This Matcha Steamed Cake (Mushi Pan) is light and fluffy with an aromatic green tea flavor. These individual Japanese cakes are so easy to steam in a frying pan for the perfect breakfast or snack. Less than 20 minutes to make!
Steamed Cake or we call it Mushi Pan (蒸しパン) is a light, fluffy, and soft cake. As the name suggests, it is steamed instead of baked, and it takes less than 20 minutes to prepare from the beginning to the end. I shared another version two years ago and that steamed cake recipe has been one of the most popular recipes, especially among readers from Asia.
Since then, I’ve kept experimenting with the ingredients and came up with this recipe that I enjoy and have been using for a while. To make the steamed cake moister, I added honey and used yogurt instead of milk. I love the changes I made and I hope you give this updated version a try if you tried other steam cake recipes before. Let me know what you think!
What Does Matcha Taste Like?
It’s a bit difficult to describe. It has a unique rich bitter taste as well as sweetness. When matcha is used in recipes, the flavor becomes subtler. If you are a matcha fan, you might be interested in my other matcha recipes like Green Tea Ice Cream, Green Tea Cookies, and Green Tea Crème Brûlée.
This simple and quick steamed cake recipe is perfect for an after-school snack or when you have sudden guests. Hope you enjoy “steaming” these little cakes! Itadakimasu!
Creative Matcha Steamed Cake
JOC reader Angel tried this recipe and made these absolutely gorgeous steamed cakes that I want to share with you.
When I asked her how she made them, she agreed to share her tutorial with us! Here’s her tutorial:
- Just before adding matcha powder, portion out 2 tsp. of plain batter for pink color and 1.5 tsp. of batter for brown color into two bowls.
- Add 1 tsp. of sifted flour into 2 tsp. batter and mix well and add in some pink food color.
- Add ¾ tsp of cocoa powder to 1.5 tsp. of plain batter and mix well.
- Transfer both batters into piping bags.
- Add matcha powder to the rest of the plain batter and mix well.
- Filled matcha batter into cupcake liners and drop the liners on the countertop a few times to remove air bubbles before pipe pattern on the cakes as desired.
Note:
- The batter should be slightly thicker yet able to pipe.
- Add in a little bit more batter if it’s too thick or flour if it’s too thin. It should be at the right consistency as pipe design may sink while steaming if the batter is too watery.
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Matcha Steamed Cake
Ingredients
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell)
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 3 Tbsp plain yogurt
- 1½ Tbsp sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp matcha (green tea powder)
For the Garnish (Optional)
- sweet red bean paste (anko) (you can make my homemade Anko recipe)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. I use 6 oz Pyrex glass ramekins (custard cups).
- Wrap a frying pan lid with a kitchen towel. This will prevent condensation from falling onto the cakes while steaming.
- Place 4 empty ramekins in a frying pan and pour enough water into the pan to go halfway up the exterior sides of the ramekins. Take out the ramekins, cover the pan with a lid, and bring the water to a boil.
- Meanwhile, place a cupcake liner inside each ramekin.
- In a medium bowl, add 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) and 1 Tbsp neutral oil and whisk well.
- Add 1 Tbsp honey and 3 Tbsp plain yogurt. Mix well.
- Add 1½ Tbsp sugar and mix thoroughly.
- Sift ½ cup all-purpose flour (plain flour) and 1 tsp baking powder together. Then, add it to the egg mixture.
- Sift 1 tsp matcha (green tea powder) and fold until the matcha powder is well incorporated into the batter.
- Divide and pour the batter evenly into the lined ramekins.
- When the water starts to boil, place the filled ramekins inside the pan.
- Cover with the lid and steam over medium-low heat for 12–14 minutes.
- To test if the steamed cake is ready, insert a skewer in the center of the cake and see if it comes out clean (no wet batter). Do not overcook as the cakes will become hard. When done, remove the ramekins from the pan and serve with sweet red bean paste (anko).
To Store
- I recommended enjoying it immediately or on the same day since the steamed cake gets harder. You can re-steam them before serving (I don‘t recommend microwaving).
Well.. I have just tried it but sadly when I opened the pan in the middle of the process, I saw it coming down and getting all thin 🙁
But still loved it heaps! Healthy and yummy. Thanks a lot for this amazing recipe ♡
Hi Marwa! When steaming (in the middle of process), never open it. Like oven, the cold air goes in and affect the cooking process. 🙂 I’m glad you still enjoyed it! 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback!
Hi Nami! These look delicious. Can I use sweet matcha powder to make these cakes instead of regular matcha powder?
Hi Anna! The sweet matcha powder – I’m not sure how much sugar and matcha in there (and what else is in there besides them?), so it’s hard to tell. I have never used those drinking sweet matcha before for the matcha recipes. 🙂
Hai,can u tell me what sugar you use for this recipe?caster sugar?granulated sugar?tq
Hi Sari! I use granulated sugar unless I mention in the recipe. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Thank you so much for your base recipe <3 I've made apple-cinnamon steamed cake, and carrot cake too. I also made a light glaze for the carrot cake—and it's been a great hit! 😀 Thank you again!
Also, do you have any tip for making it stick to the liner less? So much ends up stuck on on the liner, it makes me sad 🙁
Do you use a paper liner like mine? Usually it comes off fine (like typical muffin and its liner)… If it’s aluminum maybe you can grease a bit?
