Triple Layer Matcha Chocolate Cake
Matcha and chocolate go together like a hand in a glove. This triple layer matcha chocolate cake recipe makes the most of green tea powder with chocolate playing an important, but supporting role. Three matcha sponge cakes are layered with chocolate ganache then smothered in chocolate cream cheese icing. A perfect celebratory cake.
It was a special occasion, a friend’s significant birthday, so a very special cake was called for. Since trying my chocolate matcha Battenberg and hearing how many health benefits are attributed to green tea, my friend is now keen to try more.
Baking Grade Matcha
Because of the elaborate process required to make matcha, it is not a cheap product to produce and thus buy. So when Vitalife sent me a packet of cooking grade matcha to play with, I was delighted. I also thought using it to make a cake for said friend was the way to go.
In all honesty, I couldn’t tell the difference between the cooking grade matcha and the drinking grade matcha I’d previously used from Vitalife. Not in terms of baking anyway, so I would strongly recommend buying cooking grade as it’s less expensive.
Chocolate Cigarillos
That was as far as I’d got in my thinking until I saw the very large birthday cake Dom recently made. He’d used chocolate cigarillos to edge his cake and it was an idea I was happy to pinch. To be fair, I had already decided a while back I would try decorating a cake this way after having seen Lorraine Pascale do it with chocolate fingers. But then I forgot about it – as I do.
Dom reminded me with a vengeance and was also gracious enough to give me a link to the site where he obtained his cigarillos. That’s how a box of very fragile chocolate tubes arrived in the post. Tantalisingly, I could smell the chocolate emanating from the box as soon as I opened it – something I take to be a sign of good chocolate.
Many of them were broken, which was a bit sad. But their website did warn me that this was a strong possibility. So not losing heart, I thought I’d use the broken bits to go on top of the cake. However, it wasn’t until they actually arrived that I registered their length – a massive 10 cm – ouch!
Triple Layer Matcha Chocolate Cake
Well, I did want to make this cake particularly memorable, so the answer I reasoned was to make a triple layer cake and hope that would be high enough. Now, what to use to fill and coat it? I put a lot of thought into this one and changed my mind along the way. I was looking for contrast against the dark cigarillos.
At one point I thought I’d use a matcha buttercream to coat the cake with; green looks quite striking contrasted against dark brown. On reflection though, I thought too much matcha would be overpowering, especially for people who may not have had it before, so I scratched that one.
In the end I decided to go for a dark chocolate ganache to fill the layers and a light chocolate buttercream to coat the outside ending up with three contrasting colours. I’ve never made three layers before, so it was with a certain excitement that I set to with the following recipe.
As is often the case our kitchen was cold. I thus found it really difficult creaming the butter and sugar together as it was so hard to warm the butter. But I persevered and got to the light and fluffy stage in the end. I’ve since learned a trick to resolve this.
Just warm the butter up in a pan over a low heat until it’s about half melted. Any more than this though and it becomes impossible to cream.
Overall, the cake turned out pretty well. However, I was not as thrilled as I might have been. When cooking two of the cakes together in the oven, I’d tried to be clever and swap their shelf position half way through cooking. Big mistake; the cakes didn’t rise properly.
You can see the difference in the picture – the cake cooked on its own was fine. This of course meant the cake wasn’t as tall as I’d envisaged it, so after all that, the cigarillos were still a bit too high.
Anyway, though I say it myself, the triple layer matcha chocolate cake looked pretty splendid. And I think everyone was impressed with it. It certainly pleased the birthday girl.
Other Matcha Bakes You Might Like
- Chocolate rhubarb matcha marble cake
- Matcha chocolate chip cookies
- Matcha chocolate roll
- Matcha marmalade cakes
- Matcha shortbread with cacao nibs
- White chocolate shortbread biscuits
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this triple layer matcha chocolate cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for baking layer cakes?
Please rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, use the hashtag #tinandthyme so I can see them.
