Matcha Green Tea Mega-Cupcakes With Chocolate Frosting

There's no special tricks with those huge cupcakes you see in bakeries, just bigger cupcake molds to bake them in, Texas Muffin to be exact. Almost anything can get a complicated-tasting delicate matcha flavor with the addition of matcha powder that you can find online or in Asian grocery stores! I made these after my recent move as the first thing to make in my real oven as my old gigantic toaster couldn't fit the Texas Muffin pan. This is relatively simple to put together and comes out beautiful. The batter makes 5-6 Texas Muffin size cupcakes but you'll probably have some leftover frosting depending on how you spread or pipe it.

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Serves: 6
• Yields: 6 mega-cupcakes

Ingredients

• GREEN TEA CAKE

• 1⁄2 cup canola oil
• 1  cup sugar
• 3  egg whites (or 2 whole eggs)
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 15  g  matcha green tea powder (I used three 5g packets)
• 2  cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1  tablespoon baking powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt

• CHOCOLATE FROSTING

• 2 -3  cups confectioners' sugar, sifted (see directions)
• 1⁄2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
• 1⁄4 cup cocoa powder
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 -4  tablespoons  plain unsweetened soymilk

Directions

1. Whisk the oil, sugar, and egg whites (or eggs) together well.
2. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
3. Mix the vanilla and matcha powder with the wet ingredients.
4. Whisk in the dry ingredients and blend until there are no lumps and the batter is smooth.
5. Line a Texas Muffin pan with the right size paper or silicone cups and pour the batter in them with about 1/2" room at the top of the liner to allow for rising. (If using paper liners, use 2 per cup-- this size is very apt to leak.).
6. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until the tops have lightly browned. Run a cake tester through the center of each cupcake to make sure each one baked through. When they have fully baked, let cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes or until they are no longer warm to the touch.
7. Make the frosting while waiting for the cupcakes to cool off-- make sure the butter has softened for about 45 minutes then put in the bottom of a large bowl.
8. Put some confectioners' sugar, the cocoa powder, and vanilla over the butter and run an electric mixer through it, adding milk or soymilk as needed to make it run through smoothly. Add more confectioners' sugar if it gets runny. Keep repeating until it reaches a nice thick, creamy consistency.
9. Spread or pipe the frosting onto each large cupcake as much as you'd like. Green sprinkles or green sanding sugar make nice accents!