a lot have been going on in the past few months. to put it briefly, it's been a lot about self-learning and re-building. thanks to this inspiring book by scott adams, i've been working on a system to sustain my energy and happiness level everyday. i guess i'm fortunate to find this super power code in our human brains, which enables us to grow stronger out of tough situations.

speaking of stronger, this is something i want for astro pie, too. i want to continue to share scrumptious, easy homemade food, and to keep exploring the possibility to marry different cuisine types. on top of that, to me it is always important to use real food ingredients, to keep their original flavors, and to make them lovable. i hear too often how real food tastes not as good as processed, artificially flavored food, and it is simply untrue. our taste buds have got used to unnatural, overly-seasoned food over the years. what we need is some time to adjust our dieting habits, and to learn to embrace and appreciate the originality of food.

this time i want to share my last food project a while ago. it was these tiny matcha bundt cakes, completed with m - a total matcha maniac, food critic (though he wouldn't admit) friend of mine. we made the tinies based on this chiffon cake recipe. i love that the deep, sophisticated matcha flavor does not compromise with the soft, airy, silky cake texture in this recipe, so i intended to keep it. nonetheless, i can't help but use fig wedges on top to add some natural element. if you don't like figs (who doesn't, though?), just dust off organic powder sugar on it for the finish.

mini matcha bundt cakes with fig bits

inspired by green tea chiffon cake by just one cook book

makes 6 mini bundt cakes

step by step

preheat the oven to 340 °f (170 °c).

in a mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 1/3 of the sugar. then whisk in vegetable oil and water until smooth.

sift dry ingredients - cake flour, matcha powder and baking powder - through to the egg yolk mixture in three times. whisk all the ingredients together until there are no lumps.

in a separate mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to whip the egg whites on a medium low speed. add 1/3 of the remaining sugar once a time and gradually increase the speed. whip until a firm peak forms.

whisk in the egg white foam to the matcha mixture gently at three separate times. 

pour the mixture into the bundt cake pan to 80% full. tap the pan on the countertop for a few times to let go of the air bubbles within.

bake for 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. if you use a larger pan as the original recipe, it is likely to take 30 minutes.

take the pan out of the oven and place it upside down. when the cakes are completely cool, tap on the pan to remove the cakes.

place fig wedges and pecan bits casually on the bundt cakes. then, powder it up, and enjoy!

ingredients

for bundt cakes

large brown egg yolks - 3

sugar - 1/2 cup

vegetable oil - 3 tbsp

water - 4 tbsp

cake flour - 2/3 cup

culinary grade matcha green tea powder - 1 1/4 tbsp

baking powder - 1 tsp

large brown egg whites - 3

for topping

fig - 2, cut into wedges

pecan bits

powdered sugar - for dusting