I made the orange cake twice. The first time I baked it into cupcakes and contributed them as refreshments at a gathering, never taking the opportunity to photograph or taste the cakes. So I made it again which was easy to do as the ingredients are all basic things that I always have.
The cake comes together quickly and has a lovely taste. The texture is a bit off due I think to the altitude at which I live. Had I reduced the sugar the top of the cake might have been smoother. We had no problem eating this up.
Finding matcha for the Matcha Financiers took a bit of effort. I have lots of green tea that I rarely drink, so first I wondered if I could pulverize it as a substitute for matcha. Some internet research revealed this was not a good idea. I checked two tea shops, where small pouches of matcha were on sale for $30 and $35. Further research led me to a Korean grocery store, where there was lots of tea but nothing labelled matcha in English. After studying the labels I decided that the package labelled "super premium Japanese green tea powder" might be matcha and I took the leap and bought it for $10.
At home I looked up the Japanese characters for matcha and found that I had indeed purchased matcha.
As with the orange cake the batter came together quickly. I was left with 6 egg yolks which I used to make a delicious chocolate pudding. I baked some of the financiers in mini muffin tins and some in my madeleine pan. My oven bakes hotter than I realized, and the cakes browned up a bit too much before I could pull them out. Never having baked with matcha before I used only one teaspoon, and can't really taste it at all. The flavor is mild, the almond meal is what I notice the most. I look forward to making these again with 1 1/2 teaspoons matcha.
