Vegan Matcha Green Tea Cupcakes

Take the power of matcha tea to another level with these vegan matcha green tea cupcakes. Matcha is loaded with antioxidants and other health benefits. These are the perfect cupcakes to eat while you sip on a cup of tea.

St. Patrick’s Day is just a few weeks away and my mind is on all things green; green grass, green leaves in the trees, fresh and crisp green salads, green beer, and a green Chicago River. The former things in this list are really in the forefront of my mind, because my world is white, gray, and bare at the moment. Hopefully – fingers crossed tight – by the time St. Patrick’s Day arrives, the snow will be gone, the grass will be turning green, crocus will be blooming, and the tulips and daffodils will be ready to pop. While I wait for this to happen, I drink green tea. Matcha to be exact. Lots of it.

The other day, as I was sipping away on my third cup – watching it snow outside, again – I realized that I wanted a cupcake. That’s what snow and cold does to people, it makes us want to eat cupcakes, or cookies, or anything that’s baked and comforting. It’s time for sunshine and green landscapes, because we all need to stop with the heavy comfort food and start eating fresh green salads. Am I right?

So as I was sipping on my matcha tea, and craving a cupcake, I looked into the murky greenness of my cup and I thought, why not make a matcha cupcake with green frosting for St. Patrick’s Day? The tea would make the cupcake somewhat healthy, and the color would be in the spirit of the holiday, and my craving would be happily satisfied. So that’s what I did, I made vegan matcha tea cupcakes. And they were delicious.

Take a look at the color of this gorgeous tea. It’s beautiful, and it’s filled with antioxidants and other good things. Matcha is made up of ground tea leaves so when you drink it, or in this case eat it, you get all of the benefits of the tea, not just the fraction that you’d get from steeping the leaves and then removing them from the water. It’s also said that this tea will boost your metabolism and burn fat. Does that mean that the calories in the cupcake are negated? We can pretend that’s true, but just this once. 😉

The cupcakes baked up nice and moist, they are a little dense, but that’s how I like them. If you like a really light and fluffy cupcake – reminiscent of store bought box cakes – then you might think this is more like the texture of a muffin. Let me know what you think. Regardless of what you think about the texture, I’m confident that you’ll like the flavor. It’s not too sweet, and you can’t taste the tea, although you know it’s there by the slightly green color. The frosting is a basic buttercream with a couple of drops of natural food coloring. I sprinkled a little desiccated coconut on top to make it pretty.

Let’s talk about the adorable tea cup cupcake molds. Aren’t they the cutest?! When Alex moved back home after graduating from college she brought a lot of kitchen stuff home. Several of the boxes are still stored in our house because she now lives in a studio apartment and doesn’t have room for all of those gadgets. Lucky me! Every once in a while I go scavenge from them and find the cutest things, like these silicone cupcake molds. They couldn’t be any more perfect for making vegan matcha tea cupcakes, don’t you agree?

If you make these for St. Patrick’s Day or just because you need a matcha tea cupcake fix, come back and let me know what you think of this lovely dessert. I love hearing from you. Xoxo

Get your own tea cup molds, just click on the photo.  Or go for the St. Patrick’s Day theme.  This is the natural food dye that I use. Matcha tea, it seems like it’s ridiculously expensive, but you only need a tiny bit to make a cup. It goes a long way.
                           

Linda and Alex at Veganosity

Yields 16

Matcha Green Tea Cupcakes

Take the power of matcha tea to another level with these matcha green tea cupcakes. Matcha is loaded with antioxidants and other health benefits. These are the perfect cupcakes to eat while you sip on a cup of tea.

15 minPrep Time

50 minCook Time

1 hr, 5 Total Time

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Ingredients

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of matcha tea powder
• 1/2 cup of apple sauce + 2 teaspoon of baking powder – stir until the apple sauce expands and is light and fluffy. This is your egg replacer
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup of almond milk + 1 tablespoon of lemon juice – stir to combine
• Frosting
• 1 stick of vegan butter – I use Earth Balance soy free
• 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 teaspoon of almond milk
• 2 drops of natural green food coloring (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° line a muffin pan with muffin papers
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients until they’re fully combined and set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl beat the coconut oil and sugar on a high setting until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Add the vanilla and the egg replacer to the coconut mixture and beat on a high setting for two minutes.
5. Add one third of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and mix on a slow setting. Add one third of the milk. Continue adding the flour mix and milk in thirds until all are just combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a spatula to finish mixing. Don’t over beat.
6. Spoon the cupcake batter into the muffin tin and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350° and continue baking for 35 to 40 more minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.
7. Place on a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.
8. Frosting
9. Beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Add the milk and food coloring and mix until completely blended.

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