Matcha Tiramisu aka “matchamisu”

“Matchamisu” is a delicious green tea dessert that combines components of tiramisu with matcha. I concocted this variation to celebrate the end of my school semester and many other things! Can’t go wrong with tiramisu for celebrations.

I opted to swap out the traditional lady fingers for homemade vanilla cake in this dessert, but decided to keep the traditional mascarpone cream the same. This matchamisu is creamy, light, and amazing. If you’re a matcha fan, then this is definitely the dessert for you. For those who haven’t heard of matcha before, it’s essentially just finely ground green tea leaves. I make my own matcha powder by blitzing green tea leaves and then grinding them into a fine powder with a pestle and mortar.

This was probably one of the tastiest matcha desserts I have made so far. The mascarpone cream was my favorite part and I think the overall dessert was made much better by the substitution of the rich vanilla cake.

• Difficulty: ★★★
• Ingredients: ★★★★
• Time: 1 hour

Vanilla Cake: 

A little under 1 cup all-purpose flour 

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk (or buttermilk)

Mascarpone Matcha Cream:

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon rum (optional)

2/3 cup mascarpone cheese

1/2 cup heavy cream

Matcha Drenching Liquid

1-2 tbsp matcha powder

3/4 cup hot water (not boiled)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Make the cake: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined
4. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk to the wet ingredients until combined. Manually whisk the batter to ensure there are no large lumps at the bottom of the bowl. Batter will be slightly thick. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
5. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Make the cream: Bring a small pot of water to a simmer. Put the egg yolks (2) and sugar (1 tablespoon) in a stainless steel bowl that will sit on top of the pot.
7. Continuously whisk all three ingredients together until it thickens to the “ribbon stage” (about 5 minutes). Cool for 5 minutes.
8. In another bowl, whip the heavy cream (1/2 cup) until soft peaks form. Combine the lightly whipped heavy cream and the egg mixture. Fold together.
9. Finally, fold in the mascarpone cheese (2/3 cup)
10. Cut out cake pieces to whatever shape you would like
11. Prepare the matcha drenching liquid, stir well to combine
12. Dip cake pieces into the matcha drenching liquid and drench until completely soaked
13. Assemble by alternating drenched cake layers and the mascarpone matcha cream!
14. I like to top my final cream later with some powdered matcha 🙂