Bubble Tea Cupcake with Brown Sugar Recipe by Karrie Wang

Images by Karrie Wang

Karrie made these fun cupcakes for her son to celebrate his ninth birthday. While he doesn’t have quite a sweet tooth, he does love bubble tea and these cupcakes hit the spot. Get some pipettes from Amazon and fill them with liquid brown sugar. While boba is optional in this recipe, we recommend you add them, and drizzle the brown sugar all over them for a truly sweet experience! As these cupcakes were made for kids, Karrie used decaffeinated tea bags. Feel free to change up the flavors. Use Earl Grey or Jasmine tea bags, and let us know what you think! Happy baking, fam!

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Bubble Tea Cupcake with Brown Sugar

Yield

18 cupcakes

Author

Karrie Wang

Prep time

25 Min

Cook time

20 Min

Total time

45 Min

My older son has never been a big sweets person, but he loves bubble tea! For his 9th birthday this year, I wanted to get creative and make him something he would enjoy. He inspired me to think outside the box and I came up with these Bubble Tea Cupcakes with Brown Sugar. He absolutely loved it! He thought squeezing in brown sugar with the pipette was “so cool.”

Ingredients US Metric

• Dry ingredients:
• 1 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Wet ingredients:
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup whole milk plain yogurt
• ½ cup milk tea (whole milk with 2 black tea bags, steeped)

For the frosting

• 1 ⅔ cup whole milk
• 4-5 black tea bags
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 sticks of unsalted butter (best when it’s not completely softened at room temperature but not too hard either)
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

For the brown Sugar

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• ½ cup of water
• And Boba is optional but why not!

Instructions

1. Heat up the whole milk in a small pot, add 2 black tea bags. Remove from heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Set aside.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, slowly mix together all the wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients in 3 batches to the dry ingredients and mix.
4. Finally, remove the teabags and pour the milk tea into your mixture, combining well. Line your cupcake pan and fill the batter about halfway.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), place the cupcake pan in the middle rack and bake for 17 minutes. Makes about 18 cupcakes!

To make the frosting

1. Heat up the whole milk in a small pot and add 4-5 black tea bags (use less if you prefer a lighter tea taste). Take it off the heat and let the tea steep for about 30 minutes, with a lid. Move teabags when done.
2. In a separate small pot, add together the flour, cornstarch and salt. Mix together. Then place the pot over low heat and slowly pour in the milk tea while constantly whisking it. Keep whisking the mixture until you get a smooth pudding-like consistency. We want to get rid of any lumps! Takes a few minutes. Remove from heat. Let it cool slightly. Place some plastic cling wrap on top of the mixture to prevent skin from forming. Now, let it cool completely.
3. Next, in a stand mixer, add in the butter and mix it until it becomes creamy (about 1 minute), then slowly add in the powdered sugar. Do this in small batches to avoid a cloud of sugar coming out of the stand mixer! Once it’s mixed well, add in the cooled tea (pudding-like) mixture. Combine well and it should look like smooth buttercream!

To make the brown sugar and add boba

1. Add ingredients together in a small bowl, bring to a boil, and mix. Let cool before adding it into a pipette. Adjust the amount of sugar-based on your level of sweetness preference.
2. Boba (optional) You can use store-bought ones and follow the instructions on the package.

Notes:

Tip: I used Lipton decaffeinated black tea bags since I am giving this to kids.

Recommended Products:

Modern Asian Baking at Home Cookbook

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Recipe COPYRIGHT © respective recipe developer/author.

boba, boba cupcakes, cupcakes, sweet recipes

dessert, snack, sweets, Asian Desserts

Asian, Asian Fusion

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About the Baker

When Karrie Wang’s older son was about 18 months old, their family took a trip to Paris. The 18-month-old was a little picky eater who never enjoyed sweets that much; however, when he had authentic French macarons for the first time, his eyes lit up! He wanted to eat it all.

Since then mommy Karrie went on a quest to learn how to make these little delicate treats. It started with the macarons but it has blossomed her passion for baking. Her motivation has always remained the same: to bring smiles to her children’s faces. As a full-time working mom, and now to 3 boys, Karrie was always rushing between the office and school drop-offs. But this all changed during the pandemic when Karrie and family were all forced to slow down and stay home, and take a breather. Phew. Now, baking has become a regular family activity for Karrie and her lovely family. They love to bake and eat their baked goodies for dessert after dinner!

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