Asian Persuasion: Vegan Green Tea Melon Cake

Yesterday was my dear friend Rachel’s birthday.  She is a teacher who works closely with disabled children, and is a lifelong Vegetarian.  A true angel.  I was more than happy to bake a cake for her, and kept this one a surprise (which is a very difficult thing for me to do).  After some brainstorming, I chose to make a theme inspired by the amazing tattoo on her back: a scene of tall bamboo trees and beautiful flowers surrounding two Asian characters.

Sticking with an Asian theme, I wanted to try my hand at a Green Tea Cake recipe with a twist.  Starbuck’s used to make a delicious Green Tea Latte.  I say used to because if anyone has ordered one in recent years, they may have noticed that it doesn’t taste the same.  The makers of Torani decided to discontinue the melon flavored syrup which Starbuck’s added to their Green Tea Lattes.  While shopping at a local Asian market, I spotted a bottle of melon flavored syrup made by an Indonesian company.  Eureka!  Wish someone would tell Starbucks that melon flavored syrup still exists so they can fix their rather bland current recipe.

I’ve been having problems with the color of this cake and haven’t quite yet solved it.  On the first trial, I added green tea soy milk instead of regular soy to give it a wallop of green tea flavor.  It turned out to be a tad strong.  Also, the cake had baked to a dark brown color resembling a chocolate cake.  So, I replaced the flavored soy milk with regular, and the flavor was perfect.  Sadly, the cake was still brown, although a lighter shade.  On my third attempt, I used unbleached white pastry flour instead of the whole wheat variety I usually like to bake with.  I checked the crumb of the cake freshly out of the oven and it was a dark green, but as it cooled the color turned brown again.  Last night I did some research and discovered there is a special green tea powder made for baking.  Browsed through the local Asian market today and they didn’t have any in stock.  If anyone knows of a store in the San Francisco Bay Area that carries this product, please let us know by leaving a comment.  In the meantime, I’ll make sure to update when I find a green tea powder that doesn’t oxidize from baking.

Nonetheless, I am satisfied with the more sophisticated flavor of this cake.  But best of all was seeing the surprise on Rachel’s face when she opened the box and recognized the inspiration for her birthday cake.

Vegan Green Tea Cake

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
6 tsp Green Tea Powder
2 tbs Corn Starch
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients: 
1/4 cup Soy Milk + 1 tbs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
3 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 4 tbs Water
1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine

1 1/4 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Canola Oil

1 3/4 cup Soy Milk
1/2 cup Water
1/4 cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 320ºF.  Add vinegar to 1/4 cup soy milk and reserve.  Stir egg replacer and 4 tbs water, reserve.  Sift together dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

Using an electric hand mixer, cream margarine and sugar in a large bowl.  Add egg replacer mixture, oil, soy milk, water, apple sauce, and vanilla to combine until smooth.  Fold in dry ingredients.  Lastly, fold in soy milk and vinegar mixture.  Pour into two 9-inch cake pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool.

Melon Syrup

1/3 cup Melon Flavored Syrup

2 tbs Water

Stir syrup and water to combine.  Brush syrup over cooled cake layers with a pastry brush until absorbed. 

Green Tea Melon Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine

1/2 cup Earth Balance Natural Shortening

3 cups Powdered Sugar

3 tbs Melon Syrup

1 tsp Green Tea Powder

3 tsp Soy Milk

Using an electric hand mixer, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar in stages.  Lastly, mix in melon syrup, green tea powder, and soy milk. 

Melon Gelée

1/4 bar Agar-Agar

1/2 cup Water

1 tbs Sugar

2 tbs Melon Flavored Syrup

Few drops green food coloring

In a small saucepan, soak Agar-Agar in water to soften.  Stir over low heat to completely dissolve Agar-Agar.  Add sugar and stir to dissolve.  Pour into a small bowl and add melon syrup and food coloring.  Stir to combine and let sit at room temperature until thickened to desired consistency for spreading on top of cake (3-5 minutes).