The first time I made cupcakes was in high school. It was around the time when the cupcake craze began in New York City. I remember my first experience baking cupcakes. I wanted every part of the cupcake to turn out well so I scoured the web and read tons of reviews on different recipes, techniques, ratios, flavor combinations, and decorating tips. This weekend, I decided to make green tea cupcakes with my favorite type of green tea, matcha.
Matcha is one of my favorite drinks. I drink green tea every week, and usually order some form of a green tea drink when I’m at a coffee shop. Matcha is an intensified, powdered green tea. I decided to pair green tea cupcakes with a vanilla frosting. I enhanced the vanilla flavor of the frosting by adding seeds scrapped from a vanilla bean.
Green Tea Cupcakes:
· 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
· 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
· 1 tablespoon matcha green tea powder
· 1 cup granulated sugar
· ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
· 2 large eggs, room temperature
· ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
· ¼ cup whole milk, room temperature
Vanilla Bean Frosting:
· 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
· 2 - 2½ cups confectioners’ sugar
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 teaspoon whole milk
· 1 vanilla bean pod, seeds scraped
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 cupcake liners.
2) In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, kosher salt and matcha. Set aside.
3) In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and butter until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add vanilla extract.
4) Mix in the flour mixture with the milk until all ingredients are well combined. Fill each cupcake liner about ¾ way full with batter. Place muffin tin into oven on the center rack.
5) Bake for 20-25 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a knife in the center of one cupcake. The cupcakes are done when the inserted knife comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before decorating.
6) To make the frosting, combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Add in enough confectioners’ sugar until desired consistency is reached. You may end up not using all of the confectioners’ sugar.
Takeaways: The green tea cupcakes had a good amount of green tea flavor and pairs very well with the vanilla frosting. The matcha green tea flavor wasn’t overwhelming in the cupcakes. Adding a vanilla bean enhances the vanilla flavor in the frosting and makes a huge difference in the intensity of vanilla flavor. I would make this again in the future. I may experiment with another tablespoon of matcha green tea powder next time to add even more flavor to the cupcakes.