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imbb 13 pt. 1: matcha cupcakes with pistachio cream and totoro "truffles"

imbb 13 is here, and the theme is cupcakes, babies, CUPCAKES!!!! i thank you, maki, for being a gracious hostess cupcake :-D

totoro cupcake

these are matcha green tea cupcakes with pistachio cream frosting. i don't normally "do" flavours but i love matcha, so i thought i'd try to modify bill granger's vanilla cupcake recipe, and i paired it with pistachios because...um, they're both green. and the flavours work together well, as these cakes are quite mild.

totoro cupcake 2

the first cupcake was frosted with a pistachio mascarpone cream inspired by a recipe i found at deb's blog, words to eat by. i just mixed equal parts of pistachio paste with mascarpone cream until it reached a spreadable consistency (you might need to thin it with milk, but i didn't). the cream was fantastic--tangy, rich, and very nutty, but unfortunately, it completely overpowered the subtle matcha cakes, so i tried just adding a couple tablespoonfuls of pistachio paste to a cup of whipped heavy cream which worked out much better.

totoro cupcake 4

as for the totoros, they were made with some pistachio paste covered in fondant. as for why the totoros, well, why not?

matcha cupcakes

250 g softened unsalted butter
250g white sugar
4 eggs
240g sifted self-raising flour
180ml cold green tea
1 1/2 to 2 tbsps good quality matcha powder

cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy; add eggs until well-incorporated. alternate folding in the flour and adding the cold tea into the mixture. stir until smooth, adding enough powdered matcha to reach a jade-coloured batter, or whatever shade you prefer. be careful adding more than a few tablespoonfuls as it can get quite bitter the darker you go. fill paper-lined muffin tins and bake in a 350˚F preheated oven for 20 minutes. cool completely before frosting.

41 comments:

Omigosh it is *too* *too* cute to eat! Who is that creature (that's not Pikachu after cosmetic surger is it? :) and what is he made of?

!!totoro is soo cute! I especially like the second one who looks caught in quicksand. Excellent!

I am so glad I found your blog. I love matcha everything. I will definitely try those cupcakes. I was gonna make green tea icecream this weekend, but maybe I'll try the cupcakes instead!

14 hours and I'm still speechless.

cho-kawaii!!!!

did you make totoro yourself? omg what a great job... you could have made a neko-bus as well! :)

Hey..Santos,
Yer like Pinkcocoa, she like matcha too.. and made some..;) Yums..!! and i love pistachos.. ;) they are my absolute.. absolute favourite..!

OMG, chouuuu kawaiiii!!! I love the totoro that looks like it's sinking into the sumptuous cupcake!

hiya Santos
I love your totoro! They are so cute~ How in the world did you manage to get them to look so real! So very very well done. ;-)

Looks like we are the two maccha frenzies at IMBB. Your maccha cupcake looks so much better than my muffin! Maybe I should have used cold green tea like yours instead of the powder. :)

"Waiter! Oy, waiter?! There's a totoro stuck in my muffin!" As always Santos, a completely unexpected combination of flavors (to me anyways!) and yet, it just seems as nothing has ever been more right! YUM!

totoro too lovely to eat...i must try, this combination is irresistible! *applause*

I want a totoro, I want to take him home.

~molly

Your totoro's so cute! Show off. :-)

augustus gloop--your matcha-fest sounds very appealing :-)

third shift--that's totoro, and he is our friend! :-D

jocelyn--i think i'd like to perch a totoro on one of your cupcakes, peeping out of a flower :-)

hannah--let me know how the cupcakes turn out for you!

anthony--speechless? nawww....

chika, you are giving me ideas ;-)

mrs.t--thanks for the tip about pinkcocoa's cakes, they look great!
pistachios are great, aren't they?

lynn--i like them both, but i love the expression on his face, it's like he's just found out he's sinking (laughing)

pinkcocoa--i used both, but these didn't turn out very strongly matcha-ey, i think because of all the butter and the eggs. also the tea i used was rather mild. i didn't want them too strong because i was afraid they would be too bitter, but i don't know if these were strong enough.

emily--thanks for dropping by, i love these little guys, they were fun to make.

zarah--(laughing) i'm waiting for the day i can say that to a waiter!

hi stel--these were pretty good, and the flavours subtle, i the kids will like them too.

molly--if i could send everyone a
totoro, i would! they were so much fun, i want to make dozens of different ones.

jessica--noooo, it's just totoro wanting to show off ;-)

Hi Santos - I'm not familiar with matcha, but I'm sure these are delicious - they sure look to be in any case! Your totoros are so cute! I was just visiting Maki's blog (she also used fondant) and am so wanting to play with some fondant of my own!!!

