matcha yoghurt chiffon cupcakes

These matcha yoghurt chiffon cupcakes are put together with leftover egg whites from making some hollandaise sauce; the ever available low fat plain yoghurt in the fridge, plus a new can of matcha green tea powder.

After having tried the Plaster Blaster prata (prata served with ham, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce) at the Springleaf prata place, my elder son has been pestering me to try our hands at making our own hollandaise sauce. He even picked up this cookbook 'Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman' which I borrowed from the library to learn how to prepare the sauce. This is probably the very first cookbook he has read. I suspect the title must have caught his eyes when I left the book on the coffee table. You see, he likes or rather love mathematics, and of course he enjoys good food...it doesn't has to be an expensive gourmet dish as long as it tastes good or suits his delicate palate. I won't elaborate on our hollandaise sauce experiment here but he did manage to pull together his own version of plaster blaster prata with frozen pre-made prata, his newly acquired skill on poaching eggs with cling wraps, and the resulting not too bad (but still lacking something?) hollandaise sauce.

Okay, back to the green tea part...

the matcha powder which my baking friend bought from Kyoto must be of very good quality. It is very fragrant as it gives off a nice sweet aroma when I left it on the counter before sieving with the flour. The cupcakes came out of the oven in a nice shade of green too.

The cupcakes were tender and moist with a delightful matcha flavour and just a hint of tang from the yoghurt. The only problem with these cute cuppies is that it takes a lot of self restraint to refrain from reaching out for more ;)

Matcha Yoghurt Chiffon Cupcakes

Ingredients:
(makes 12 cupcakes)

3 egg yolks (use large eggs)
25g caster sugar
40ml vegetable oil (I used extra light olive oil)
80g plain yoghurt (I used low fat yoghurt)
80g cake flour
10g matcha green tea powder

4 egg whites (use large eggs)
55g caster sugar

Method:

Sieve together matcha green tea powder and flour, set aside.
Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl. With a manual balloon whisk, whisk the yolks a little. Add in sugar and whisk to combine.
Add in vegetable oil gradually, whisk to combine.
Add in yoghurt. Whisk to combine. Sieve over the matcha and flour mixture. Whisk till the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over mix. The batter will be very thick. Set aside.
In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with a handheld electric mixer on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add half of the sugar amount and turn to high speed and beat the mixture. Continue to add in the remaining sugar and beat until the egg whites reaches the soft peak stage.The soft peak stage is reached when the peaks of the whites curl over and droop slightly. The egg whites should appear smooth and glossy. (Do not over beat the whites still stiff, it is better to beat the whites still soft peaks for easy folding with the yolk batter.)
Add the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended (I prefer to use a balloon whisk to do the folding). The yolk batter will be very thick, fold gently without deflating the beaten egg whites. The finished batter should be thick and voluminous, not thin and runny.
Spoon batter into paper muffin cups till 90% full. Arrange filled muffin cups on a baking tray. Tap the tray lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 15~20 mins, till the top is slightly browned or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove tray from oven and immediately bang the tray together with the cupcakes on the table top 2 to 3 times. This helps to prevent the cupcakes from shrinking. Let cool completely on wire rack.

Recipe source: adapted from 好吃戚风蛋糕轻松上手, 福田淳子