Wakocha Pound Cake Recipe

Continuing with my alternative tea powder recipe kick, I decided it was finally time to experiment with wakocha. What is wakocha? It literally translates to Japanese 和 Black tea 紅茶. The characters used are the same in China and it’s actually called “red” tea. It’s made in much the same way as other black teas, meaning it goes through the full oxidation process. As far as flavor profile goes, it is much more similar to a Chinese black tea than to say an Assam or Darjeeling. I have tried a loose leaf version of wakocha before, but it’s been a few years. I was excited to see what the aroma and flavor was like. Upon first whiff, it reminded me a lot of a keemun, which is a Chinese black tea. It has a very smoky and jammy quality, making for a very aromatic experience. Admittedly, I wasn’t expecting this. I thought it may be a little more malty like an Assam, but I was very intrigued by the aroma.

I’m not sure why I decided to make a pound cake, but I suppose I was thinking that it would be a good pairing with tea. I know that generally fat carries flavor, so I wanted to be sure that the recipe would allow the main ingredient to shine. Since it is such a smoky tea, I think it could also be easily used for more savory dishes. The next day, the cake actually smelled somewhat savory to me. Not in an unpleasant way, but almost like a hearty wheat. Once again, I only had about 10 grams to work with. It was a little hard to measure out of the small package, but I believe it was a little less than two tablespoons.

I looked up a few different recipes for matcha pound cake and regular pound cake as well to get a few ideas on amounts, making sure to change it enough. Just by the sheer fact that wakocha powder isn’t so widely available, I knew there was little chance of a complete copy.

Overall, I enjoyed the process. It was my first time ever making my own pound cake recipe, but it turned out alright. I would say that it was a little dry. Adding the icing helped to mitigate that issue. I suppose I might add a little less flour or tea powder next time to make it less dry, or add a little more moisture with another ingredient. It did rise very nicely and had a lovely break in the middle as well as a wonderfully crispy outside. When I first took it out of the oven, it seemed slightly underdone, so I put it in for another ten minutes.

I didn’t try any until the next day, but first I wrestled with the idea of making an icing. I thought it could be a nice addition, but I didn’t want it to compete with the tea too much. I’m glad I made it since it made the cake complete visually and flavor wise. It really needed that balance. I will say that the vanilla mostly added color as the amount of lemon juice didn’t allow for the vanilla to shine. I suppose I should have chosen one or the other.

I may not be selling it much, but since wakocha powder isn’t that common, I suggest trying this cake with hojicha powder instead. There are some nice hojicha powders available to the Western market. You could even try pairing the cake with either a Japanese or Chinese black tea. I would love to do a whole post on pairings with tea, as it’s something I’m very interested in. I must do more research!

Without further ado, here is my recipe for wakocha poundcake.

Wakocha Poundcake

All ingredients should be at room temperature! This is to insure they mix well.

For cake:

• 1 1/2 cups AP or cake flour
• 1 1/4 cups of sugar
• 2 sticks butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 10 grams or scant 2 tbsp. wakocha powder
• 3 eggs
• Swedish pearl sugar for garnish (or other sanding/dusting sugar)

For Icing:

• 1 cup powder sugar
• scant 3 tbsp. lemon juice (about half large lemon)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Lemon zest for garnish

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 375F. (Oven temps can vary a lot. My oven tends to be cool, so I went with a relatively high temp. This could be partially why my cake was a little dry, so perhaps 350 F would suffice. I recommend using an oven thermometer to check accuracy).

Lightly grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 Inch loaf pan with the butter wrappers.

In a mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugar. Start slow and work your way up to at least medium speed until light and fluffy in texture. Add salt and mix again until just combined. Make sure to periodically scrap down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The batter may look a little gritty, but that’s just because the sugar doesn’t fully break down.

Add one egg at a time, mixing thoroughly between each one. Scrap down bowl more if needed. Add in sour cream and mix until cohesive.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and wakocha powder. Whisk together until uniform in color. Take mixing bowl off stand and add flour mixture in two parts, gently folding in with rubber spatula thoroughly between each. Be sure not to over mix!

When fully incorporated, pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Smooth batter out and make sure it gets in each corner. Cut batter on surface with a wet knife to ensure an attractive middle break. Sprinkle with Swedish pearl sugar or preferred decorative sugar. Carefully place in preheated oven. Bake for at least an hour. Check with a toothpick. I put my cake in for about 70 min. This was slightly too long (It burned a little bit on the top edge), so if your cake is still wet in the middle, aim for around 65 min. Let cool in the pan for 10 min, then carefully remove and place on wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

Once cooled, you can make your icing. I waited until the next day, but it shouldn’t take more than a few hours for it to be cool enough. In a small bowl, mix together powder sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract until runny and smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake and decorate with lemon zest. Enjoy with tea of your choice!

What would you have done differently? If you have any baking advise, let me know! Also, let me know what tea you would pair with the cake. There are no wrong answers 🙂