Matcha Green Tea & Chocolate Marble Cake

It's national chocolate week! As if we needed any reason to scoff, devour and drool over chocolate (good chocolate that is) then events all over the UK are taking place to remind us what's out there. And there's a dizzying array of chocolate to be sampled, it seems a veritable chocolate revolution has taken place these last few years, so go and try some of the fantastic choccies available. Here's the website detailing where all of this week's events will be: 

www.chocolate-week.co.uk

In the spirit of chocolate week, and a couple of chocolate tastings I've been going to the last few days, I made a Japanese-inspired matcha green tea and chocolate marble cake, which is a delightful mix of dark, brooding chocolate and quirky Kermit-the-frog green derived from the addition of matcha green tea powder. The playful contrast between the green and brown aside, marble cakes can be quite dry so I countered any prospective dryness with a good dose of yoghurt and quite a lot of ground almonds. Otherwise the recipe couldn't be easier, simply mix dry and liquid ingredients together add your matcha and cocoa in separate batches, mix again and bake.  

So there you have it: matcha green tea and chocolate marble cake, fabulous, as you might have guessed, with a cup of steaming green tea...

Ingredients:

• 200g plain flour
• 100g ground almonds
• 125g melted butter
• 125g plain yoghurt
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 3 tbsp cocoa
• 2 tbsp tbsp matcha green tea powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 180ºC, lightly grease a rectangular loaf tin

You'll need a few bowls handy as the mixture gets divided into two. In one small bowl, crack the eggs, whisk briefly and then add the yoghurt, whisking again to create a smooth mix

In a large bowl sift all the dry ingredients, except the cocoa and matcha powders. Stir through to distribute the raising agents and then divide the dry ingredients in half - placing one half in another bowl (doesn't have to be large, a medium one will suffice) and leaving the other in the original large bowl. 

Add the cocoa to one bowl, stir through, and repeat with the matcha powder in the second bowl. Now add half the liquid ingredients to one bowl, and repeat with the other. Using a large metal spoon, fold the liquid ingredients into the dry until the mixture is fairly smooth (a few lumps here and there won't offend anyone)

Then place your chocolate mixture in the loaf tin, followed by the green tea matcha mixture. This is the fun part - using a fork, swirl through both mixtures back and forth, in figures of eight, whatever you fancy.

Once you're done swirling, place the loaf tin on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 1 hour...