Green Tea Glaze with...something that's not green tea
I was baking green tea cupcakes (page 97 in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) with a friend a few months back when something bad happened: we ran out of matcha tea powder. Oh, there was just enough for the cupcakes themselves, but if we wanted to give them a green tea glaze (page 100), then man we were screwed. It wasn't going to happen. But we decided to make the best of it, divide the as-yet-unfinished glaze into small bowls, and mix in our own ingredients, 'cause what's baking without a little improvisation? Here was some coconut, there was some cocoa powder, maybe some spicy cocoa powder...
...and then she pulled out the wasabi.
WASABI.
Yeah, I had my doubts--enormous doubts--but, to make a long story short, it worked. It effing worked. Wasabi glaze on a cupcake. There's this little burst of flavor that lingers in the background ever so slightly when the rest of the cupcake takes over. Who'd've guessed?
Anyway, we've been experimenting with the recipe, off and on, for a few months now: the green tea muffin became your basic chocolate, we've adjusted the amount of wasabi, actually followed the directions and used confectioners' sugar instead of the regular stuff because grainy wasabi glaze doesn't work well, etc. And last night was supposed to be the final try, where we'd get the recipe right, but I did the unthinkable and forgot the recipe at home. Many thanks to mooglegrl for responding to my call of help.
The recipe (taken, once again from page 100 of VCTOtW) for Wasabi Glaze:
2 tablespoons margarine
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons rice milk
1/4 teaspoons almond extract
Drop of vanilla extract
3 - 3 1/2 TEASPOONS wasabi powder -OR- 1/2 TEASPOON wasabi paste*
With a fork, beat margarine to fluff, then mix in confectioners' sugar to form a crumbly mixture. Slowly beat in 1 tablespoon rice milk, almond extract, and vanilla. If icing is too thick to spread, pour in additional rice milk a teaspoon at a time and mix til desired consistency is reached. Add wasabi, mix well.
*NOTE* Mix in wasabi powder OR wasabi paste 1/2 teaspoon at a time, according to personal taste. After all, a single half-teaspoon of teaspoon of wasabi can really ruin it.
Happy baking!
...and then she pulled out the wasabi.
WASABI.
Yeah, I had my doubts--enormous doubts--but, to make a long story short, it worked. It effing worked. Wasabi glaze on a cupcake. There's this little burst of flavor that lingers in the background ever so slightly when the rest of the cupcake takes over. Who'd've guessed?
Anyway, we've been experimenting with the recipe, off and on, for a few months now: the green tea muffin became your basic chocolate, we've adjusted the amount of wasabi, actually followed the directions and used confectioners' sugar instead of the regular stuff because grainy wasabi glaze doesn't work well, etc. And last night was supposed to be the final try, where we'd get the recipe right, but I did the unthinkable and forgot the recipe at home. Many thanks to mooglegrl for responding to my call of help.
The recipe (taken, once again from page 100 of VCTOtW) for Wasabi Glaze:
2 tablespoons margarine
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons rice milk
1/4 teaspoons almond extract
Drop of vanilla extract
3 - 3 1/2 TEASPOONS wasabi powder -OR- 1/2 TEASPOON wasabi paste*
With a fork, beat margarine to fluff, then mix in confectioners' sugar to form a crumbly mixture. Slowly beat in 1 tablespoon rice milk, almond extract, and vanilla. If icing is too thick to spread, pour in additional rice milk a teaspoon at a time and mix til desired consistency is reached. Add wasabi, mix well.
*NOTE* Mix in wasabi powder OR wasabi paste 1/2 teaspoon at a time, according to personal taste. After all, a single half-teaspoon of teaspoon of wasabi can really ruin it.
Happy baking!