If you watched the second episode of the 2018 series of The Great British Bake Off, you’ll have seen the controversial technical that Prue challenged this year’s batch of bakers to: Le Gateau Vert. This unusual green cake was a favourite of famous painter Claude Monet. It’s said he had it every year on his birthday!
Prue’s Le Gateau Vert calls for pistachio sponge – so far, so normal. But then to create the vibrant green of the icing, she asked contestants to puree spinach. Spinach?! Fortunately, there are other ways to achieve the green effect demanded by Le Gateau Vert, so you’ll find no spinach in our recipe!
Prue’s Le Gateau Vert | Image credit: The Great British Bake Off
How to make a budget-friendly Le Gateau Vert for 90p a slice
What you’ll need
For the sponge:
75g plain flour
1 tablespoon of matcha tea powder
125g caster sugar
4 large eggs
25g unsalted butter, melted
For the filling and topping:
1 pack of white marzipan
600g icing sugar
300g unsalted butter, softened
Green food colouring
Image credit: Channel 4
How to make it
Start off by pre-heating your oven to 180 degrees, and grease and line a 23cm round cake tin.
Mix together the flour and matcha tea powder in a bowl until well combined.
In a second bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and pale.
Fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture and then fold in the melted butter and lemon zest.It’s important you keep as much air as you can in the eggs as you fold the mixture together, as you’re counting on this to make your cake rise!
Pour the cake mixture into your prepared cake tin and bake for 20-30 minutes until the cake is risen and springy to the touch.
While the cake is in the oven, make the buttercream icing. Whizz together the icing sugar and softened butter with a few drops of green food colouring to achieve a pale, pistachio-green shade. Set aside.
Next, prepare your marzipan, which also needs to be green. Take a pack of ready-made marzipan and wipe a few drops of food colouring onto the surface of the dough using a cocktail stick. Knead the marzipan with your hands to spread the colouring until the whole ball of marzipan is an even green colour – you may want to wear first aid gloves while you do this so you don’t end up with green hands yourself!
Once you’ve achieved the desired colour, roll out your marzipan into a square sheet big enough to cover the top and sides of your cake. It will need to be about 5mm thick.
Sometime in the middle of this your cake will be ready, so take it out of the oven and leave it in the tin to cool for 5-10 minutes. Then, turn it out of the tin and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
The finishing touches
Once your sponge is completely cool, slice it into three even layers. Spread the bottom layer with the green buttercream icing you made earlier. Pop the middle layer on top and spread that, too. Top it with the third and final sponge. Spread the remaining buttercream in a thin layer over the top and sides of the cake, and then lay your rolled out marzipan on top. Carefully smooth it down over the edges and trim away any excess at the bottom.
Decorate with some edible flowers, if you like, or get stuck straight in to tasting your Le Gateau Vert!
