So I actually made this cake for my mom’s birthday, but I figured that the green color just made it perfect for St. Patrick’s and March, so I held off on posting it until then. The unique thing about this roll cake compared to other ones I have done in the past is that the cake is made in a similar fashion to an angel food cake – there was no oil or butter used in the batter, while I relied heavily on whipped egg whites to leaven the cake. I wanted to make this cake super light and simple, just because that is what my mother prefers and since it is for her birthday, I have to honor her preferences. The cake itself is soaked with a matcha latte mixture, while the filling it a fairly standard matcha cream. I would say on a difficulty scale of 1 to 5, this would probably be a 3 without a stand mixer or a 1 with one. It’s fairly easy to make, truthfully, and it’s a great recipe for when you have way too many egg whites and you don’t want to make macarons, meringues, meringue buttercream, or dacquoise with those!

For the cake:
6 egg whites
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons matcha powder
1/2 teaspoon spirulina powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

In a bowl, whip the egg whites, sugar, vanilla, cream of tartar, and salt to stiff peaks. In another bowl, sift the remaining ingredients together to remove all of the lumps. Fold the dry ingredients through the egg whites to form your batter. Spread the batter on a parchment-lined half sheet pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18 minutes. While the cake is still warm, roll it, in the parchment as that will prevent the cake from sticking to itself, tightly into a coil along the length (you want a short and fat log, not a long and skinny). Allow the cake to cool down at room temperature in a coil for 15 minutes before carefully unrolling the cake and removing it from the parchment.

For the soak:
2 teaspoons matcha powder
2 tablespoons hot water
2 tablespoons room temperature water
1/4 cup soy milk
1/4 teaspoon spirulina powder

Whisk the matcha with the waters until frothy. Mix in the milk and spirulina to finish. Pour the soak onto the cake so that it will stay moist.

For the cream:
1 1/2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons matcha powder
1g spirulina powder
8oz heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Sift the sugar, matcha, and spirulina to remove lumps. Whip all of your ingredients together to form stiff peaks. Spread the cream onto the un-rolled and soaked roll cake then tightly re-roll the cake. Transfer the cake onto cling wrap, and wrap the cake. Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour.

To finish:
Matcha powder

Trim the edges of the cake, and then finish with a dusting of matcha powder.