This Matcha Chiffon Cake is spongy, moist, and light as a cloud. Its lightly sweet flavor balances perfectly with earthy and savory notes from Japanese green tea powder. With its soft green matcha color, you’ll love this popular Japanese cake as a light afternoon snack.
Making chiffon cake was one of my dreams since I started baking regularly last year. I always thought it was going to be difficult to make a chiffon cake. However, after some lengthy experiments with my Castella recipe, this Matcha Chiffon Cake (抹茶シフォンケーキ) was a lot easier than I expected.
If you are new to chiffon cake, it is a very light sponge cake made with vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, flour, and whatever flavor you want to add. You beat the egg whites and fold them into the oil-based cake batter so that the cake will get a fluffy texture.
Tips on Making Matcha Chiffon Cake
1. Use the correct chiffon cake pan.
The best types are the aluminum ones with a removable base (Do not use non-stick bakeware for chiffon cake – it will not work).
I bought 17-cm and 20-cm aluminum chiffon cake pans while I was in Japan because I wanted to follow a Japanese chiffon cake recipe. If you are interested in the same pan and know someone in Japan who can receive the package for you, you can purchase one from Rakuten (かっぱ橋浅井商店つなぎ目のない17cmシフォンケーキ型). They are great!
Or, you can order this 17-cm aluminum chiffon cake pan online from Nihon Ichiban which ships internationally.
If you have a different size chiffon cake pan, then check the conversion of the ingredients in this post.
2. Do not grease the mold.
The cake needs to cling to the sides and center of the pan for support as it rises or it will collapse.
3. Use good matcha.
You want to be able to taste the subtle matcha flavor, so I recommend using good quality matcha (green tea powder). When it comes to chiffon cakes, I like them to be simple. No sweet frosting necessary. A good reason to enjoy more than 1 slice.
You only use 3 tablespoons of oil for this recipe, so you can expect a very light cake. If no one was looking, I would probably eat the entire 17 cm (about 7 inches) cake all by myself!
If you follow the recipe closely, you can expect a fluffy, light, and moist Matcha Chiffon Cake. It turned out just like the chiffon cake that I have tried in Japan and dreamed of making myself.
If you are a fan of not-so-sweet desserts, this is for you. Knowing how easy it is to make chiffon cakes now, I am going to try making other flavors soon. What would be your favorite flavor?
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Matcha Chiffon Cake
Video
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell) (yolks and whites separated)
- 85 g sugar (½ cup minus 1 Tbsp; divided into thirds)
- 40 ml neutral oil (3 Tbsp minus 1 tsp)
- ¼ cup water
- 75 g cake flour (⅔ cup minus 2 tsp; weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off; you can make Homemade Cake Flour)
- 1 heaping Tbsp matcha (green tea powder) (1 level Tbsp matcha weighs 6 g)
- 1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Before You Start: I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
- Gather all the ingredients. Separate the egg yolks and egg whites from 3 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell). Keep the eggs whites in a stand mixer bowl; refrigerate or freeze the bowl and egg whites for 15 minutes until cold. (It‘s okay if the egg whites are partially frozen). Tip: In Japan, we chill the egg whites to make smooth, fine-textured meringue and do not use cream of tartar.
- Preheat the oven to 340ºF (170ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). You will need 1 17-cm (7-inch) chiffon cake pan. If you have a different size pan, read this post to adjust the ingredient measurements. Make sure you use an aluminum pan with a removable base (read my blog post for more details). Please see my Notes at the end of this recipe for additional details on ingredients, equipment, and techniques.
To Mix the Batter
- Start mixing the batter. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and one-third of the 85 g sugar with a hand whisk. Whisk vigorously until it‘s a creamy pale yellow color. Then, add 40 ml neutral oil and ¼ cup water and beat with a whisk to combine.
- To a flour sifter or fine-mesh sieve, add 75 g cake flour, 1 heaping Tbsp matcha (green tea powder), and 1 tsp baking powder. Sift one-third of this flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Whisk by hand to incorporate the dry ingredients well. Check that there are no lumps in the batter, then sift another one-third of the flour mixture into the bowl. Mix to incorporate. Then, sift in the rest of the flour mixture and whisk until just combined; do not overmix. Make sure there are no lumps in the batter. Set aside while you beat the meringue.
To Make the Meringue
- Take out the bowl of egg whites from the refrigerator or freezer. Set the bowl on the stand mixer with a whisk attachment (I used the KitchenAid Professional Series). Start whipping the egg whites on medium-low speed (Speed 4) until the egg whites are bubbly, opaque, and foamy.
