Cake-tastrophe

I've been busy with family and travel lately, so no new crafty stuff to post as of yet. I did get a chance to bake yesterday though, which has become a rare treat ever since I started dieting last month. I've had this chocolate matcha (green tea) cake bookmarked for a while now, and used a Knitting Night as an excuse to finally make it.

It was pretty easy to whip up, although the batter did look very very curdled after I added the milk (probably because I didn't quite let it get up to room temp). But once I added all the flour and such, it was fine. I love the deep green color of the matcha batter.


The whole thing baked up like a dream, including the little heart cupcakes I made with the leftover batter,

but I had a horrific time trying to get it unmolded from my pan. I used to never ever have problems with this pan but I seem to have lost my magic touch, even after greasing the bejeezus out of it. This was the end result :(


With a little careful surgery, I managed to do get most of the rest out of the pan and salvage a little of my pride, but I was still pretty bummed. It never fails that this always happens when I'm baking for other people, dammit.


In any case, the cake itself was quite delicious. I did not get quite the deep dark chocolate color that Bakerella did, but then I used natural cocoa powder, not dutched. I suspect that Dutch-processed cocoa may have yielded a different result. Here's a shot of the cake after sliced.