Matcha Strawberry Swirl Cake
Spring is finally here, and there are no better flavors to celebrate the season than strawberry and matcha! When Raaka Chocolate asked me to create a dessert for spring, I knew right away that this matcha strawberry swirl cake was the way to go. Strawberry and matcha even look springy – matcha green for new leaves and grass, and strawberry pink for blossoming flowers. I swirled the two flavors together on top of this cake as an ode to Raaka’s Matcha Swirl and Strawberry Swirl chocolate bars!
This matcha strawberry swirl cake has strawberry and matcha flavors all over. There is matcha in the cake itself and a chopped Strawberry Swirl chocolate bar is folded into the batter. In addition, the baked cake is decorated with swirls of strawberry and matcha glazes. The cake is a small one, perfect for sharing with a friend or two. You can make the cake in a single bowl, making it an easy project after a long workday or on a weekend morning.
Raaka Chocolate
I adore working with Raaka’s chocolate product for a lot of reasons. First and foremost, they’re delicious! Secondly, the package art is gorgeous. Third and most importantly, Raaka cares about cocoa farmers and building a more ethical chocolate supply chain. Their cocoa beans are single-sourced directly from farmer owned cooperatives and grower centered organizations to ensure that cocoa farmers are treated well and paid fairly for their labor. You can use code LANIBAKES20 for 20% off your first order of Raaka products!
Matcha Strawberry Swirl
Icing consistency is the trick to getting a gorgeous swirled design on your cake. The icing needs to be loose enough to swirl when you drag a skewer through it, but not so loose that it’ll pour off the cake. As written, the matcha and strawberry glaze recipes will give you a consistency thick enough to swirl and thin enough to drip off the cake edges attractively.
Matcha Powder
Use a high quality, culinary grade matcha powder for the best flavored cake. High quality matcha will have a bright green color! The color will fade during baking due to the chemical makeup of the color compounds on matcha, so don’t be surprised if your final cake is more of a mossy green color. If you want to amp up that color, you can add a drop or two of green food coloring to the batter before baking.
Strawberry Flavor
This cake gets its strawberry flavor from two places: a chopped Strawberry Swirl bar in the batter and a strawberry flavored glaze. I used strawberry jam to flavor the glaze for simplicity’s sake! If you want a stronger flavor, you can replace the jam with some powdered freeze dried strawberries.
Decorating your cake
As a celebration of spring, I chose to decorate this matcha strawberry swirl cake with fresh strawberries and strawberry flowers. Feel free to do the same, or use another style! Some ideas for other decorations:
- Leave the cake plain to let the swirled glazes shine!
- Sprinkle the edges with chopped Raaka chocolate bars
- Dust the edges with matcha powder or freeze dried strawberry powder
- Use fresh or dried edible flowers
The inspiration
- Springtime and blooming flowers
- The gorgeous swirls of Raaka’s swirl bars (have you seen their swirling videos?? Dreamy)
Matcha Strawberry Swirl Cake
Ingredients
Matcha Cake
- 105 grams all purpose flour
- 100 grams sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine table salt
- 87 grams unsalted butter melted
- 55 grams egg whites from 2 eggs
- 60 grams sour cream
- 55 grams milk any percentage over 1%
- 2 teaspoons matcha powder
- 1 Strawberry Swirl Bar chopped into pea-sized pieces
Strawberry and Matcha Glazes
- 100 grams powdered sugar
- Pinch fine salt
- 28 grams whole milk
- 1/4 teaspoon matcha powder
- 1 teaspoon strawberry jam
- 1-2 drops pink or red food coloring (optional)
Instructions
Matcha Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Line the base of a 6” round cake pan with parchment paper, or grease and flour the entire pan very well.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking power, baking soda, and salt.
- On top of the dry mix, add melted butter, egg whites, sour cream, and milk.
- Whisk well to work in the dry ingredients and form a smooth batter.
- Fold a chopped Strawberry Swirl bar into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and spread out to get batter into all the edges. It doesn’t have to be a perfectly smooth layer!
- Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and springs back when you gently poke it.
- Let the cake cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan. Remove from the pan and let cool fully at room temperature.
Strawberry and Matcha Glazes
- In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and salt.
- Gradually add the milk, stirring well between additions with a spatula. You’ll first form a paste where you can smooth out the lumps, and then adding the remaining milk will thin out the glaze.
- Divide the glaze into 2 portions.
- To one portion, add ¼ teaspoon matcha powder. Stir well to combine.
- To the other portion, add 1 teaspoon of strawberry jam. Stir well to combine. Feel free to add 1-2 drops of pink food coloring to amp up the pink color.
Assembly
- Place your cooled cake on a serving board or plate.
- Using small spoons, randomly dollop portions of strawberry and matcha glaze over the top of the cake.
- Use a skewer or thin, sharp knife to gently swirl the two glazes together
- If desired, top the cake with fresh strawberries or more chopped Raaka chocolate!
Notes
More Matcha & Strawberry
Looking for more matcha or strawberry desserts? Check out some of these other recipes on the site!