Gretchen's Vegan Bakery

Vegan Matcha Cake Recipe

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Never made a Vegan Matcha Cake Recipe before?

Today is your lucky day! Green Tea Cakes are a subtle yet powerful flavor that is so unique.

Vegan Matcha Cake

Paired with an equally delicate vegan whipped cream this cake is going to have everyone begging for more!

Adding a teaspoon at a time of matcha powder to the divided up cake batter to achieve the Ombre affect!

Matcha Cake Recipe ~ Vegan Green Tea Cake

Video tutorial shows the visual step by step better than I can explain it in words!

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CAKE

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Notes for Success:

Making a rectangle cake like this one will require a special set of 1/8 sheet pans

However buying special cake pans may not be an option in which case you can divide the batter similarly into 4- 6″ round cake pans instead

Adding too much Matcha Power in your cake recipe can quickly go from subtle and delicate to a muddy, chalky taste.
Rule of thumb for adding matcha powder to your cake recipes is around 3 teaspoons per 1½ cups of flour

Many people have bad luck with using cake flour in their recipes complaining of a “raw flour taste with a gummy texture”
While this has not been my experience perhaps because I weigh my ingredients for the best results
All Purpose flour can be used instead but take out 2 Tablespoons from the total weight listed below

Gluten Free flour has also been reported to work great in this recipe!

The egg replacer I am using is Bob’s Red Mill *not sponsored and I add it directly to the dry ingredients
Easily use your favorite dry blend egg replacer instead!

Vegan Whipped Cream Options have come a long way so be sure to use whatever one you like best 
Or check out my homemade recipe!

Be sure to check out all the updated options for Vegan Whipped Cream to deiced which one is best for you!

 
Yield: Serves 16 people

Matcha Cake Recipe

Matcha Cake Recipe ~ Vegan Green Tea Cake
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

For the cake batter

  • Vegan Butter 12 Tablespoons (170g)
  • Granulated Sugar 1½ cups (300g)
  • Cake Flour 2½ cups (300g) *see notes for success section
  • Egg Replacer 2 teaspoons *see notes
  • Baking powder 3 teaspoons
  • Matcha Powder 6 teaspoons (14g)
  • Salt ½ teaspoon (3g)
  • Plant Milk 1½ cup (355ml)
  • Apple Cider Vinegar 2 teaspoons (10ml)
  • Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)

for the icing

Instructions

  1. Grease and parchment line 4- 1/8" sheet pans
  2. Preheat the oven to 350°F
  3. Be sure your ingredients for the cake batter are at room temperature before beginning
  4. In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream the softened vegan butter with the granulated sugar until light and fluffy, this may take 3-5 minutes.
  5. Sift together all the dry ingredients, (the egg replacer I use can be added directly to the dry flour ingredients). *The matcha does not get added if you are doing the Ombre style layers. But if you just want the entire cake matcha add the powder now.
  6. Combine the milk with the vinegar and the vanilla extract - set aside to thicken.
  7. Add about 1/3 of the dry mix to the creaming mixture and mix just until it is incorporated
  8. Add half of the milk/vanilla mixture and mix just until incorporated
  9. Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients then the rest of the milk and the last of the dry ingredients.
  10. Mix just until it is all incorporated and then pour ¼ of the batter into 1 of the prepared pans.
  11. Add 2 teaspoons of the Matcha powder to the remaining batter and mix well.
  12. Take out 1/3 of that remaining batter and spread it into another one of the cake pans.
  13. Add another 2 teaspoons Matcha powder to the remaining batter and then take out half of it and spread it into another cake pan.
  14. With the last of the cake batter add the last 2 teaspoons of matcha powder and mix well the spread into the last cake pan
  15. Bake in a preheated 350°f oven for approximately 20 minutes or until the layers are springy to the touch when you gently press the centers.
  16. Cool completely in the pans then remove each layer carefully, peel off the parchment paper and be sure the cakes are super cool, if not COLD before filling & icing.
  17. Prepare the whipping cream according to the recipe or as directed on the carton of SILK.
  18. Fill and ice the cake layers as shown in the video or as you prefer to decorate.

Notes

Matcha Cake that is iced with whipped cream must be kept in the refrigerator until serving and will stay fresh for up to 4 days wrapped loosely.

© Gretchen

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tatiana

    Would you give me some input on why my matcha cake turned into brown color after baking? I did not have an egg replace, so I used a different recipe with vinegar, oil and baking soda. Baked it at 350C for 30 min.
    Only one of the 3 matcha layers turned out green, but only the bottom 1/3 of it.
    I hope to master this cake. Would Just Egg or Simply Eggless work as an egg replacer?
    Thank you!

    • Gretchen

      Ooooh, sounds like you had a fun chemistry experiment going on!!
      baking soda and vinegar recipes are reactions in and of themselves! LOL
      Add to it the PH of the Matcha and lo and behold you got a brown cake!

