Matcha Marble Cake

I haven't posted a recipe here in a long time, so here goes. As you (might) now, I frequently bake on Sundays and take the outcome of my culinary endeavours into work on Mondays. The last things I baked for the office was this take on a traditional marble cake, with matcha instead of the cocoa powder. The recipe I used as a base had very little sugar and even though I am the type of person who tends to leave out at least one third of the sugar in most recipes and is all for less sweet things, I found it could do with a bit more and I thus upped the quantity for my second attempt. It is easy (30 mins max of prep time) and pretty foolproof and the matcha flavour is pronounced, but less strong than in other recipes, so also suitable for matcha beginners, so to speak. Let me know if you try this yourself and how you liked it.

Ingredients

4 eggs
400 g flour
pinch of salt
120g icing/powder (!)  sugar
150 g butter (soft, at room temperature)
1/2 sachet (or 1 heaped tablespoon) of baking powder
vanilla sugar (1 sachet) or 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
milk
matcha powder (at least 1 heaped tablespoon)
1-2 additional tablespoons of icing or caster sugar
butter and flour to line the mould

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Preheat your oven to 170° (fan setting). Grease and flour your baking muld (a "Guglhupf" type mould is recommended) Separate the eggs, beating the egg whites to a stiff consistency. In a separate bowl mix the soft butter and sugar(s) to a foamy consistency. Then add flour (with your pinch of salt and baking powder) and egg whites alternatingly. Add a few splashes of milk if the dough gets too firm. 

Put half of the dough back into the bowl where you mixed the egg whites and add your matcha powder. It should be enough to look the colour of pistachio ice-cream. Add an extra tablespoon of sugar to balance out the bitterness and more milk if needed.

Alternate the white and green dough when filling it into your prepared mould and finish by running a fork or skewer through it to create the marble effect.

Bake for 40-50 minutes (check with a toothpick or wooden skewer after about 35 - 40 mins) Let cool, take out of the mould and serve with icing sugar on top.