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If you’d like more layer cake recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Triple Layer Matcha Chocolate Cake. PIN IT.
Triple Layer Matcha Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Matcha Sponge
- 375 g unsalted butter softened
- 375 g golden caster sugar
- 4 large eggs (I used duck eggs)
- 375 g flour (I used half wholemeal, and half plain white)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 tbsp matcha green tea powder (I used baking grade matcha)
- 250 g Greek yoghurt
Ganache
- 100 ml double cream (heavy cream)
- 100 g dark chocolate chopped (I used 85%)
- 25 g unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp honey
Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
- 125 g unsalted butter softened
- 250 g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 125 g mascarpone cheese
- 60 chocolate cigarillos optional
Instructions
Matcha Sponge
- Set the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light in colour and fluffy in texture. I do this by hand with a wooden spoon, but for easy use electric beaters or a stand mixer.375 g unsalted butter, 375 g golden caster sugar
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a little of the flour mixture after each one to prevent curdling.4 large eggs
- Sieve in the dry ingredients and stir gently until just mixed.375 g flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 4 tbsp matcha green tea powder
- Stir in the yoghurt.250 g Greek yoghurt
- Spoon a third of the batter into a lined 20cm (8 inch) cake tin or lightly greased silicone mould and a third into another. If you have three, use the third one as well. Otherwise you'll need to do as I did and wait for the first two to cook before baking the final one.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out more or less clean. Leave to cool for ten minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- If not eating the same day, wrap each cake up in greaseproof paper and cover with a tin.
Ganache
- On the day of eating, bring the cream to the boil in a pan.100 ml double cream (heavy cream)
- Take off the heat and add the chocolate, butter and honey.100 g dark chocolate, 25 g unsalted butter, 1 tbsp honey
- Leave it for 5 minutes for everything to melt. Then stir carefully until smooth.
- Spread half on top of one sponge, place a second sponge on top of that and spread the rest of the ganache over this. Stack the final cake on top, leaving it unadorned for the moment.
- Leave for an hour or so in a cool place to set.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
- Meanwhile, cream the butter, icing sugar and cocoa until pale and creamy.125 g unsalted butter, 250 g icing sugar, 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- Beat in the mascarpone.125 g mascarpone cheese
- Spread over the top and sides of the cake.
- Lightly press the cigarillos, if using, vertically around the edge of the cake. Use any broken bits as shards for the top, if liked.60 chocolate cigarillos
As a 10-year cigar trade expert at Choixiga.vn, I think using chocolate cigarillos to edge the cake is brilliant—adding impressive height while preserving that rich cocoa aroma alongside the refreshing matcha.
Thank you, chocolate cigarillos usually add a touch of elegance.
Like the chocolate cigarillos idea.
Looks nice – a cake that can’t be matchaed!
Chaya – thank you
Johanna – wondering if you have tried the matcha – chocolate pairing yet?
Baking Addict – sorry for responding 5 months late! I’ll DM you the details.
Anon – thanks for letting me know. Glad it turned out well and thanks for the photo 🙂
Just thought I’d let you know that I baked the cake a week ago and it turned out excellent! It took me and my brother about four hours start to finish, but it was definitely worth it 😉
WoW! looks very delicious.. it makes me drool.=)
wow a truly impressive cake. I think I need to steal the cigarillo idea too! Where did you get it from?
this looks superb – truly a celebratory cake – I have got as far as buying matcha and dreamt of pairing it with chocolate but haven’t got around to using it – I love the idea of layer cakes but I just don’t have the sort of occasions that require them.
This is one stunning cake. I am sitting here, just enjoying looking at it.
CityHippy – constructing some sort of edging does make a cake look particularly striking. Good Luck.
That looks amazing! Beauttttifully done. I have to make a birthday cake soon, so I’m seeking any ideas I can.
Fresh Kitchen – thanks for visiting
Wow, that’s a beautiful cake!
