Matcha Roll Cake Recipe

Matcha Roll Cake (抹茶ロールケーキ) is Matcha flavored sponge cake rolled with Anko (sweet red bean) whipped cream.  This western style dessert has traditional Japanese flavors, however, it is light enough to be a perfect ending after any kind of meal.

Matcha is a kind of green tea that is in a powdered form, traditionally used for the Japanese tea ceremony, and it is different from regular green tea leaves.  Matcha tastes rather strong and bitter by itself, but its refreshing flavor goes very well with dairy and sugar.  It is an excellent complement to baked goods especially, leaving no bitterness but a nice fragrance.  Matcha has become a common flavor for many drinks and desserts in the US too, such as Matcha Ice Cream and Matcha Latte that you may have seen before.  The cream inside this cake is flavored with Anko which is another very authentic component for Japanese desserts.  By mixing with whipped cream, Anko becomes a milder taste so that two big flavors don’t crush each other.

If you have made roll cakes, or swiss rolls, great, it will be the same.  If you haven’t, take care whipping egg whites well and mixing with flour without deflating the meringue, so the cake rises nicely in the oven.  And also, it is a thin cake and will be baked rather fast, so be careful not to over bake.  Even if you don’t get it right the first time, don’t get discouraged!  Baking is hard, especially when there is no leavening used.  Practice, and you will be able to make a nice fluffy cake.

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4.67 from 3 votes

Matcha Roll Cake Recipe

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: cake, matcha

Servings: 1 roll cake (9″ long)

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Ingredients

Cake

• 50 g cake flour
• 1 Tbsp Matcha powder
• 3 eggs room temperature
• 80 g sugar divided into 2/3 and 1/3
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Filling

• 200 ml heavy cream
• 1-2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150 g Anko sweet red bean paste

Instructions

• Preheat the oven at 350F (180C). Line a quarter sheet pan (9″x13″) with parchment paper. Sift cake flour and Matcha powder together a couple of times.
• Baking the cake. First divide eggs into whites and yolks. In a bowl of a standing mixer, put in egg whites and beat at medium speed, forming a meringue. When the egg whites are still a very soft meringue, start adding 2/3 of sugar in 3 parts. Whip until it forms medium peaks.
• In a medium size bowl, put yolks, oil, and rest of the sugar and whisk well until thick and lighter in color.
• Remove 1/4 or so of the meringue and fold into the yolk mixture. Then put this combination into the bowl of meringue. Mix very carefully without deflating the foam too much. Add flour and Matcha mixture by sifting into the egg mixture, and carefully mix.
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, spread evenly with a spatula, and bake for 8-10 minutes. Take out from the oven, cool in the pan completely, covered with plastic.
• Making the filling. Whip heavy cream along with sugar and vanilla to medium stiff peaks, but not grainy. Fold in Anko to whipped cream.
• Assembling the cake. Remove the cake from the pan and remove the parchment paper from the cake. Put a new piece of parchment paper under the cake. Place the short end of the cake toward you. Spread filling on the cake, leaving 2″ uncovered on the other end. From the one side (near you) of the cake, start rolling. Tighten the cake using parchment paper like making sushi rolls. Wrap the cake with the parchment end side down. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

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