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matcha tea and lemon cupcakes frosted with a matcha tea buttercream

Moya

The Sweet Adventures Blog hop theme this month is “What’s your cup of Tea,” and hosted by 84th and 3rd.  A perfect opportunity  to use my new muffin tin which I bought on a recent trip! Why buy another cupcake or muffin tin when I already have so many? Well, the shape caught my eye!  Baked muffins and cupcakes in this cake tin take on a different appearance, tall and narrow  with some having domed shaped tops depending on the recipe being used! What ever way they come out they all look really cute!

 With some lime green cupcake liners (also my new muffin pan), matcha tea in the cupboard and lemons in the fridge, it was decided… matcha tea with lemon cupcakes! Matcha tea is a high quality Japanese green tea which has many health benefits,  guess using this in the cupcake recipe is a good thing…  might just think these cupcakes are really good for my health… right!

My matcha tea probably could have been fresher,  it had been already opened for a few months and the powder was not as green as when first opened, guess I will have to stock up again and use the older matcha tea for this face mask!  Usually I buy matcha tea from Asian supermarket which is beside the Oriental supermarket, both opposite the Central Market for those living in Bahrain.

Matcha Tea and Lemon Cupcakes with a Matcha Tea Buttercream Topping

Ingredients:

  • 110g salted butter, softened
  • 110g caster sugar
  • zest of one lemon rind
  • 1 teaspoon of matcha tea
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten together
  • 75g all-purpose flour
  • 25g self-raising flour
  • 1 heaped tablespoon of home-made full-fat plain yogurt or shop bought

for the matcha tea buttercream:

  • 25g cream cheese, softened
  • 50g unsalted butter, softened
  • 200g icing sugar (a little more if needed)
  • 2 teaspoons, whipping or single cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon match tea
  • green edible glitter dust (optional)
You will need a 12 hole cupcake tin lined with 12 cupcake liners
Note: These cupcakes have a light flavour of matcha tea (I am not the green tea drinker in the house), but you can increase the flavour (and colour) by adding another 1/4 teaspoon of matcha tea into the buttercream frosting.

Useful Kitchen Jewellery:                    

  • cupcake pan
  • measuring spoons
  • mixing bowls
  • spatulas
  • electric whisk
  • sieve
  • microplane zester
  • wire cooling rack
  • piping bag and nozzle
  • kitchen scales

How to make:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4/Fan 160°C.

Add the butter, caster sugar and lemon zest into a mixing bowl. Sieve in the matcha tea. Using and electric mixer, beat ingredients together until light and fluffy.

Add the beaten eggs (a few tablespoons at a time) to the cake mixture, beating well after each addition.

Sift in the flours and fold into cake mixture with a spatula until the cake mixture is smooth, stir in the yogurt.

Bake cupcakes for about 18 to 20 minutes or until  middle of cupcake springs back when lightly pressed with fingers.

Let the cupcakes sit in the baking pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

For the buttercream frosting:

Add the cream cheese and butter to a mixing bowl, beat  together with an electric mixer until soft and smooth.

Gradually sift in the icing sugar and beat until all the icing sugar is incorporated.

In a small bowl mix the cream and matcha tea to a paste and then beat this into the buttercream.

Spoon the matcha buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a rosette nozzle,  pipe a small swirl on top of each cupcake. Dust lightly with edible glitter dust, if desired .

 Tip: Dry your washed baking tins up-side down in the residual heat from the oven after baking, Mum used to always do this!  The heat will dry your pans completely and stop rust forming on some pans.

This post is part of the Sweet Adventures Australian Blog Hop, “What’s your cup of Tea,” click here to see all the other entries!

Keep a lookout for more cupcakes and muffins using this baking tin!

Published by Moya

26 thoughts on “matcha tea and lemon cupcakes frosted with a matcha tea buttercream”

    1. I think it does Casey, Matcha Tea is supposed to help liven up the metabolism and in turn help with weight loss… so thin could happen. As for tall… do you think stretching to reach a cupcake would count? 🙂

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    1. Thanks Nic, I am not really a green tea drinker so I prefer to bake with it instead! Glad to be part of the blog hop and it is fun to see what everyone comes up with! 🙂

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    1. I guess my kitchen is stocked a bit on the obsessive side… but I do use most of my stuff as I need lots of equipment when I give cookery lessons every now and then and of course over the years it all adds up. I even have some cake tins that my mother used when she did lots of baking! I love my new baking tin so I guess it is tall and narrow cupcakes/muffins for sometime! 🙂

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  6. Your cupcakes look so adorable Moya! I love the taller and narrower shape. Does this mean I can have more than one 😀 By the way, I love your tip for drying muffin tins upside down. I will have to try this!

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  7. Look at all your tins – fab! You and I used exactly the same brand of maccha – how funny. The addition of lemon sounds wonderful and the tall cakes look great!

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    1. Thanks JJ, I did notice that we had used the same matcha tea, but yours was much greener and fresher looking than mine! Loved the theme of the blog hop this month. 🙂

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  8. Oh I love the tall cupcake pan! Your cupcakes are just so pretty 🙂 I think I need some matcha cupcakes for the weekend 🙂

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  9. Glad there are other baking tin junkies out there! People don’t appreciate the difference, so I’m happy to have found a kindred spirit (although you are soooo much more equiped than I am!)

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  13. Moya, I just can’t get enough of those muffin tins and liners. I love them. Are the liners from Ikea as well? Oh … your cup cakes are cute as 🙂

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    1. Thanks Glenda, the liners are from Ikea. I stocked up on quite a few as on my last visit to Ikea they were out of stock. 🙂

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