FG – thank you for your kind words and for following 🙂
Pilar – thank you, I don;t get that accolade very often!
CC – luckily, we came up to the mark 😉
Purabi – thank you
Jill – ahh, you say such lovely things.
Gosh, that’s a stunning birthday cake! Love the idea of matcha with chocolate and great to know the cooking grade is just as good. I love the look of that slice being pulled at the bottom – gorgeous green matcha, topping, ooh, you know how to please everyone, don’t you? Fabulicious.
This cake really looks delish and something I want to try out seriously. You have a great blog and your food photos left me drooling!
Love the cigarillos around the edge – makes the cake look like a fortress that needs to be stormed i.e. eaten!
This cake is so elegant, wow!
Glad to be following this chocolate heaven!
Thanks..
Janice – thank you
Maggie – it’s going to be a hard one to beat I fear.
Celia – thank you, it’s hard to know what I can follow this with :-S
Catherine – thank you. I think she liked it.
VBB – good to hear from you, especially when you say such nice things 😉
Corina – the matcha flavour works really well in cake.
Jay – thank you.
Vincent – thanks for the invite.
Hello, We bumped into your blog and we really liked it – great recipes YUM YUM. We would like to add it to the Petitchef. We would be delighted if you could add your blog to Petitchef so that our users can, as us, enjoy your recipes.
Petitchef is a french based Cooking recipes Portal. Several hundred Blogs are already members and benefit from their exposure. To add your site to the Petitchef family you can go to Petitchef and click on “Add your site”
Best regards, Vincent
looks irresistably hearty.
This cake is so impressive. I’ve never tried matcha but I’m going to have to get some to experiment with soon.
All is well in the world… you’ve made an awesomeley massive cake. Special indeed.
What an amazing looking cake! Your friend must have felt spoiled rotten 🙂 I bet it tasted delicious!
Choclette, you’ve excelled yourself – what a magnificent and original cake!
What an exciting cake and very impressive too.
Fabulous cake – well done!
C – I knew she liked the matcha as she’d had some of the battenberg cake I made with it. But luckily, everyone else liked it too. It’s not a strong taste but distinctive.
Paula – it’s a good way of hiding mistakes 😉
Dom – thanks. Hope you’re having fun! At least you’re away from your non existent kitchen.
BVG – thank you. Glad to say everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Foodycat – am now enamoured of finishing cakes of like this, but don’t think I could afford to do it very often. Might have to be cadbury’s fingers in future.
I love the cigarillo barricade! It looks very professional.
What a beautiful birthday cake – I’m sure it tasted fantastic.
So incredible!!! Glad to have helped!!! I love the green sponge. It’s so unexpected. Bravo and salut from Cannes!! xxx
Chele – occasionally I manage to pull all the stops out 😉
Katie – thank you. I’ve become quite fond of the matcha chocolate combination. Love the colours and the flavour is good too.
Jac – thank you. Feeling quite proud of myself for once!
Alessandra – matcha in cake tastes really good.
C – thank you. The cigarillos are so worth having for a special occasion – quite pricey though.
Angie – thank you, I was quite impressed too 😉
That looks great,i am impressed! I like the cigarillos idea too. When i made mine i loved how i could hide any unsmooth imperfections in the frosting with the chocolate bars,and it was fun to do too 🙂 Must confess ive never even heard of matcha! It looks lovely,lucky birthday girl!
What an amazing chocolate creation!
Looks gorgeous – very impressive for an important birthday. I must investigate those chocolate cigarillos, they look amazing!
Did your friend like the matcha?
Macha? Sounds good, would like to taste that!
Ciao
A.
Wowee!! That is the king of cakes Choclette. Very impressive. I love it!
Looks a wonderful cake and I love the idea of the macha and chocolate together. Lovely presentation too
Wow! What a great cake, love the colour and your presentation is very profesh! Lucky friend ;0)