Name: Matcha and Rose Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Yield: 6
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; 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; 1 tbsp cream cheese; 2 tbsp fromage fraiche; 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 1 tsp clear honey; 1 tbsp lightly crushed pistachio nuts; 1 tbsp edible dried rose petals; 1 tsp dried lavender

Read on for my recipe for Matcha and Rose Cake

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.

Refined sugar free

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 web site I was hooked. I selected Matcha, edible rose petals, lavender, vanilla pods, beetroot powder and the all-important sugar replacement, Xylitol.

Xylitol

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 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.

Size matters

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.

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. I then 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.

Karon x

This post was kindly sponsored by Buy Wholefoods Online who supplied the ingredients.

Print Recipe