Ingredients
225g unsalted butter
225g light brown sugar
225g self-raising flour
4 eggs
1 ½ tsp match powder

Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 350F
Line a baking tin with parchment paper

Cream together butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time) and mix well
Sift in the flour and matcha powder and stir until smooth
Pour mixture into tin and bake for 45 minutes
Leave to cool before serving or icing

Ice with lemon icing to achieve the ‘lemongrass’ effect.



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The Matcha Cake was pretty much my mom’s invention, although we later found out otherwise, it was fun to experiment with putting Matcha powder in a sponge cake.

Upon arriving in Japan for my mother’s 3 year long work trip, we were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of new and interesting foods to try. Among these was green (or Matcha) tea. But one time, on a seemingly normal day at school, I tried my first taste of the Matcha flavor in the form of a piece of chocolate. During a blind taste test of chocolate, in some relation to our reading project on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I fell in love with the rich flavor of Matcha, not just in chocolate, as I soon found out. 

Soon after, I tried Matcha tea, which was ok, but disappointing to my eight year old self. Now knowing that I liked the flavor, not the tea, I decided to ask a very important question to my mom. “What else can you put Matcha into”. This was a question that led me down the path to a tradition spanning 7 years, every birthday, almost unfailingly. We decided to do some experiments, and discovered that you could add Matcha powder to a sponge cake. However, my parents and sister were (and still are, to an extent) disgusted by the rich but bitter matcha flavor, and needed something to make it “edible” for them. Coincidentally, as my mom was comparing the taste of Matcha to grass, she had the stroke of genius to add lemon icing to the cake, and thus, the Lemongrass Cake (not made with real Lemongrass, just a nickname) was born. 

Since then there have been many iterations of the Lemongrass cake, among which is the Matcha Pancake of 2018 (served with lemon curd). Others include the true Lemongrass Cake of 2022, the Matcha Loaf of 2024, Defined by its dry, bread-like texture and lack of lemon icing due to some personal issues (my lazy father).It has become one of my favorite birthday traditions, and will persist, to the best of my knowledge, for years to come. I hope someone gives it a try, although it is an acquired taste.