Notes:
These matcha cupcakes already taste amazing on their own and are perfect for a little sweet treat. I personally chose spelt flour and brown sugar to make them a bit healthier, but you can use wheat flour or any kind of sugar you have on hand as well. If you don't like almonds, you could also try ground hazelnuts or walnuts! However, I recommend not skipping the nuts as they add some really nice moisture.
As for the icing, you can really choose any color or shape you like. But as these are matcha cupcakes, I recommend adding matcha powder for the flavor.
I personally chose to make little Rilakkuma shaped chocolates to give my cupcakes a cute touch. I recommend preparing it in advance as the chocolate needs a few hours to harden. You could also experiment with adding anko (sweet bean paste) or sprinkles instead as well.
INGREDIENTS (FOR 12 CUPCAKES)
Muffins
250g spelt flour (whole grain)
180g brown sugar
200g ground almonds
1 package of baking soda
2 teaspoons matcha powder
250ml soy milk vanilla
120ml canola oil
Icing
150g vegan butter
150g powdered sugar
a pinch of vanilla
1 teaspoon matcha powder
pink food coloring (or any color you like)
Topping (optional)
80g vegan bitter chocolate
a pinch of vanilla
1 teaspoon of coconut oil
METHOD
Cupcakes
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C.
Take a muffin tray and fill the molds with paper forms. If you'd like to prevent waste, simply use silicon forms instead of paper.
Mix all the dry ingredients together really well in a big bowl.
Mix the vanilla soy milk with the canola oil in a separate bowl, then add it to the dry ingredients and mix everything with a hand mixer until the batter is smooth.
Now fill the batter evenly into your paper or silicon forms (leave about half a cm space to the top) and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes.
After that, stick a small wooden stick it into one of the muffins. If some batter sicks to it, leave them in the oven for a bit longer until the stick comes out clean.
Take the muffins out of the oven and let them cool down completely. They are already super delicious as they are, so feel free to skip the icing if you don't want to add it.
Icing
If your butter comes straight out of the fridge, soften it a little bit by putting it into the microwave for about 20 seconds. It should be just a little bit soft but not melting.
Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to a mixing bowl.
Sift the powdered sugar into a separate bowl.
Start whipping your butter with a hand mixer and gradually add in the sugar and a pinch of vanilla. All in all, whip for 5-10 min so that you get a soft, fluffy cream.
Add half of the cream to a separate bowl. Add matcha powder to one half and the food coloring to the other half. (*Feel free to skip the food coloring if you prefer the creams natural color. You could also mix matcha powder into both of them if you want a uniform color)
Take an icing bag and choose a tip of your liking. I personally chose a star-shaped one. Fill the green icing into one side and the pink one into the other side of it so that they both can come out at the same time.
Add the icing onto the cold muffins any shape you like.
Chocolates
Chose a mold in a shape which you'd like to your chocolates to have.
Melt your chocolate and add in the vanilla and coconut oil and stir until smooth.
Fill your mixture into the mold and let it harden inside the refrigerator.
Add the chocolate onto the icing while the icing is still soft.
Refrigerate everything for at least 2 hours until serving.
Enjoy!
If you are in Tokyo and want to buy muffins instead of baking, check out these two shops!
Go!MuffinsGo!
Guruatsu
