Green Tea Swirl Cake... Kinda

So I finally finished my DATs, that was definitely a milestone in my life haha, if you could even count it as one... I baked this cake 2 days b4 that, because I went a little crazy. It definitely wasn't a good feeling getting half of the test wrong 2 days b4 a test.. let alone 8 hours before a test ( that happened) haha Anyway, I felt like I owe my success ( if you can even call it that..) to green tea, especially, match green tea. The taste is acquired, and I don't have all the equipment just because like most things in Japan, or made by Japan.. = $$$$$$, which I definitely don't have. I bought a 1 oz. tin of this good stuff a few months ago for 10 bucks... I thought that was a lot, and I didn't know what to do with it ( let alone thinking about buying the 20 dollar whisk that I needed ... I opted for a smaller whisk for $4.50.. and it just broke today : ( ) .. anyway, the magic of matcha green tea is amazing.... Not only did this powder keep me awake while studying at least 10 hours a day, it also helped me be calm and not jittery. I would take a shot of this before I took a practice test, and would score really high ( sadly higher than my real test...) ... but yes, I can't say enough good things about this product, and it will be my mission to find matcha products when I have the time, and find how to really prepare this stuff, just like they do it during a traditional tea ceremony in Japan.

So as for the cake, it's a white/ green tea swirl cake. I tried to research about baking with green tea just to realize that I don't have 30 bucks to throw around and put into baked goods, this thing is SOO expensive, so I improvised. I don't think this was my best cake, but I did not have time to waste. 2 days b4 my DAT's wasn't the best time to bake and such, but I did manage to eat almost half the cake ( threw away the other half because I moved.) I used a green tea powdered drink that I got from 99 ranch (1/8 cup), and about 1/2 tsp matcha. I used half a boxed white cake mix ( gasp yes, I used a box mix... hey, I had no time), while preparing the batter ( which was so beautiful) .. I divided it in half, and put the green stuff in one, layered white batter and green batter around a 9 inch cake pan, and then swirled it with a knife. The result was an incredibly sweet ( ugh cake mix + drink mix ) fluffy, crumbly, light, cake, that when you squint.. you may be able to see... a hint of green, next time I'll try the poor man's version ... ( even poorer man's version.. I mean) ... I'll tint the green batter with green food coloring... and pretend it had a lot of green tea. All the recipes on line had 3 tablespoons worth of the green tea powder.... ( some even more...) I guess that will really give the kick it needs, but I can't spend so much on something I know will partly end up in the trash. : (

Since I haven't really been cooking thanks to my laziness and that I haven't really settled into my new kitchen yet... I think I will blog about my tea/powdered drinks collection.. which I would say is pretty extensive, and maybe I'll put in a recipe or two. : )


Hi Delaura : P