      I did note in my recipe that while I was using a specific egg replacer, this cake is equally GREAT with just simple flax meal as the egg replacer:

      From the Notes section on the recipe::
      I am using The Plant Based Egg by Freely Vegan for the egg replacer. If you are using another blend egg replacer **OR FLAX follow the instructions on the package for whatever brand you are using to replace 2 eggs. Using some of the liquid from the recipe to reconstitute. If you are using Flax meal: 2 Tbs flax meal and 6Tbs liquid from the recipe

      While I have not tested ALL the egg replacers, as many of them are not even available to me here where I live, I also have not tested the JustEgg and I have not heard of Simply EggLess.. I will say this, I think we overthink egg replacers (*as a proprietary blend) in recipes, where many times we just don’t need them at all.
      This cake originated as my Best Vegan Vanilla Cake recipe made with flax meal- and it is excellent!!

      I am not sure if you can get flax meal? I feel like that “should be” the most readily available to all of us? But some folks have told me that it’s impossible to get in whatever country they are in.

    • Gretchen

      Hey thanks! While I have not personally tried that, I have been told that my recipes work great with a GF 1″1 blend! I think this would work here!

  5. Giselle

    Wow Yummy Vegan Green Tea cake recipe. I have never tried this recipe, I am very excited to bake on my parent anniversary. Please let me how long should I keep in refrigerator before serving.

    • Gretchen

      Hi! Great I can’t wait for you to try it! Once you finish building the cake it should be stored in the refrigerator, however you don’t have to keep it in there for any amount of time, meaning you can literally serve this cake as soon as you are finished making it! (*Just keep leftovers in the fridge!)

  8. Jennifer Rothschild

    Your recipe does not give the quantity of flour to be used, but I went to your vanilla cake recipe and used that amount. My cakes are still in the oven, so I can’t report back yet as to whether I was successful. I’m hosting my son and his girlfriend today for an early St. Patrick’s Day dinner. She keeps a vegan diet. I wanted to buy a vegan cake, but a local bakery was so rude on the phone, that I decided to try to bake one myself! Fingers crossed!!

    • Gretchen

      Oh wow! First of all thanks for the hears up, I will look at this recipe right now & adjust the error.

      2nd~ that’s awful, but maybe a blessing in disguise since you had to make it yourself! Maybe you have a future in baking all the cakes from now on! 😀

  9. Sam

    hi! this is the first vegan recipe i’m going to try – wondering if the soy milk should be regular or unsweetened? or does it matter?
    and to use the flax meal sub for eggs (2 Tbs flax meal and 6Tbs liquid from the recipe), by from the recipe, do you mean like the soy milk and vinegar?
    thanks!

    • Gretchen

      Hey good question! I will clarify that going forward on my recipes! Unsweetened is best! Otherwise you may find the cake to be just a tad bit too sweet
      Yes that is exactly the liquid from the recipe that I mean! *but don’t take out the vinegar! We need that to sour the plant milk

  10. Dominika

    I made this cake twice, and it turned out tasty (maybe too sweet for me) but each time none of my cakes wanted to grow. They are flat and very thin (less than 0,5 inch). I used 1/4 sheet pans, baked in 350f for 25min and had every ingredient. What could be the problem?

    • Gretchen

      Hey there, So I can’t believe I made this error & I wrote 1/4 sheet pans! I even went back & watched the video and I kept saying 1/4 sheet pans! Ugggh, facepalm!
      For this cake I used 1/8 sheet pans
      I am so sorry this has to be why your cakes did nothing! The batter was spread to way beyond thin in a 1/4 sheet pan!
      I can’t apologize enough since this is so embarrassing!

      *as for the sugar in the recipe you can take out as much as ¼ cup but not more than that or the cake will be dry & have a cornbread like texture

  12. georgia phillips

    Hi,

    Need to whip up a vegan cake real quick but I don’t have any soy milk at home? Is there any other substitute I could use? Or just use water?

    Thanks in advance

    • Gretchen

      Hi Sorry for the late reply, perhaps you had to figure something out by now since you needed ” a cake real quick”
      But for future reference:: all milks have protein & sugars, fats and all of these qualities add to the structure & texture of the bake. Water does not carry the other ingredients through a formula as well as a milk can so if you do sub in water (which is the answer, yes you can) it will most likely make the cake slightly “flat” in taste & texture and perhaps even structure depending on the cake recipe. Some are more forgiving than others.

      I am not sure if you are against using box cakes (some people are) but I think it is worth having a box or two on hand for these emergencies! but I have a perfect box cake hack that results in a cake that is better than the original box formula!! CLICK HERE FOR BOX CAKE HACK

  13. Joe Huang

    Dear Purchasing Manager,

    Good morning.

    We can supply Matcha powder to your side,and our Matcha powder is as good as Japanese Matcha. Is there some chance to work with each other?

    Your reply will be highly appreciated.

  14. Klassy kolkata

    Excited to try this Vegan Matcha Cake recipe! 🌱🍵 It’s great to find a vegan-friendly dessert option that looks so delicious and easy to make. Can’t wait to bake this and enjoy a guilt-free treat. Thanks for sharing this fantastic recipe!

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