Marbled Matcha Castella (Kasutera) Cake

I decided to make Castella Cake again last night. The recipe from JustOneCookbook worked great, but Er Jie got bored of the taste after 2 slices!

So, instead of just making the plain Castella Cake, I decided to make Matcha Marbled Castella, taking the idea from Anncoo Journal. I didn't use her recipe for the Castella Cake itself, since the one from JustOneCookbook worked fine (and was loved by all).

To create the green tea batter, I took 1/2 tbsp of match powder, dissolved it in 2 tsbp hot water as indicated in the recipe from Anncoo Journal, then mixed it into 120g of the batter. Strangely though, the green tea layer turned out very light (compared to the colour I saw at Anncoo Journal). The mixture was also very watery. I wonder if I could have added just 1 or 1.5 tbsp of hot water instead.

I found the green tea taste a little too faint, but I guess it's good in a way because mom doesn't like green tea cakes (that's the main reason why I didn't use the recipe for fully Green Tea Castella, though I think it would have been yummy).

Oh, I also reduced the sugar in the cake by 18g, because Dad commented that it was too sweet the last time.

For some reason, my 6 eggs were heavier today: 320g. The first time, they were 300g.

I must have done something right this time, because the cake didn't stick to the baking paper. All four sides are nicely baked!

Ok, I know that I'm supposed to slice off the two sides to look like a real Castella cake, but I find that a waste of perfectly good cake. Since it's just for the family to nom on, I kept it as it is. ;)

Reviews:

• Cyn: Liked it. Preferred this to the previous one because this is less moist and less dense.  Loved that it's a marbled cake.. so sometimes you taste the green tea, sometimes you taste the nice honey flavoured castella.  She could also tell it was slightly less sweet, but felt that it brought out the other flavours better this way. Good! *update: Cyn ate the cakes again today, so it must be better. Side note: the shorter cake tasted better in her opinion cos there was more green tea in each slice. I guess it's because the pan is wider and hence the green tea batter spreads out more evenly?*
• Mom: Ate two slices in a row. I'm guessing it was good.
• Dad: Still felt it was too sweet, but reckoned it was the honey he was tasting.