- Add another one-third of the sugar and continue whisking for 30 seconds. Then, increase the mixer speed to high (Speed 10) and gradually add the remaining sugar in small increments. Beat vigorously until stiff peaks form (see the next step for how to check). It takes about 2 minutes of beating at high speed to reach stiff peaks. Tip: I usually pause beating when the egg whites are almost done. Take off the whisk attachment from the mixer and use it to hand-mix the looser egg whites near the bowl's edge into the stiffer whites near the center until it‘s all homogeneous in texture. Then, put the whisk back on and continue beating.
- To check for stiff peaks, pull up your whisk. The meringue in the bowl or on the whisk should be firm enough to hold a peak, pointing straight up (or maybe folding over a little bit just at the very tips). By this time, the meringue should have a glossy texture, too. Tip: If you overbeat the meringue, it will become very stiff and grainy and won‘t incorporate into the batter at all.
To Fold In the Meringue
- Using a spatula or hand whisk, add one-third of the meringue into the batter. Mix well by hand until it‘s homogeneous.
- Gently fold in the rest of the meringue in 2 or 3 increments. Take care not to deflate the air bubbles in the meringue and batter as you fold. Once it‘s well combined and homogeneous, fold the batter one last time and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure there is no matcha accumulation. The final batter should fall in ribbons when you lift the spatula or whisk.
To Bake
- Prepare 1 ungreased 17-cm (7-inch) chiffon cake pan. From 6–8 inches high, pour the batter into the pan at just one spot to prevent air pockets from forming. While holding the removable base in place, gently tap the pan a few times on the work surface to release any air pockets in the batter. Run a wooden skewer through the batter to release any remaining air pockets.
- Put the cake pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven. Bake at 340ºF (170ºC) for 30 minutes. To check if it‘s finished baking, insert a toothpick or wooden skewer into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean and the top of the cake springs back when gently pressed, it‘s done. Tip: If the top of the cake gets dark too quickly, cover the top loosely with aluminum foil to prevent burning. (The cake may be too close to the heat source.)
- Remove the cake pan from the oven and gently drop the pan onto the work surface to shock the cake. This stops the cake from shrinking. To cool the cake, prepare a tall, heavy bottle with a long neck, such as a glass wine bottle. Invert the center tube of the cake pan onto the bottle‘s neck and let the cake cool completely in its pan. Cooling the cake upside down helps it stretch downward and maintain its loft.
- Once the cake is completely cool, run a long offset spatula around the outer edge of the pan and a small offset spatula around the inner tube. Gently take out the removable base and cake from the outer pan. Then, run the offset spatula along the bottom of the cake to release it from the base. Tip: I used to use a knife for this step, but the tip of the knife tends to poke the cake while moving around, so I now recommend using offset spatulas.
- Invert the cake with the removable base onto a plate or cake stand. The cake will slide off the inner tube. Chiffon cake is served “upside down” with the flat bottom on top.
To Serve
- I serve the Matcha Chiffon Cake as is, but you may dust the top with confectioners‘ sugar, if you‘d like (optional). Slice and enjoy.
To Store
- I strongly recommend consuming the cake sooner for the best freshness. However, you can keep the cake covered on a plate or stand at room temperature in a cooler place for 1–2 days. To keep it longer, wrap individual slices in plastic wrap or put in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for 2 weeks.
Notes
- Make sure your beaters and mixing bowl are clean and dry. A speck of oil or egg yolk on either one can minimize the volume of the beaten egg whites.
- Avoid plastic bowls, as even clean ones may hold oily residue that can affect the beaten quality of the egg whites.
- Use a bowl that’s wide enough to keep the beaters from being buried in the egg whites.
- Do not overbeat or underbeat the egg whites or your cake may fall. Egg whites should have a stiff peak, pointing straight up (or maybe a little bit folding over just at the very tips).
Would I be able to bake this cake in normal pans instead of a chiffon cake pan? I do not own a chiffon cake pan and was planning on splitting the batter into 3 different 7in cake pans instead and just layering them.
Hi Kim! The purpose of making chiffon cake is to create this fluffy airy texture for the cake. Using a regular pan don’t quite help creating that texture because the cake batter won’t be able to climb up properly. You will need the tube pan, and do not use non-stick. Some readers tried this recipe with regular pan and told me it was successful, but I haven’t tried or looked at the result, so I can’t tell if it was chiffon cake texture or not… I highly recommend buying a cake mold IF you really want to make good chiffon cake. 🙂 Trust me, you’ll be making chiffon cake again and again… so good!!!
So if I want to make my own cake flour, I would take 1 cup of AP then take out 2 Tbsp of it, then add 2 Tbsp corn starch before I weigh it? I need to use 150gram cake flour.
Also can corn starch be subbed with other starch such as potato starch or tapioca starch? Would it also work?
Thanks!
Hi Jos!
