These Matcha Wasabi Cupcakes are a perfect start to the warm spring weather! A matcha and ginger cupcake pair with the biting wasabi peas and a matcha frosting for an odd, but perfect match!
I know I’m one to experiment, like with bourbon and bacon or red velvet and pumpkin spice, or spinach, but this is a new one for me! I’ve been conspiring with the concept a two-green ingredient dessert. Sure there’s mint… but why not something uncharted? Wasabi in dessert? Sounds like an ingredient in a Chopped mystery dessert basket.
Yet it works! Peas are quintessential spring vegetables, they’re some of the first produce to be harvested in the spring. I found wasabi peas to be the perfect carrier of that spicy wasabi flavor. To blend the heated notes of wasabi, I added a bit of ground ginger into the cupcakes and frosting. Ginger, like wasabi, is a root that delivers that warming peppery sensation.
A note about matcha. You may think that there isn’t enough matcha, but you have to factor in the power of too much. Matcha is similar to cocoa powder. Matcha is very drying and astringent. Too much matcha leads to an unpleasant bitter dehydrating effect on the mouth. One tablespoon will give you just the right amount of subtle, delicate earthiness.
These Matcha Wasabi Cupcakes are just the thing to change up the predictable cupcake routine!
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- For the Matcha Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon matcha powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- Green food gel
- 1 large egg, plus 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup wasabi peas
- For the Matcha Ginger Frosting:
- 1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons matcha powder
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 5 teaspoons whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- green food gel
- 4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-tray cupcake pan with liners, set aside.
- Whisk flour, matcha, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, and salt together, set aside
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, and green food gel at medium speed until fluffy and smooth, about 3 to 4 minutes on medium-high speed. Scrape bowl and paddle as needed. Add egg and egg whites beating to combine, about 2 minutes. Gradually add flour in 3 batches alternately with the buttermilk and vanilla in 2 batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Fold in 3/4 of the wasbai peas.
- Fill each cupcake liner ¾ of the way full. Sprinkle with remaining wasabi peas. Bake until the tops look formed and a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few moist, not wet crumbs, about 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Beat butter in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl and paddle, gradually add powdered sugar followed by matcha, ginger, salt, milk, vanilla, and food gel. Raise speed to medium-high, beating until smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. With mixer on medium, add cubed cream cheese, a cube at a time to incorporate. Don’t raise the speed too high, you don’t want an over whipped frosting.