I love cake, don’t we all? Birthday cake is best of course. But what if you want to make cake a wee bit more healthy? This Matcha and Rose flavoured cake has no refined sugar so ticks that healthy box. But oh how pretty it looks and it tastes amazing too.
Today is my birthday, oh yes and it’s a big one. Actually I’d rather forget that bit. Anyway what better way to celebrate said birthday than with a cake. And what a cake this Matcha and Rose Cake is. Tasty, pretty and just a wee bit different.
Since I was baking a cake I thought I had better make at least a nod towards the health department and decided to make this Matcha and Rose Cake refined sugar free.
I was lucky enough to be given some rather fabulous ingredients from a great UK company based in Kent called Buy Wholefoods Online. Once I had checked out their amazing website I was hooked.
I selected Matcha, edible rose petals, lavender, vanilla pods, beetroot powder and the all-important sugar replacement, Xylitol.
Ingredients for this matcha and rose cake
First and foremost is the use of Xylitol instead of normal sugar. This is one of those sugar replacers that actually takes good and you use it in the same way as sugar.
I’ve tried some before where you had to spend ages working out different ratios to get the equivalent to refined sugar. This was a total pain in the ass when it came to baking.
Birthday Cake
For me birthday cakes always have to be a wee bit special. I’ve done everything from a dinosaur cake to an amazing chocolate cake to my favourite red velvet cake for my daughter Idgy.
I never bother with a cake for myself. Well, this year I have and it’s my refined sugar-free Matcha and Rose Cake.
The colours of Spring
It was actually that red velvet cake that inspired me for this cake. I had topped that cake with lots of pretty spring flowers. Well, it was late May at the time so I had plenty of access to garden goodies.
Snowy February found me scratching my head on this one till I got the edible dried rose petals and lavender flowers from Buy Wholefoods Online. Mix in some crushed pistachios and I had the perfect spring-like topping even though it was freezing outside.
Victoria Sponge
This cake is basically a good old fashioned Victoria sponge. The difference being that I have replaced the standard sugar with Xylitol and added some flavour and colour too.
I decided to go for a layered look. Half of the cake batter was flavoured and coloured with Matcha powder while the other half was flavoured with vanilla but actually coloured with beetroot powder.
Baking tin sizes
I just used two standard 20cm/8″ round baking tins for this matcha and rose cake. Once baked I sliced those cakes in half horizontally using a wire cake cutter I bought on Ebay.
Wow what a difference that little gizmo made. I remember trying to slice cakes horizontally before and getting in such a pickle using a knife. This was simplicity itself.
Slicing the cake in half makes it all look so much bigger and more impressive.
Cake filling
For the filling of the cake I used a mixture of fromage fraiche and cream cheese with honey to sweeten it and vanilla for flavour. Then I mixed half of the filling with matcha powder to get a light green colouring.
I had made the actual green sponge quite dark so wanted to err on the side of very pale green for the filling.
The other half of the filling I added the beetroot powder to. I went much darker this time as I had made the pink half of the cake very pale.
Check out my recipe below for this Matcha and Rose Cake, my big birthday cake, one to remember I guess.
This post was kindly sponsored by Buy Wholefoods Online who supplied the ingredients.
Looking for more delicious cake recipes to try? Then check these out before you go;
Yogurt cake with marmalade and pistachios
Blackberry and apple cake with white chocolate drizzle
Eton Mess strawberry sponge cake
Super easy gin and tonic lemon drizzle cake
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
Matcha and Rose Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 200 g Xylitol (or caster sugar if you prefer)
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 200 g self raising flour
- 4 free range eggs (beaten)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp beetroot powder
- 1 tsp matcha powder
Filling
- 6 tbsp cream cheese
- 6 tbsp fromage fraiche
- 2 tbsp clear honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp matcha powder
- 1/2 tsp beetroot powder
Frosting
- 1 tbsp cream cheese
- 2 tbsp fromage fraiche
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp clear honey
- 1 tbsp pistachio nuts lightly crushed
- 1 tbsp dried rose petals
- 1 tsp dried lavender
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line 2 x 20cm/8" round baking tins
- Beat together the Xylitor or sugar, flour, butter, eggs and vanilla extract
- Split the mixture into two bowls
- In one bowl add the beetroot powder to colour the batter pink
- In the other bowl add the matcha powder to flavour and colour the mixture green
- Put the coloured batters into the prepared cake tins and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until golden and they bounce back when pressed in the centre or a cocktail stick inserted into the middle comes out clean
- Allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes in the tins then cool completely on a wire rack
- Use a wire cake slicer to half both cakes horizontally
- Make the filling by mixing the fromage fraiche with cream cheese, honey and vanilla extract
- Half the filling mixture and in one half add the matcha powder and in the other the beetroot powder
- Build the cake in alternate layers and spread the fillings between each layer
- Mix the remaining fromage fraiche with cream cheese, honey and vanilla extract and spread over top of cake
- Sprinkle over the edible dried rose petals, pistachio nuts and lavender
Happy Birthday! Your cake is beautiful and looks delicious. I want to try making it sometime so thank you for the recipe.
Thanks so much. Do hope you try this cake, perfect for any celebration really.
K x
This sounds gorgeous.I’m actually considering making this.Thank you for sharing.
Hope you make it. Such a nice cake.
K
This is what I was searching for exactly, Thank You for sharing this with us. I loved the way you presented this whole thing in one.
Glad you liked the recipe so much.
K x
In step 2, sugar and xylitol are both mentionned. I assume it’s just xylitol?
As I mentioned in the post itself you can use either sugar or Xylitol for this recipe. I have corrected step 2 and put in the ‘or’ to save any more confusion
K