1) Correct. It’s American way of making cake flour, which is why the method is in 1 cup…… If you double this recipe (which is why you mentioned 150 g cake flour), you will need ⅔ cup cake flour x 2.
2) corn starch and potato starch can be worked vice versa, but I had never used tapioca starch, so I cannot tell if it works for this recipe.
Hi, what is the diameter of your cake pan?
Hi Olga! Sorry it was hard to find this info – it’s in my Note section of the recipe. My chiffon cake pan is 17-cm (about 7”).
Hi if i have a 20cm chiffon pan. How do i adjust the recipe?
Tks.
Hi Audrey! It’s hard to increase by %, so I’d either get the same pan, or double it and use the leftover batter to make a mini one? 🙂
Hi Nami,
Thank you for this amazing matcha chiffon cake recipe. I’ve baked this today and it came out amazing! I was trying to see in the comments if there were any readers out there who managed to successfully convert the recipe to a 20cm pan, but there was no one. I only have a 20cm pan, so I tried to modify your recipe and it was successful! Here it is if you would like to share (in grams, because it’s more accurate :))
5 egg yolks
140 gm of sugar
65ml oil
100ml water
125gm flour
16.5 gm matcha powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
5 egg whites
From the 140gm of sugar, i use 50gm on the egg yolks and 90gm on the egg whites. I also added 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar in the meringue. Method is the same as yours
My husband who loves everything matcha was very pleased with this. This recipe is definitely a keep! Thanks a lot Nami!
Hey Audrey,
If you are interested you can use the above recipe. Maybe you can share with us if it is successful. I’ve only made it twice, it could be that I was lucky. Maybe you can confirm it 🙂
Happy Holidays!
Hi Floe! You are A W E S O M E!!!! I knew someone is better at calculating. 😀 Thank you so much for sharing!! Happy Holidays to you and your family.
P.S. I have recently posted 3 more matcha recipes for your matcha loving husband! 😉
One more thing. Silly me using the chiffon cake pan for the first time and I put the removable bottom on the outside of the pan instead of inside!
I only realized it when the cake was baked and I couldn’t take the cake out!
Anyway, this did not affect a single bit of our enjoyment of the cake!
Hahahaha! I laugh, but trust me, I have similar incidents… forgot what it was, but I obviously didn’t use it properly. I just can’t remember…. 🙂 Glad you could take the cake out. xo
I made it last night! OMG! It tastes wonderful!
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. I never thought I could make such delicacy!
I especially appreciate your tips about beating the egg white, getting aluminium chiffon pan, and cooling the cake upside down, as well as making cake flour with all purpose flour! They were so helpful and you made them so easy to understand!
I will definitely make this again but I would reduce the sugar by about 10 grams as the cake came out a little too sweet.
I really enjoy trying your recipes. They are so easy to follow are the results are amazing. We ended up eating more at home!
Hi Lilian! I am so happy and excited that you tried this recipe and it came out well. Thank you for your kind feedback on my recipe too. Glad the tips I wrote are helpful. My recipes tend to have more cooking/baking steps (compared to other recipes) but I like writing tips and adding pictures. 🙂
Yes, please feel free to adjust the recipe. Sugar is important in the recipe, but 10 g should be okay.
Just tried your Green Tea Chiffon Cake and my boyfriend and I are absolutely in love with it!
Thank you for trying my chiffon cake recipe! So happy to hear you and your BF enjoyed it. 🙂
Hi, I just discovered your website not long ago and love love love your recipes, They are simple and doable for beginners like me. One question though, how do I replace the matcha flavor to coffee flavor for Chiffon cake. I love green tea product and also love coffee flavored dessert. Hope to learn them both. Thanks!!
Hi Mandy! Thank you for visiting my site and I’m so happy you like it. 🙂
I’d make a coffee and use it to replace with earl grey tea in this recipe: https://www.justonecookbook.com/earl-grey-chiffon-cake/
Though sugar etc I’m not sure how sweet it is… you might need to adjust. But the basic measurement should be good!
Thanks, will give it a try later. Last night I made the lemon chiffon cake, and it came out to be so fluffy and soft that my family was amazed. I used regular lemon cuz I don’t have Meyer lemon at home, but still good!! Thanks for the recipe!!
So happy to hear that Mandy! Thank you for trying it with reg lemon! I love the citrus chiffon cake! 🙂
Hi Nami,
Can I use this recipe with 10″ cake pan? I’m looking to buy the Nordicware 2 piece aluminum angel cake pan but it doesn’t come in 7″ pan unfortunately.
Thank you.