Hi Santos - I'm not familiar with matcha, but I'm sure these are delicious - they sure look to be in any case! Your totoros are so cute! I was just visiting Maki's blog (she also used fondant) and am so wanting to play with some fondant of my own!!!

Hi Santos - I'm not familiar with matcha, but I'm sure these are delicious - they sure look to be in any case! Your totoros are so cute! I was just visiting Maki's blog (she also used fondant) and am so wanting to play with some fondant of my own!!!

I so know what you mean about too many recipes. If I were to make one blogger's recipe a week, I'd still never try them all!

santos dear,
what's a good matcha powder you'd recommend? obsessive me wants to try this ASAP. THANKS for this lovely totoro cupcake...my kids swoooooned. i've got this lined up to bake after something with wattle seed which i just got...also, did you make the pistachio paste?

hello stel! i used a japanese brand with absolutely no english writing on it, so i don't know what it is! i think, though, it might be a koicha powder as it was very, very mild. i suggest that whatever brand you get, make a cup of tea with one teaspoonful of it before you use it in the batter, just so you have an idea of how strong it can get so you can kind of judge what it might be like. the pistachio paste is made by american almond products, and you can buy it at king arthur flour. it's a little pricey, $12 for 15 oz., but a can will last a very long time as you only need a few tablespoons. in fact, you might just want to use the accidental hedonist's recipe as you don't really need all that much. good luck! let me know how it turned out!

Santos, the cute factor of your cupcake is out of sight! Great job on the Totoros!

Cute Totoro! Ate, perhaps you can put up a step-by-step Totoro making post. I'm sure some of us can use that. :)

Cute Totoro! Ate, perhaps you can put up a step-by-step Totoro making post. I'm sure some of us can use that. :)

hi viv! thanks for stopping by. i had great fun making them.

karen--done!

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Hi Santos - sorry for the late reaction, I haven't visited your site for a while and missed all of your great creations! It's funny because I just made a post about matcha, I'm glad you like it too. Your totoro looks really sweet!

hi keiko! your matcha pannacotta sounds lovely!

what`s matcha?

hi judith! matcha is a type of powdered green tea.

Hi, i stumbled upon this and find your totoro super cute. Could u pls tell me, for the totoro which is only half body, what is the lightly brown bottom part made of - pistachio + cream?? tks_Kirsten

hello kirsten! that is equal parts of mascarpone cheese mixed with pistachio paste, and thinned with a little creme fraiche so it was easier to spread.

My friend forwarded me your blog. The sweets you made look very delicious. I would come back again. :)

hello chika-san! thank you for coming by. i hope to see you again :)

Man I love that Totoro! I would love to see the Catbus as well!

OMG!

Those are the most awesome cupcakes I've ever seen!

I love totoro!! My fave anime ever!

xox Sarah

I HAVE to invite my Japanese friend over to try this in my new matcha coloured bedroom come tea room. How did you get the black details on your Totoro?

ceridwen, here's a tutorial!

That is sooooo cool! I luv Totoro!!!! Thanks for the recipe and tutorial.

I wrote about these great cupcakes on my blog:
http://productbody.blogspot.com with a link to your groovy blog

They are wonderful!

Your cupcakes are beautiful. I love the flavor and Totoro. My Neighbor Totoro is one of our family's favorite movies. You did a wonderful job on making them.

Sheltie Girl @ Gluten a Go Go

thanks!

Oh my~ your cupcakes look soooo cute. But, I'm not too familiar with matcha. Would something like this work? baking matcha