green tea cupcakes 01

Yesterday has got to be one of my all time favourite days. Somewhere between waking up yesterday morning and having dinner at Kiasu (I left the country for what, 10 days? And I totally missed Kiasu) last night, I baked some amazingly scrumptilicious green tea cupcakes.  In case you didn’t know, green tea is a crazy obsession of mine, not so much the actual tea itself (but I do drink it), but green tea flavoured sweet anythangs.

Green tea ice cream*, green tea nougat, green tea crème brûlée, green tea cake, green tea fudge, green tea buns, green tea mochi ice cream balls (OMG the new-ness of this discovery still sends shivers down my spine!) and delectable green tea soufflé, which I’ve only ever had once at Toko three years ago, and have never stopped thinking about it (they’ve since removed it from their menu, biatches).

So imagine my absolute fifth-grader squeals of delight when I found a recipe for green tea cupcakes in my Hummingbird Bakery cookbook!

Gawd this book is my bible.

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I don’t really have anything else to talk about, because the highlight of yesterday (and my utmost baking pride and joy, right after my red velvet cupcake) is already photographically splashed across this post. It’s funny that the most ideal days are often also the most mundane, I mean, what did I do yesterday? I woke up, I fell asleep again (just because), I ate and blogged and made cupcakes.

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In the afternoon we took a stroll down to Bond Street and bought some fancy thing from some fancy store (on behalf of someone else ~ yes, I realise that my day would have been even more divine had I been able to buy it for myself), squeezed in a power nap and then headed out to dinner at Kiasu.

That was my whole day, how awesome was that?

* Oh and for the record (and I am probably gonna get bashed for saying this BUT – ) the best green tea ice cream I have ever had was at Baskin & Robbins in Australia. I shit you not Japanese restaurants, Baskins seriously rocks that matcha flava!

Green tea cupcakes
120mL whole milk
3 green tea bags
100 grams plain flour
20 grams cocoa powder
140 grams caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
40 grams unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extractGreen tea frosting:
250grams icing sugar, sifted
80grams unsalted butter (at room temperature)
20 grams matcha green tea powder, plus extra to decorate
25 mL whole milka 12-hole cupcake tray, lined with cupcake cases
  1. Put milk and green tea bags in a jug, cover and refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight if possible.
  2. Preheat oven to 170°C/325°F (Gas 3).
  3. Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and beat on a slow speed with an electric whisk until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.
  4. Remove the green tea bags from the infused milk and combine with the egg and vanilla extract. Slowly pour half into the flour mixture, beating well until all the ingredients are well mixed.
  5. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat well to make sure there are no lumps. Turn the speed back down to medium-low and slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture.
  6. Continue mixing for another couple of minutes until mixture is smooth.
  7. Spoon the mixture into the cases until 2/3 full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to slightly cool in the tray before removing to wire cooling rack to cool completely.
  8. When cupcakes are cool, spoon the green tea frosting on top.

Green tea frosting:

  1. Beat the icing sugar, butter and matcha powder together with an electric mixer on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
  2. Turn the mixer down to a slower speed. Slowly pour in the milk, then when it is all incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed.
  3. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.
  4. Decorate the cupcakes with frosting and light sprinkling of matcha powder.
Makes 12 cupcakes

13 Thoughts on “love is: lazy days and green tea cupcakes

  1. I think you would love the green tea tiramisu at Aqua Kyoto, tried it on Saturday and it was divine!
    BTW I love your blog!

  2. alexthepink: I have never even heard of Aqua Kyoto but will definitely put it on my list 🙂 I’ve had green tea tiramisu at Saki in Smithfield and that was amazing! And thank you *shucks*, keep reading!

  3. Old Cow on October 19, 2009 at 4:24 pm said:

    aaaaaaaaaaaah scrummy!!!!!! Thanks for the recipe – printing it NOW! Actually I am just going to make the frosting and eat that…..mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

    Have you tried green tea opera yet?

  4. Hello Catherine,

    I just discovered your blog through London Food and Drink. My name is Bethany and I write the blog http://www.dirtykitchensecrets.com here in London as well. A few other bloggers and I are organizing a conference on Food Blogging on the 28th of November, 2009 in London.

    We would love it if you could join us. Depending on the number of food bloggers who RSVP, we hope to also have guest speakers talking about relevant issues to Food Blogging such as “How To Improve On Food Photography” or “What Makes A Good Food Blog” amongst others. In any case, it will be an opportunity to meet other food bloggers, some of which are coming from France, Germany and even India, and network, eat delicious food and have a good laugh.

    For more information please visit http://www.dirtykitchensecrets.com/

    We hope to see you there.

    Bethany and the other organisers; Mowie Kay- Mowielicious, Jamie Schler- Life’s a Feast and Hilda Saffari- Saffron & Blueberry

  5. Old cow: LOL yeh the frosting is the best part 🙂 looking at the pics now, goddamn they look ugly don’t they? The frosting is kinda grainy cos of the matcha… but it’s ok, it tastes brilliant!

    Bethany: hi! I’ve seen the post on the conference on your blog and am thinking about coming along.. I’ll let you know soon 🙂

  6. I have tried this recipe of the Green tea cup cakes. The taste of the Green tea cup cake was really brilliant. I like it.

  7. I totally love this post! absolutely going to have to remember to add this to my blogroll.

  8. I love what you made out of your blog. I never said thank you for all this wonderful great ideas you give us all the time.! Thank You!

  9. I tried the Hummingbird green tea cup cakes recipe and it barely made enough for 8 muffins, not 12. What happened? Is the mixture meant to increase in volume during beating and I didn’t beat it enough? Also the cake bit just tasted like chocolate (cocoa), almost no sign of the 3 teabags. How did it go for other people?

  10. green tea: Yeh the frosting is crazy green tea amazing isn’t it??

    Scott: hey thanks for the comment – I managed to make 12, but what I’ve realised with Hummingbird cupcakes are that they aren’t very big. Maybe yours were giant cupcakes 🙂 I agree with you re the green tea flavouring. The teabags don’t do much and are overpowered by the chocolate. I think the flavour is mainly from the matcha powder in the frosting, rather than the actual cake…

  11. Well, I’ve now eaten four of the cupcakes that I made, and they are very tasty. As others commented, the icing is awesome, but the cake is fluffy and tasty as well (although not much green tea flavour as I mentioned).
    They weren’t really that big, the recipe said to fill the cases 2/3 of the way and I filled them less than that. If I had made 12 they would have been tiny! I will definitely make them again. Next time I might skip the tea bags or perhaps put them in hot milk to see if I can get more flavour out of them.
    Thanks for the recipe and the great blog!

  12. the antioxidants in green tea really helps prevent cancer and some other forms of tumors.;,-

  13. This seems like the best recipe for green tea (which I love) cupcakes (love even more). The problem is that I want to make them, but I’m having trouble converting the measurements. I live in the us, can you give me the recipe in cups or tablespoons. Ive tried to convert but it’s too difficult and I’m close to giving up, PLEASE HELP! Thanks

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