Green Tea Cupcakes
One week after I placed my order for green tea powder (also called matcha) it arrived in my mailbox, and one day later, today, I baked my green tea cupcakes. With my two wild children running around under my feet, I had some unfortunate mishaps – I spilled flour on the floor, I spilled about a whole tablespoon full of my precious matcha on the floor, and when making coffee while the cupcakes were baking I spilled a bunch of coffee grounds on the floor! Normally I’m not quite as messy, but it was one of those days I guess.
Now anyway, I followed the same recipe I found here – Magnolia Bakery’s vanilla cupcake recipe, which I halved. I somehow ended up with 13 cupcakes though. I added 1.5 tablespoons of matcha to the batter.
I absolutely love this green color, it was perfect. The color darkened slightly once they had cooled. I used Chockylit’s green tea cream cheese frosting, which I also halved, but still ended up with plenty of leftover frosting. I figure this is because I accidentally used 8 ounces of cream cheese instead of 6 ounces. The only other thing I did differently was to use the full amount of matcha (1 tablespoon) instead of halving it. Hey, I wanted to be sure I’d taste the green tea!
Aren’t they beautiful! The frosting was a little too soft to pipe, so I let it sit in the refrigerator for a little while. I love how creamy the frosting is, and I can really taste the matcha.
The cupcake itself is moist and fluffy, and I was a bit worried I had over-mixed the batter, but it turned out perfectly. I am refrigerating the leftovers because of the cream cheese in the frosting. Refrigeration will change the texture of the cupcake, but it will definitely still taste as nice.
A big thank you to Cupcakes Take The Cake for posting my green tea cupcakes on their blog!
i think i am going to make these – i loooove gree tea ice cream at the sushi place here
I think you’d like these too. I love green tea ice cream myself. You can even make green tea ice cream with the same matcha powder used in this recipe – just mix it with softened vanilla ice cream.
Let me know how these cupcakes turn out for you if you make them. I don’t want the high altitude to mess them up for you again!
I think i may just use a boxed vanilla mix so it is good for high altitude – or maybe search out a high alt vanilla recipe…
Is there something special about the gree tea powder? Is there a certain kind i need or just plain green tea powder?
No, nothing special about the green tea powder. Just remember it’s not the stuff in tea bags, it’s just plain green tea powder. I think you can find it at Whole Foods, but I had to order it at an online tea store b/c I couldn’t find it at ANY local store.
hi, I was wondering does it matter how much matcha powder you add to the batter, or could I just eyeball it to my liking?
No, it doesn’t matter at all how much matcha you add to the batter. If you like a strong matcha taste, add more; if you like a subtle matcha taste, add less. Easy!
Sounds great! I have been meaning to bake matcha goodness ever since I bought my first matcha box last year. I have yet to try, but your cupcakes look too good to just drool over! I look forward in at least giving them a go at some point this week or weekend! I did end up making some matcha scones once, so I suppose baking matcha counts there, but cupcakes are just too good!
I love these cupcakes! I’ve made them several times now, but with extra matcha (~2 tbls total). One addition I HIGHLY recommend is blueberries! Soooo delish, and the blue and green look lovely together. I also have been making a matcha buttercream frosting instead, as I always forget to buy cream cheese. That frosting recipe is from matchasource.com, but requires more cream/milk than they advise.