Hi Lyna! If you use this recipe (for 7 inch) to 10 inch, your cake will be flatter as it doesn’t have enough batter to fill up the bigger pan. Chiffon cake looks pretty when it’s tall, so I recommend doubling the recipe and use the leftover batter to make extra cake. 🙂
Can i use a normal cake pan instead of a standard chiffon cake pan? Will this recipe perform the same? I need a matcha cake that doesnt have a hole in the middle:p
Hi Ella! To make a good chiffon cake, you’ll need a chiffon cake pan. I highly recommend aluminum pan so that the batter can climb up high and not “slippery” on non-stick pan. It’s a good investment as it’s easy to make and so delicious! 😉
Hi I have a 23cm chiffon cake pan and would like to ask how I can modify the recipe for my pan? Thanks!
Hi KumoX! My recipe is for 17 cm and it’s not easy to adjust to 23 cm to make it work with this recipe. I’d double the recipe and fill up, then I’d use other pan for the rest of batter. That way, the recipe is the same.
Hi Nami
I m a new baker n love chiffon cake. Chanced upon your recipe n decided to give this recipe a go as I, too, enjoyed the matcha cake at Yufuin few months ago!
The cake is now in the oven. Few questions based on my experience just now:
1) the egg yolk batter is v heavy aft mixing with the 75 g of flour n 10 gm of matcha powder. Hence, my cake batter only fill up 65% of the pan. I saw u r able to fill to abt 75%. How did u manage to achieve that?
2) I m baking at 170 degree n my cake top hv big cracks, unlike yours. I placed an oven thermometer in there n my oven’s temperature is accurate. Perhaps I should use 165 next time?
Cake is still baking in oven. Will update on outcome!
Hi Grace! From what you wrote in (1) and (2), it seems like your meringue wasn’t beaten enough. When there is a big crack, it’s either you under beat or over beat. From (1), it looks like your case was under beaten. What do you think? I don’t think it’s the oven in this case, but maybe it can be due to heat source being close etc. Hope this helps!
Hi Nami
Thank u so much for your reply as I really want to try your recipe again.
I m no good with meringue as I do not know when to stop beating. May b it was under beaten even though I hv beaten it for abt 7 or 8 minutes with a 750 watt mixer.
I will try again since I love matcha chiffon.
Another question – the yolk batter became very thick n sticky after adding the flour and matcha powder. Is it normal?
Thank you n hope to hear from u again.
Hi Grace! I wasn’t good at making meringue either, but with some practice (and failure – remember how it looked each time you make), you’ll know when to stop. 🙂
I won’t say the yolk mixture is “sticky” though. But it’s thick and jiggly kind of mixture. 🙂 I’m assuming you get the right texture.
Hi, in the last few days, I made this recipe 2x and both times the cake didn’t rise well (still taste good). But with the same recipe, I made black sesame chiffon cake 2x and both times the cake rise beautifully. I’m not sure what is wrong with my Matcha cake. 🙁
Hi Seah! I’m not too sure, to be honest. This chiffon cake works really well for me (so as others from their reviews), and it’s the base of all of my chiffon cake recipes. I wasn’t there in the kitchen with you so I’m not sure how you made it. However, not rising is likely due to egg whites not properly beaten well (over or under beaten). Not enough air bubbles to lift the batter and properly baked.
Hi Nami, no doubt this recipe works. I am just puzzled why both times it didn’t work with matcha but worked with black sesame. My first black sesame worked fairly well. Next I did matcha which didn’t rise much (I used 30ml milk + 30 water). Tried sesame again and this time worked really well. Did matcha next using 60ml water and the result was the same as the last. Did sesame again and it worked well! Oh well, I just have to try again. FYI, I used 10g black sesame powder mixed with 5g of oil to make a paste and also added 12g black sesame powder to the batter. Worked well!
Hi Seah! Thank you for writing back! I’m really not sure because I wasn’t in the kitchen to see how you made.
I make this chiffon cake often (our family loves Matcha, so this is probably made often most among all my chiffon cake flavors) and I never had any issue following my own recipe. Since this recipe was published in 2013, I see JOC readers made this chiffon cake and shared on social media (IG, IG stories, FB, etc) or emailed me with their pictures. If the majority of people have the same issue as you, I would be more concerned and worried but so far I’m very comfortable with this recipe from my own experience as well as others.
I’m sorry yours didn’t come out well and I truly wish you best if/when you try again next time. 🙏
This cake has been perfect and delicious every time, thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hi Aleshi! I’m so happy to hear you like this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
This is my favorite recipe for matcha cake, no butter or cream, so light and yummy!! Thank you for sharing!!
Hi Anna! I’m so happy to hear your feedback! Thank you for trying this recipe!!! 😀
Hi Nami! I’m a student studying abroad so sometimes i really miss Asian cakes so i decided to i make them here 😀 so far i’ve tried making castella cake and this green tea chiffon cake using your recipe but i replaced the green tea powder with cocoa powder. its the best chiffon recipe xD thank you!
Hi Choco! I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for your kind feedback! xoxo