My last bake for GBBO week 6, Botanical Week. I toyed with the idea of making icing flowers, but my icing never has the right consistency. While Mary Berry would not agree with me, there are a few things I would rather buy ready-made and this is coloured icing. I also bought some tools and I made flowers. I can’t emphasize enough how happy I am with how the flowers look. The butterfly was made with a stamp-tool, but the rest is pretty much free-hand, using basic cutters. I made leaves before by cutting them with the pizza cutter and embossing them with a table knife. If you want to use matcha only for colour, use less.

This bake is in collaboration with Tesco.

Ingredients for Matcha & Rose Cake:

– 230g Tesco self-raising flour
– 200ml milk
– 1 tsp baking powder
– 50ml oil
– 2 eggs
– Rose water
– 1 tsp and a half matcha powder
– 250g light soft-cheese
– 50g icing sugar
– Tesco Ready To Roll Coloured Icing Red
– Tesco Icing Orange
– Tesco Icing Green
– Tesco Purple Pearls

Start by making the flowers and leaves for decor.

Top tips:
– Use icing sugar so the icing doesn’t stick to the worktop.
– Have all the tools ready, so you don’t have to look through the cupboards for them.
– Look at different types of flowers and tutorials. If one doesn’t work, there are still a few options.
– Leave the flowers and leaves on a special rack so they get a 3D shape.
– Refrigerate the decorations after making them. If you can make them the day before, it’s better, as the decorations will be harder and they will look better on the cake.
– Use toothpicks to keep the flowers in their place on the cake. They will slide on the cream cheese.

Continue with the cake. Pre-heat the oven at 180C or 160C fan.

In a medium size bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, matcha powder. In another bowl, beat the eggs, a few drops of rose water and add the milk and the oil and incorporate it. Pour the egg mixture over the dry ingredients and mix by hand or with a mixer until the batter is smooth.

Spoon in the batter into the oiled baking tray. Bake the sponge for 45 – 50 minutes. Test with a toothpick if the sponge is baked. When the cake is ready, take it out of the oven and leave in the baking tray to cool for a couple of minutes. Take the sponge out of the baking tray and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Make the icing by mixing the soft cheese with the icing sugar and a few drops of rose water. Cut the sponge in half. Spread the cream cheese on the first layer, assemble the cake and cover it with the rest of the cream.

Decorate the cake with the flowers and leaves.