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



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.



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.



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.