Light Matcha strawberry Muffin

Slept at 3am yesterday because I was searching for something 'light' to bake for the family and I found a recipe with a combination of both Green tea and cupcake. I like! After much feedback from my family, I've come to realise that my family, including myself prefer cakes that are much lighter in texture. Something not too heavy and filling. I thought this would be light, because for some strange reason I kept thinking about japanese cake (even though this recipe was adapted from Martha Steward). The result however was nothing close to light, in fact, I found it pretty heavy still. But the taste and texture was good. So i'll definitely bake this again, perhaps with some adjustments.

According to the recipe, it says, matcha powder but I used green tea steeped in milk instead because the matcha powder was very expensive and was gonna expire much sooner than I could possibly finish using.

This is my first attempt at making pretty cupcakes because I would like to sell them and be called angietanPIE. ( Okay not funny..) The main reason I stayed up late was also because I was finding out how to make fondants. I know its not reflected in the cupcake below because I have yet to make/ find any fondants yet! So I decided to use the buttercream recipe as suggested, which I failed 3 times. For some reason my butter cream was stiff for only 1 min before it turns watery again. The picture below is the little amount of butter cream that I was able to extract before it became a mashy lump of watery cottage cheesy thing.

The inside is filled with strawberry jam :)

I bought all these tips thinking that I'll be able to experiment with the buttercream today. It did not happen. Look how sad and lonely they look.

I half this recipe to make 6 muffins instead ( here is the original recipe from the sweetest kitchen. )

Matcha Cupcakes
Adapted from Billy’s Bakery & Martha Stewart
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

3/4 cup + 2 Tbs cake flour, not self-rising

1/2 C + 2 Tbs all-purpose flour

1 C sugar

1 1/2 Tsps baking powder

1/2 Tsp salt

1 Tbs fresh matcha powder ( I used 2 green bags of green tea, but would suggest 3/4 tea bags for stronger flavor)

1/2 C unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 large eggs

1/2 C whole milk

1/2 Tsp vanilla extract

Strawberry Jam or preserves

Method

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and matcha powder; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until the cubes of butter are peanut-sized or a little smaller.

In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cupcakes have cooled completely, using the cone method, fill cupcakes with strawberry jam or preserves.

Ah ma's house

This was my first dinner when I got back home to singapore. (Which was a few days ago.) Ever since I started this food blog, I've been a more conscience eater, and think about taking pictures of almost everything I eat. So i've decided to take a picture, for the first time, of what I usually have for dinner almost every other night. In our family we have dinner at our grandma's place and the place is called, ah ma's house. I think we use ah ma (grandmother) instead of ah gong (grandfather) because its usually my ah ma who cooks the tastiest food, albeit not the healthiest.

This is usually what my grandma has for breakfast/ lunch. Pickled vegetable and ikan bilis (dried anchovies). I use to like this when I was younger, especially eaten with porridge.

This is a typical dinner I usually have. Some vegetables, ( the orange thing is pumpkin, cooked in a savory way) meat, (the dark brown dish at the back, braised pork) and sides, ( this is one of my favorite way of frying egg, with light soya sauce and the dish on the right hand corner is tofu, fried with garlic)

People usually say grandmas cook one of the best food. I sometimes wonder, will I be the only grandma who can't cook? It seems, I am able to bake some stuff, but when it comes to actual cooking, i'll probably serve burnt food or burnt the kitchen down altogether. Well at my ah ma's house, its the maid who cooks now, instead of my grandma, and before we had a nanny who would cook. My grandma usually cooks during big occasions, so..hm..I dont really need to learn proper chinese cooking right? (will not be cool if Mother Tan sees this because she wants me to take up cooking lessons man.)

Does not look very nice, but actually taste great!

Strawberry Muesli Muffin

My friend, friend told me about a recipe she found in a women's magazine and suggested that I try it out. It looked really healthy with all the oats and berries in the ingredients. Since I am back home, where about half of the family is pretty much concern about sugar intake level. I decided to give this a try. Instead of using berries, which is really expensive here, I decided to use frozen strawberries instead.

The strawberries looked so good even though they were frozen strawberries. So shiny and juicy. (actually they taste pretty sour.)

Before entering the oven.

Fresh out of the oven. The dash of red looks really pretty and simply screams "hello summer"!

Thought it was not sweet enough, because the frozen strawberries were pretty sour. So I added some strawberry jam for added sweetness! Pretty healthy breakfast I must say.

Here is the recipe, (Made some changes to the original ingredients)

Makes 12

165g flour

80g oats ( I used Muesli instead.)

55g brown sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, extra

15g baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

235ml fresh milk ( used 1 cup yoghurt instead)

1 egg

45ml Vegetable oil

2 tbsps butter

290g fresh or frozen berries ( Used strawberry instead)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 220 deg cel. Meanwhile, grease a 12-hole muffin pan and line with paper cupcake liners

2. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Stir in milk, egg, oil, butter and extra brown sugar. Fold in berries. Continue mixing until well-combined

3. Spoon mixture into the prepared muffin pan, filling each paper case only 2/3 full.

4. Bake for 25 - 30mins or until golden brown. Serve Warm.

*If you prefer muffin that are less sweet, leave out the 1/4 cup brown sugar, extra

*If using frozen berries, thaw them and drain the excess water before folding into muffin mixture

*Its advisable to use extra brown sugar if berries are sour.