Green Tea Cupcakes

I am on a new quest; I am going to attempt to make all of my close friends cupcakes for their birthdays so that I can practice baking. If I bake something and it sticks around here, we will pick on it for a week. The only problem with this plan is how many of my friends and family have March, April, or May birthdays! These cupcakes kicked off the trend back in March, and they were made for my friend Meghan. Meghan loves green tea, so I thought these would be perfect. This recipe is from Designs By Gollum, and I was linked to them via Foodgawker. Foodgawker is one of my favorite sites. I highly suggest that you check it out, but make sure you do not look at it when you are hungry! Anyway, I was bit disappointed with this recipe. They just didn't taste strong enough for me. If I was to make them again, I think I would add stronger tea to the mix. On a positive note, the great thing about this recipe was how simple it was.

You will need:
*1 box butter cake mix
*2/3 cup green tea, cooled
*3 eggs
*1 stick unsalted butter, softened
*1 cup chopped pecans
and for the icing:
*confectioners' sugar
*green tea

1)Preheat the oven; Mix batter according to the directions on the box, but substitute the tea for water. Fold in raisins and pecans.
2) Line cupcake tin. Pour batter into cupcake liners, and bake 18-20 minutes.
3) Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
4) For the icing, mix green tea with confectioners’ sugar. You may dunk the cupcakes or spoon the glaze over them to cover. (The original recipe recommends food coloring here. I skipped this step, but you could add that and more sugar to make a more noticeable icing.)