Betcha you're wondering what the hell matcha is. That's okay. I did too. But two of my dear friends had a birthday party and when I asked one what flavor I should go with for their delightful little bites of petite cake, she said matcha.

And I said matchawha?

I went stumbling around to various stores, scratching my head and wondering if I really had to go to an Asian market to get this shit. And then it dawned on me. Matcha is a kind of green tea powder. And you know who loves exotic tea anything?

Those hipsters that flood the Whole Paycheck every night after work. Sure enough I called and they said, "Get your silly self down here. We got mucho matcha!"

I've never tried petit fours before. They seemed haughty and french and terrifyingly daunting. But I eyed a few recipes and thought I might give it a go. I opted for one that didn't involve complicated fondant and figured I could go for the messy look. We call that artisan these days. Remember next time you try to make something Pinterest worthy and fail, you can just take really close high def pics and insist it's artisan. Works every damn time.

These little matcha beauties turned out pretty breathtaking if I do say so myself.

They are gorgeous, dense piles of matcha pound cake, sandwiched with a fluffy, white chocolate ganache.

Cut into petite squares, the cake is then dipped in a fragrant, heavy almond glaze. I chose to stamp these with my friend's initials, which also happen to work nicely for this recipe. Because "M" is for magnificent matcha in all its sweet, sinful glory.

We start with a role call for ingredients. For petit fours, you need a dense cake that will hold up to heavy frosting and plenty of manipulation. I went with a matcha pound cake from the folks over at Food & Wine.

Once you've creamed the wet ingredients, you whisk the matcha into the flour and add it slowly. Be careful though because this powder will make your fingertips look like the grinch.

Or a really avid gardener.

As you can see, this produces a lovely, dense batter. Pound cake utilizes the muffin method to some extent, so don't over mix. Just get the color evenly distributed and then stop. It'll be okay. Your cake will rise to the occasion. I promise.

Isn't that expanse of green just gorgeous? You'll want to butter your pan well and use parchment paper, people. You know how this shit works by now, right?

Cake is a little sensitive. Be thoughtful.

Take another piece of parchment and just flip the cake over. Let it cool completely before you attempt to cut it. In fact, I recommend freezing it for awhile to enable cutting and handling without fear of breakage.

Now we're going to invite white chocolate to the party in the form of a lovely, whipped ganache. This makes a perfect flavor companion for the matcha and the fluffy consistency works well for petit fours.

Just whip some of this shit up and sit back and admire the stiff peaks.

Cut the cake, slather one side with an generous helping of ganache and deposit the other side of the cake on top. Easy peasy.

It's time to cut the cake into our petite, adorable squares.

I free handed this because I am a brave fucking soul. You don't have to.

You can get a ruler and do it right the first time. I just figure if I get it wrong, someone gets to eat the remnants. And by someone, I mean me.

Now comes the glaze. Many, many people insist this is the hard part. I would argue that if you aren't obsessed with perfect, you can just bathe the squares of cake in glaze and call it a day.

Nobody is going to be inspecting your petit four bottoms. And if they are, shame on them.

I used letters from my cookie cutting apparatus to dip into the matcha powder and adorn the petit fours. You do whatever the hell you want.

Tiny elephants. Rabid monkeys. Go nuts.

And there you have it. Delicate bites of matcha pound cake sandwiched with clouds of white chocolate cream and slathered in an almond glaze. The perfect accompaniment for your next tea party and a dessert worthy of gracing the plate of any debutante.

Matcha Petit Fours with White Chocolate Ganache

For the cake:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons matcha powder

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup milk

For the ganache:

4 oz white chocolate, finely chopped

1/4 c heavy cream

For the glaze:

6 cups powdered sugar, sifted

½ cup water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325. Grease a sheet pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and matcha powder and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the extracts. Beat in the dry ingredients and the milk in 2 alternating additions; scrape down the bowl as necessary.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes, until the top is slightly darkened and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to another piece of parchment paper and freeze.

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave, checking every few seconds to ensure you don't burn it. Add whipping cream to mixer and beat until soft peaks form. Add cooled melted white chocolate and continue to beat until stiffer peaks form.

Remove cake from freezer, then cut in half. Spread with thick layer of ganache on one side, then deposit other side on top. Cut into squares.

In the top of a double boiler on the stove top, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, water, corn syrup and extracts. Turn on medium high. Continue whisking or stirring the until the mixture becomes smooth and consistent. It should be thin enough to drizzle from a spoon, but not so thin that it all runs off the cake! You can also check the temperature and when it reaches 92° F, it's good.

When it's ready, add in the white chocolate chips and stir until melted.

Set the cake squares slightly apart on a sheet pan and bathe in glaze. Apply whatever decoration touches you would like, then sit back and admire your handiwork. Baking, master level achieved.