I made more cupcakes!

Honestly, I’ve reached the point in this pandemic where I may have burned myself out on baking for a while. I almost turned into a little, one-woman bake shop during my unemployment, and it’s time to lay off for a minute. Plus, I’m really enjoying all the fresh summer fruit at the moment!

And, yes, that’s right, I got a new job! I’m relieved and grateful and so, so lucky, but now someone is actually paying me to do other things during the day instead of turning on my oven.

Before I started my baking hiatus, I did manage to turn out some pretty spectacular cupcakes using one of my early summer favorites, rhubarb! I bought a few stalks sometime in May (I think it was May, who knows anymore?) and cooked them down into a lovely compote flecked with vanilla, and then since I had no plan for it, tucked it away in the freezer until inspiration struck. It didn’t take long, and I soon realized I wanted to pair the rhubarb with a matcha cake and some sort of glazed frosting.

I had some leftover white chocolate glaze in the freezer from a failed cake experiment earlier this year, and used the last of it on my first batch of these, but I felt like the white chocolate was competing too much with the rhubarb and the delicate, subtle matcha flavor of the cake, so I swapped it for a plain vanilla glaze to highlight the vanilla in the filling, and I think it was the right choice.

And let me take a minute to highlight the cake itself. I went for an adaptation of Stella Parks’s white mountain cake because 1) I had all the ingredients and 2) I wanted to use a cake recipe without egg yolks to really let the matcha flavor shine. After scaling her recipe waaaay down, it worked perfectly, and the texture of these cupcakes is sublime. They are light and fluffy, and the matcha flavor is delicate. In fact, if you are going for a full punch of green tea flavor, these are not the cupcakes you are looking for. But I really love how you can tell it’s there, but the matcha compliments the rhubarb while still letting it shine.

And, finally, I topped these with freeze-dried strawberry and black sesame seeds, mostly because I thought it would be pretty. The garnish is totally unnecessary to the final flavor of the cupcakes, but I think it makes them look like Hello Kitty cupcakes, which is very cute, so why not?

I know rhubarb season is all but over, but I am still seeing hothouse rhubarb in some stores, and maybe you also smartly froze some for later? If so, I suggest spinning up a batch of these.

Oh, and the best thing about this recipe is it only makes enough for at most half a dozen cupcakes! As we continue to isolate and minimize social interactions, it’s the perfect recipe to make for just yourself or your family. I vote just for yourself though, you may not want to share!

Matcha Cupcakes with Rhubarb Filling and Vanilla Glaze

This small-batch recipe for cupcakes is perfect for one or two people or small groups, and uses up those last bits of baking ingredients.

Makes 4-6 cupcakes, but can be easily doubled.

For the Rhubarb Filling (makes extra):

• 8 oz rhubarb (about 2 stalks depending on size)

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 vanilla bean pod, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out

For the Matcha Cupcakes (adapted very liberally from Stella Parks):

• 1/2 cup bleached cake flour

• 1/2 tbs matcha (food grade)

• 2 tbs unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1/2 oz coconut oil, room temperature

• 1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tsp sugar

• 1/4 tsp baking powder

• 1/8 tsp baking soda

• scant 1/8 tsp kosher salt

• 1 egg white

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1/4 cup buttermilk

For the Vanilla Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 2-3 tbs milk or cream

• 1 tsp vanilla

• dried strawberries, for garnish (optional)

• black sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

1. Make the rhubarb filling: toss the rhubarb and sugar together in a medium pot and let sit for 10 minutes. Put the pot over medium heat and add in the vanilla bean seeds and the pod. Cook for ten minutes or until the rhubarb is falling apart. Remove the vanilla pod and set aside to cool completely. Filling can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the fridge or even frozen. Make sure to bring back to room temperature before filling cupcakes.

2. Make the cupcakes: Heat oven to 350 degrees and line 6 cupcake tins with baking cups (see note). Sift flour and matcha together and set aside.

3. To the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter, coconut oil, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until with the paddle attachment on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg white and beat to fully combine, then add the vanilla.

4. With mixer on low speed, add the 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the buttermilk in alternate batches, starting with the flour and ending with the buttermilk. Divide batter between baking cups and bake 13-15 minutes, until golden on top and toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely.

5. When ready to fill, use a cupcake corer or the bottom of a large piping tip to cut a hole out of the top of the cupcakes. Make sure not to cut all the way to the bottom! Fill, 1/2 tsp at a time, until the filling reaches the top of each cupcake. Set aside while you make the glaze. The filling may settle a bit into each cupcake and you can add more if needed to reach the tops of the holes.

6. Make the glaze: in a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk or cream to a smooth consistency, then add the vanilla and whisk in. Divide as much glaze as you like between each cupcake and decorate as desired with garnishes, if using.

Notes:

• If you want slightly taller cupcakes, you can divide batter between four baking cups instead of 6. I like the slightly shorter cupcakes you get from portioning into 6 cupcakes, for a better ratio of rhubarb to cake, and the fact they don’t cup all the way up the sides of the baking cups, leaving you a nice lip to hold the glaze in.