It’s no secret that Hojicha is one of my favorite teas and since I discovered it in powder form I’ve been using it to bake a lot. The first thing I made was shortbread cookies and they were delicious! And since I love cakes more than cookies, I had to make a Hojicha cake. I used one of my favorite yoghurt cake recipes and adapted it a bit to make this amazing tea time treat!
Please note there are some affiliate links, meaning I will get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase, without any extra cost to you. This will help support my blog and create new content!What is Hojicha?
Hojicha is a roasted Japanese tea, a one of its kind! It is traditionally made from Bancha but it can also be made from Sencha and may or may not include stems and twigs. It is very smooth but has a lovely toasty, nutty flavor and it’s very low in caffeine.
It works amazing as a tea latte and you can actually find sachets to make it on-the-go by just adding boiling water or you can make it from the loose leaves or powder.
Baking with Hojicha
I’ve been drinking Hojicha for a while, but when I started seeing many chefs baking with it and using the powdered form to do so, I knew I had to try it! You can easily replace Hojicha powder for Matcha in most Matcha dessert recipes. I truly believe this is going to become a trend in the near future, so keep an eye out! And although it’s not easy to find the powdered version of Hojicha, you’ll see more and more brands carrying it.
There is a big difference in using an infusion of the tea leaves versus the powdered leaves when cooking or baking with tea. The intensity of the flavor will be much more when using powdered leaves.
RELATED: Matcha Truffles
This Hojicha cake is moist and fluffy and delicious to eat on its own. Another option is to divide it into 2 layers and use dulce de leche, whipped cream, cream cheese frosting or a vanilla buttercream to fill it. Sounds like the perfect birthday cake for tea lovers!
Recipe Tips and Notes
My favorite Hojicha powder is from Hojicha Co. I always recommend it because the quality is amazing (to get an exclusive discount, sign up for my newsletter, and access my tea vault with many promo codes to buy tea online!).
Also, I try to keep away as much as possible from refined sugar and use Monkfruit whenever I can because it works great for baking. Simply replace with sugar 1:1.
After many many many times of making this cake, I found out that the best way to bake this cake was in metal bakeware (the times stated in the recipe below are for metal bakeware). I tried it with a silicone mold and had to bake for longer, and it got messed up. A 9-inch loaf pan is the best way to go!
More Hojicha Recipes you might like
Hojicha Overnight Oats
Hojicha Bliss Balls
Hojicha Shortbread Cookies
For the full Hojicha experience, I paired it with Hojicha tea, but you can experiment and try it along different teas. Maybe try it with a Da Hong Pao… sounds lovely!
I hope you enjoy this recipe and like this Hojicha cake as much as I do! If you do make it, please tag @teacachai on Instagram.
Hojicha Yoghurt Cake
Ingredients
- 6 oz of vanilla or natural yoghurt
- 2 full tbsp powdered Hojicha tea
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla paste/extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350 F. Grease cake pan with butter.
- Combine yoghurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla and oil. Beat with a mixer until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and Hojicha powder.
- Incorporate the dry ingredients to wet mixture by batches, mixing well.
- Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from cake pan.
Notes
