Green Tea Cupcakes Recipe

I adore cupcakes. Especially tiny ones where I feel justified eating … more than one. When our hospitality chair announced they were doing an Asian theme for the teacher appreciation dinners, I immediately tried to figure out how to make an Asian inspired cupcake.

Green tea ice cream being one of my favorite not overly sweet desserts, I knew I had to make a green tea cupcakes.

Mini cupcakes would be perfect for this, I figured, since teachers have a whole buffet to choose from and often get too full to really indulge in a heavy big dessert. They’re cute, portable to take back to their classrooms, and yummy.

The fact they they’re relatively unique in terms of what the teacher dinners usually include, as well.

I adapted my favorite cupcake recipe to fit this, and I baked them up. I loved how perfect they turned out – beautifully round on top, a hint of a green tea flavor, but nothing too overwhelming. They were moist without falling apart, and I knew I had a winner.

These got topped with a matcha buttercream frosting that I shared in another post, and they were ready to go. I made mini cupcakes, and this made plenty for a party.

This would also make great “normal” size cupcakes, in which case you’d want to increase the baking time to 20-25 minutes but otherwise the recipe doesn’t need to change too much. Personally, I think these are perfect as mini cupcakes and wouldn’t change thing about them.

And yes, the teachers loved them. They went perfectly with the other items they were served, and it was a fun sweet treat that wasn’t too heavy by the end of the meal.

I did manage to sneak a few home with me, but not as many as I had hoped. I’m currently hoarding them in my freezer to dole out when I get a craving.

How to Make Green Tea Cupcakes

The biggest “trick” to making these green tea cupcakes is to infuse the green tea flavor into your cupcake. Rather than boiling water and making tea, I wanted to gently infuse the taste of the green tea into the milk that I already use for my cupcakes.

Heat your milk in a saucepan over medium low heat on the stove with green tea bags in the milk. Do NOT let it boil, but just simmer the milk lightly for about ten minutes.

Try to avoid any bubbles except very small ones at the edges so you don’t create a skin on top of your milk. When you have a gorgeous brown color, your infused milk is ready.

Set your milk aside to cool a bit while you prep the rest of your cupcake batter. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease your mini cupcake pans or place liners in them.

This recipe makes 72 mini cupcakes as written, so feel free to cut it in half if needed. For a party, this is perfect, however.

From there, the recipe for green tea cupcakes truly follows your normal cupcake making.

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. You want to incorporate a lot of air here to make the cupcakes as soft and risen as possible when they’re baked.

Add your eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. Add the salt and baking powder, ensuring they’re well incorporated. Scrape down the sides with a spatula.

Add one cup of the flour (or half a cup if you’re halving the recipe) and stir until just combined. Add half your milk and the vanilla and mix again until just combined.

Repeat with the next third of the flour and milk and last third of the flour, alternating adding ingredients and mixing the batter gently until it is just combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of your bowl between each addition.

Using your small cookie scoop (that you sprayed with nonstick spray because you know about this awesome baking hack), scoop the batter into your mini cupcake tin, filling each one about two-thirds full.

Place in your preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 13-16 minutes or until your cake tester comes out clean. Let them cool on a wire rack in the pans for 10 minutes before removing them and letting them cool the rest of the way on your cooling rack.

Once they’re fully cool, go ahead and frost them. I highly recommend this easy matcha buttercream frosting recipe. It was the perfect pairing!

Have you ever had green tea cupcakes? What is your favorite flavor cupcake?

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