say this is a crowd pleaser for those who like mochi and desserts with less sugar.

This cake is not sweet in the typical cake sense. Flavoring is also very subtle in the mochi, with earthy and grassy notes from the matcha, but the candied lemons on top add a nice zesty zing and keep the dessert from being bland. I have a lot of notes and modifications to this recipe (some below, others in parentheses within the baking instructions), so bear with me! Originally, this recipe called for meyer lemons, a winter-specific type of lemon that is much sweeter and has a thinner rind. Since my grocery store didn’t have them, I subbed the three lemons for two lemons and an orange to achieve the same sweetness without sacrificing the tartness from lemon. I also found that the orange slices held up much better when candied, with the pulp still intact. The recipe called for a baking time of 50 minutes to an hour, so once I put the cake in the oven, I started to wash the dishes. I looked back 20 minutes later, and imagine my surprise when I saw the cake bursting over the edges of the pan, then 10 minutes later with deep brown crusts. The texture of the mochi still ended up being soft and chewy despite that, but I would have taken it out a little bit earlier to avoid the hard crusts on the edges. Just keep a close eye on it, and give it about 25 to 30 minutes. Not an hour. FINALLY onto the recipe!

Lemon Matcha Mochi Cake

Adapted from Desserts for Breakfast

Makes 1 one layer 10-inch cake

Candied Lemons (/Oranges)

2 lemons, 1 orange in 1/8-inch slices

2 cups water, plus more for blanching

1 cup sugar

Mochi Cake

1 ½ cups 2% milk

2 teaspoons matcha green tea powder

3 eggs, at room temperature

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 lb. sweet rice flour (e.g., Mochiko)

To make candied lemon: Place the Meyer lemon slices in a medium saucepan. Cover the lemon slices in water. Blanch by bringing the water and lemons to a rolling boil, then drain the water. Put the 2 cups of water in the saucepan with the lemons. Add the 1 cup of sugar. Return the pan to heat. Bring to a boil and then lower the temperature to simmer. Simmer the lemon slices for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the rinds are soft (may take longer depending no how thick your slices are). Remove from heat and set aside.

To make mochi cake: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter/Pam and flour the bottom and sides of a 10-inch quiche pan (or cake pan) with a removable bottom (doesn’t have to be removable, I inverted the pan at the end after the cake had cooled). Set aside. In another saucepan, heat the milk to just a bare simmer. Remove from heat and use a whisk or matcha chasen (matcha tea whisk) to whisk the matcha green tea powder into the milk. Make sure there are no more clumps remaining (I had to pour the mixture over a strainer into a bowl to get rid of some stubborn remaining clumps). In a bowl, mix together the eggs, vegetable oil, and sugar. Gradually whisk in the matcha milk. In another bowl, mix to combine the baking powder and rice flour. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Arrange the candied lemon slices on top in one layer - it’s okay if some of the lemon slices overlap - and reserve the lemon syrup. Bake the cake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the edges of the cake are golden brown, the edges of the lemons begin to turn golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out cleanly.

To make lemon syrup: While the cake is baking, return the lemon syrup to medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Simmer and reduce the liquid, until only about ¾ to 1 cup of liquid is left. Remove from heat. 

To assemble: When the cake is done, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Using a pastry brush, brush the top of the cake with a small amount of the reduced lemon syrup - just enough to glaze the lemon slices. Let the cake cool completely before removing the cake from the pan.