Wasabi and White Chocolate Cupcakes

This month is the 6 month anniversary of AlphaBakes. When Caroline and I started it back in Feb we would never have imagined the amazing response and support for our little blogging challenge - THANK YOU to everyone who has entered especially to our regular bakers.  We've had a lot of fun hosting these challenges and being awed and inspired each month with your creativity. As a special thank you and to celebrate our 6 months we have a giveaway for one lucky AlphaBakes entrant this month. Check out Caroline's blog for more details.  Here's a sneak preview of what you can win so get baking as the deadline is 25th July 2012. 

I recently posted Chocolate Whoopie pies as my first entry to this month's AlphaBakes as the letter is W. Not many ingredients or bakes start with or contain the letter W and initially I only came up with walnuts, white chocolate and whisky.  Then, inspiration struck and I thought W for Wasabi! Question is can I bake it into a cake? The answer is yes! It's already been done and I found this recipe on bakingmad.com

I have to say I was definitely sceptical about using wasabi in cake. I associate it with eating sushi, not baking! It was interesting to get everyone to guess what the key ingredient was.  Needless to say no one guessed correctly even when I hinted that the green frosting was a clue.  You can definitely smell the wasabi in the cake but the taste is very subtle. There is a slight aftertaste which you will recognise if you've ever tried wasabi.  The cake itself was moist and the white chocolate really complemented the wasabi well. If you are adventurous, I'd recommend adding an extra teaspoon of wasabi to the batter or even in the frosting for an extra kick! I may try it with salted caramel icing next time ala Marian Keyes in her book Saved by Cake.

I'm also entering these to Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked.  The theme for this month is cake stall cakes & bakes so I think these little cupcakes would be perfect. They may raise a few eyebrows though!

Finally, I'm entering them to Cupcake Tuesday hosted by Liz from Hoosier Homemade

  My key ingredients - wasabi and white chocolate.

After melting the white chocolate and butter - the fat will separate but don't worry, it will all come together I promise!

This is what it looks like after beating for a few minutes. Add the eggs then the dry ingredients.

Then a tablespoon of wasabi paste or a little more if you are feeling adventurous :)

Fresh from the oven - smells amazing and the cakes have a light, springy texture. 

I made a vanilla buttercream frosting and tinted it green and finished it with some green sugar sprinkles.

Recipe adapted slightly from bakingmad.com
Makes 10 cupcakes

For the cupcake

100g butter
100g white chocolate chips
100g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
75g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon wasabi paste

For the frosting

150g butter
350 - 400g icing sugar, sifted
1 heaped teaspoon vanilla bean paste
green food colouring

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Place the chocolate chips in a medium sized pan and heat gently over low heat.
• Stir in the butter in cubes and continue stirring until it's all melted. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar.
• Allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
• The mixture will look 'strange' as shown as the fat separates but don't worry it's normal for it to look like this!
• Use an electric mixer or a handheld mixer to beat for about 10 minutes and it should become a smooth lump.
• Add in the eggs one at a time and mix well between each addition.
• Add in the vanilla extract, flour and baking powder and mix well.
• Finally stir in the wasabi paste.
• Scoop the dough into cupcake cases and bake for approximately 20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely on wire racks.
• To make the frosting, beat all the ingredients together in an electric mixer until smooth.
• Add the green food colouring at the end, a little at a time until you get the colour you want. 
• Pipe the frosting on to the cooled cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles.