Mango Cupcakes with Matcha Buttercream Frosting

We could all use a cupcake this week, right?

So I finally picked up some matcha, a finely ground green tea powder. It's a little on the pricey side, but it will last a long time and it's not only used for making tea. Years ago while vacationing in San Francisco, I tasted matcha gelato in Japantown. I still remember its pale green appearance and mild tea flavor.  

There's a recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for matcha cupcakes, but since mangoes are so cheap right now and I love them, I decided to make mango cupcakes and use matcha in the frosting. I used cupcake and frosting recipes in VCTOtW for my template here.

Mango Cupcakes with Matcha Buttercream Frosting

Makes 1 dozen cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

Flesh of 1 ripe mango, roughly chopped

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c nondairy milk

1/4 c canola oil

2 t vanilla

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 T cornstarch

3/4 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 350F and get your cupcake tin ready with liners. In a blender, puree the mango, sugar, milk, oil, and vanilla. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour the mango mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Spoon batter into cupcake tin, filling the liners 3/4 full. Bake for 22 minutes and remove from cupcake tin, cooling on a wire rack.

For the frosting:

1/2 c vegetable shortening

1/2 c vegan margarine

3 1/2 c confectioner's sugar

1 T matcha green tea powder

1 1/2 t vanilla 

1/4 nondairy milk

Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. Beat the shortening and margarine together until combined. Add confectioner's sugar and matcha powder and beat for 3 minutes. Add vanilla and milk, beat for 5-7 minutes until fluffy. When the cupcakes are completely cool, frost them. Please note, this frosting recipe assumes you are going to pipe fluffy heaps of frosting onto your cupcakes. If you are just going to frost them normally, halve the amounts.

The frosting looks a bit weird...I have a very small selection of cake decorating tips. I need some different ones. No complaints about the flavor though! I've always had a hard time making frostings. They've been the wrong consistency, too runny or not smooth enough. At last, success! 

Two keys to good frosting: have all your ingredients at room temperature, and make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting them. If you can't wait very long, stick 'em in the freezer for a few minutes!