Yes I do. I realized that I need to cool it more, especially since I live in a tropical country. Cool for us is 25 Celsius! So once the cake has cooled down a bit, I stick it inside the refrigerator, or cool it in the bedroom with the air conditioning unit on. 🙂
Haha I see! But I can see cooling helps separate from liner. 🙂
Wow I’m so happy to hear you’ve tried so many kinds with this recipe! 🙂
Nami, this steamed cake are really easy to make and they are delicious! I’ve never baked before so it’s really pleasant that the cake turn out picture perfect! I was wondering how I should be storing them. Would the fridge be okay or will it make the cake hard?
I want to make this ahead of time for a party but I am not sure if they will be okay sitting in the fridge.
Hi Fiona! To be honest, I have never keep them for later… I usually make these when we eat and no leftover… I think re-steaming is required to bring back the same texture even you keep in the fridge. If you microwave it will be hard after cool down…. Let me know is you try it. 🙂
Looks very delicious. I really want to try it at home right now. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thank you Mitty! 🙂
Hey, Nami!
As much as I love these steamed cakes, I was wondering if you have any plans to make a recipe for a green tea (matcha) cakes. Anything along those lines, anyway. Thanks!
恵
Hi 恵さん! What types of cake are you interested in?
For those of you who want to know about my matcha recipes, please check here:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/tags/matcha-green-tea/
Hi, Nami-san,
To be honest, I’m interested in any Japanese cake recipes posted by you, but the ones I was hoping for most were green tea cakes (as in the big, full round cakes), and Japanese strawberry shortcakes. Every time I go to Japan, I always have a strawberry shortcake and I thought it’d be cool if I could make it at home. Also, my brother requested a green tea cake for his birthday next year. 🙂 If you can come up with a recipe, it’d be much appreciated. Anyway, thanks a lot!
恵より
I’ll work on it! Thanks so much for the recipe request! 🙂
Thanks! I’m looking forward to it! 🙂
These look fabulous. I am without a hob at the moment so can I steam these in a steamer in the microwave? Also, any chance of the ingredient list in metric please?
Flour is 60 gram. 🙂 I have never tried it with a microwave and I don’t know if we can control the heat? I know we can use a microwave safe steamer to reheat it but not sure if we can make it… Try and let me know?
Hello 🙂 Thia recipe looks very yummy! I love steamed cakes but never knew how to make them. I was wondering, if I want to make orange steamed cakes instead of matcha ones, could I just squeeze in some orange juice and orange zest with the rest of the recipe (minus matcha powder) and get the same results? Or would the cakes come out badly because of higher water content and such? Thanks for your help! This site is really wonderful! 🙂
Hi Bella! I haven’t tried using orange for this recipe, but it should work unless you put too much orange juice. I wish I could tell you exact measurement but I’m not sure… I hope you don’t mind experimenting. 🙂
Hi, I followed this recipe and the cake was not fluffy at all… I guess the yogurt I got here is different from yours. Yours look more solid while mine is very fuild … Do you think this is the reason? Thanks!
Hi Ting Ting! I am not sure if yogurt is the issue… could it be the amount of flour? Did your batter look like step #8?
Nami,
These treats are great! As a young teen who often has to cook for her siblings, this was an easy breakfast, tastier than regular cereal (it’s okay to be slightly unhealthy sometimes, right?). Because I do not have ramkins, I used measuring cups of various sizes and put them in a pot, instead of the original saucepan. Because I could only fit one at a time, this took an hour instead of 20 minutes. The cake itself was delicious- nothing like the westernized food I normally eat. I do not have anko, and it is difficult for me to get it- is there any other topping that could work instead?
Thank you so much, I am so glad I found your blog!
Sabrina
Hi Sabrina! I’m happy to hear you and your family enjoyed this recipe! I have other steamed cake recipe using cocoa powder and corn/cheese.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/steamed-cake/
You can use other ingredients like sweet potatoes. But for green tea, we usually use red bean paste. I’m so glad to hear you enjoy my blog and thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
Hello again! Hihih im on a roll this week! ^.^ Im wanting to try these cakes tomorrow or today. (im clearing out my pantry before it goes bad, thats why im trying out multiple recipes ) But i have a question for steaming. I can use my ricecooker to steam, it has a special steam basket. But does it matter if the paper cupcake holders go wet during the steaming process? I dont have ramekins unfortunatly. So i thought i’d place them in the paper cupcake thingies in the steambasked. Or are cupcake holders okay with getting wet?
Lots of love
Skye
Hi Skye! Are the paper cupcake holders sturdy enough to hold the batter without ramekins? I have never used them directly onto the steamer, so it’s hard to tell… I hope they won’t get wet and turn out well!
Nami should i whisk the eggs sugar honey and yogurth till it fluffy? Thanks. Btw please do more baking cake recipes
Hi Hangga! Until frothy, yes, but don’t over mix it. 🙂
Can i add red bean paste as filling?
Sure! Some of readers tried with red bean filling and they love it! Maybe I should make a separate recipe with fillings. 🙂
Hello Nami!
This recipe looked so delightful that I just had to try it!
My batter turned out very thick and sticky. Do you know why? I had to scoop it and plop it into my ramekins rather than pour it. Please let me know what I can do to fix this!
Thank you!
Jessie
Maybe the consistency of batter is thick because of a little bit extra flour?
These are so beautiful ~ can you please tell me what you used for the pink flower decoration and where you found those cupcake papers?
Hi Colleen! I updated the post with her picture and technique (after my recipe). Please check it out!
https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/green-tea-steamed-cake/