Good morning!
Even with all my efforts to manage my time better, my life doesn’t seem to have gotten any less busy. Today I woke up and got ready to head to my weekly yoga class at lululemon, and I decided to double-check the details of today’s blogger meet-up before I headed out. Luckily I did, because somehow I got it in my head that it was at 3:00, but it was actually at 12:00! I knew that if I went to yoga there was no way I was making it to the meet-up, so I had to skip this week 
Even without yoga I was cutting it pretty close, because I still had to bake my contribution and get ready.
I inhaled a taro almond bun from T&T (which actually turned out to be a custard almond bun, boo!) -
And got started on my dish! Obviously I was bringing a dessert 
I used the recipe from here, but made a few modifications based on what I had in my kitchen and added a filling to make it a little more fun 
The result was pretty spectacular -
Green Tea Cupcakes with Anko Filling
makes 12 cupcakes (with a lot of extra anko)
Ingredients
Cupcake:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup soy milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp matcha powder
Anko Filling:
- 1 cup dried adzuki beans
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
Green Tea Buttercream Frosting:
- 1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp soy milk
- 1 tbsp matcha powder
Directions
- Make the anko ahead of time by cooking adzuki beans according to package directions until soft, and then simmering with sugar and salt until a thick paste is formed. Store in a sealed container and let chill overnight or until needed.
- Mix the canola oil, sugar, soy milk and egg together in a large bowl.
- Mix remaining cupcake ingredients together in a seperate bowl, and slowly add to the wet ingredients while mixing.
- Place paper liners in a cupcake tray, and fill about 1/3 full of batter.
- Roll about 1-2 tsp of cold anko into balls, and press gently into centre of batter.
- Add enough batter to cover the ball of anko (approximately filling 2/3 of the liner).
- Bake in a 350*F oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
- While cupcakes are baking, mix together all icing ingredients in a food processor.
- Once cupcakes cool, ice as desired.
I had to taste-test for quality purposes
I really liked how these turned out! They were nice and cakey, the inside wasn’t too dry, and the top had just a little crunch to it. At this point I was running pretty late, so I had to pack them up quickly and hop in the car. I felt bad because I was pretty late to the meet-up, and just caught the tail end of everyone eating.
The food looked delicious though, and there was a huge spread!
I had some assorted salads with fruit and pita on my first plate.
And grabbed some more cantaloupe with a black bean brownie, some chocolate avocado pudding and a tofu ball. Everything was delicious, but my favourites were the edamame salad and the tofu balls I hope Susan posts the recipe for her tofu creation! We spent some time talking, and I chatted with Morgan a bit about the HLS. I’m excited to see her speak at one of the seminars there!
There was also a random guy walking on a tightrope, who we all took not-so-discreet pictures of -
Crazy!
After the meet-up I didn’t really want to head home so I decided to walk up the street a bit and check out the shops. I considered staying to try out the Fresh that was on the corner, but wasn’t really in the mood for a meal and would rather have my first time there be enjoyed with others I ended up stopping at a Starbucks for an iced coffee and some free wifi for blogging.
The iced coffee was so good – really bold and creamy! I used to drink it sweetened, but I’ve grown accustomed to no sugar in my coffee now. Who would’ve thought I’d see the day where I don’t like white bread and take my coffee unsweetened? 
I’m not sure what the rest of my night has in store, but I have a feeling several more cupcakes will be consumed. Bahahaha.
