I made this cupcake intending to enter it into December’s Iron Cupcake Earth challenge Chocolate With A Twist. Then after I made it I thought it wasn’t good enough. It tasted great, but I didn’t think it was the worthiest contender. Then as I keep looking at them sitting there in the kitchen I thought, what the hay, I’ll enter them! Here is the matcha cocoa cupcake.
Yes, I need to work on my piping skills, I know! 🙂
I call it the matcha cocoa cupcake, because it does taste similar to the matcha hot cocoa recipe I enjoy. The chocolate cake in these cupcakes are very chocolatey, and the matcha is very matcha-y. The cake is dense and heavy and quite filling.
The dark chocolate ganache is a nice touch, and the matcha Swiss meringue buttercream is to die for. This is my second attempt at making SMBC (my first attempt failed) and it went really well. The texture is amazing, almost mousse-like. It pipes really well. The matcha taste in the SMBC is not overpowering and adds an extra light matcha flavor.
Thank you to Cupcakes Take The Cake for posting my matcha cocoa cupcakes on your blog!
Our December ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
* BETTY TURBO
* as well as a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
* PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice -sweet!
As an added bonus for December we have adorable cupcake pincushions complements of SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY.
Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: FIESTA PRODUCTS; HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, JESSIE STEELE APRONS; the CUPCAKE COURIER; TASTE OF HOME books. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers.com.
- For the cupcakes:
- 8 Tbsp butter, melted (1 stick)
- 3 oz dark chocolate, melted
- 3 eggs, large
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ + ⅔ cups flour, sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1.5 tsp sifted unsweetened cocoa, diluted with 2 Tbsp whole milk
- 1.5 tsp Matcha powder
- Chocolate ganache glaze:
- 3oz dark chocolate
- 3oz heavy whipping cream
- Matcha swiss meringue buttercream:
- 2.4oz egg whites
- 4.8oz sugar
- 5.3oz unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1.5 tablespoons matcha (use more or less to suit your taste)
- For the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Melt the butter and set aside. Melt the chocolate using a double-boiler.
- Beat the eggs with the sugar until blended. Add the melted the butter and vanill extract and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and add to the butter/egg mixture. Beat until blended, but do not overbeat.
- Divide the batter in two halves. In the first half, add the Matcha tea, in the second the chocolate and cocoa diluted in milk. Stir each half until thorougly incorporated.
- Spoon chocolate mixture into cupcake liners, and spoon matcha mixture on top of the chocolate. Fill liners about ½ – ⅔ full. You can use a toothpick or knife to gently stir the colors together for a marbled effect, or you can leave as is.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 20-22 minutes. Test with a toothpick to make sure they are done.
- For the chocolate ganache glaze: Heat the whipping cream and chocolate in a small pan over low heat unti melted. Do not boil. Remove from heat and sit aside until cooler. Dip tops of cupcakes into the ganache and sit aside to let ganache harden, or put into the refrigerator to harden it quicker.
- For the matcha swiss meringue buttercream: Put egg whites and sugar into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees).
- Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes.
- Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low; add matcha powder and continue beating 2 minutes to eliminate air bubbles.
yay for winning!!! love this pic
Thanks! 😀
Congratulations on winning! I think they look very tasty…only I am unsure what Matcha is, I haven’t seen it in Australia.
You can buy matcha at T2. There’s a store at highpoint
Thank you, apparentlyjessy! Matcha is just green tea powder; when I was living in Sydney, I used to find it in our local Woolworths.
Ohh, okay! I bet that tastes wonderful then! I will definitely keep a look out for it when I am next in Woolworths! Thanks 🙂
These are quite lovely! Congrats on the win!
Beautiful! And I think your piping skills are just fine 🙂
Thank you!
I’m in love with these cupcakes! They look like a floating cup of matcha hot chocolate, just like you said you were inspired by..
absolutely beautiful
i really really would love one of these – now
This sounds wonderful and what a great photo!
http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/
Wow! I love my chocolate & matcha! What a great combination. I will definetly try this recipe. Thanks for sharing
this recipe was so good ! : ) , but for some reason I think I didn’t put enough butter, because I had to add more and an extra egg
Congratulations! Thank you for the recipes. It looks delicious and I’m hungry to try. Best wishes from Germany.
Loved this recipe!! So delicious!! Perfect combination between chocolate and matcha 🙂 Thank you for posting it. I topped it worth matcha frosting