Valentine's Day.

What a dramatic god damn day.

Five years olds are showing their first signs of affection by giving out hand-made note cards and conversation hearts. A whole slew of teens are going on awkward as hell dates, trying to kiss with braces, and dealing with the anxieties of puppy love and relationships. People are proposing, breaking up, having stupidly expensive dinners and buying even more expensive flowers. Expectations are everywhere - do this to show your love, buy this to make it special - yadayadayada. Like, damn sis, what a holiday.

I don't give the day much weight because capitalism/hetero-sexism/laziness/being poor - BUT - I'll happily eat a rose cupcakes, get drunk on champagne with Matt, and cuddle Fox until I'm totally unconscious. That's what this weekend would have been like when I was testing this recipe if it hadn't been Mardi Gras weekend. So instead, it was something like: eat a rose cupcake, run to the liquor store, bike to the parade route, serve mixed drinks to friends, bike to the French Quarter, dance, eat fried chicken, dance some more, show up at home at 2 a.m., eat another rose cupcake, fall asleep. I guess the morale of all of this is, eat these cupcakes with someone to show your love, or eat them as drunk food while your dog gives you the "judging you, girl," eye and your boyfriend falls asleep on the couch. Either way, they're real real delicious.

This year for Valentine's day I'm pretty sure Matt is working, so my night will most likely be spent with one of my five other boyfriends or baking and cleaning up the house cause it's gotten a little too messy up in here. Check out the recipe below and have a fun week, whether you'll be celebrating V day or not!

Matcha Rose Cupcakes

prep time 15 minutes // cook time 45 minutes // makes 12

Matcha Cupcakes

2 c cake flour
½ t baking powder
¼ t baking soda
½ t salt
1 T Aiya Cooking Grade Matcha
1 c granulated sugar
½ c unsalted butter, melted
¼ c full-fat plain yogurt, room temperature
¾ c whole milk
2 egg whites
1 t vanilla extract
1 t almond extract

Place an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with parchment cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and matcha. Set aside.
In another medium bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, yogurt, milk, and both extracts.
Whisk the dry mix into the wet ingredients and mix just until combined and no lumps remain.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or with a hand-held mixer), beat the egg whites until they form medium peaks. Fold the egg white mixture into the batter until fully incorporated.
Pour batter evenly into prepared cupcake pan, and bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out crumb-free.
Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Rose Cream Cheese Frosting

¼ c unsalted butter, softened and room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, softened and room temperature
24 oz powdered sugar, sifted
1 t rose water
1 – 2 T beet juice (optional, for color only)
1 – 2 T whole milk ** (only necessary if icing is looking too thick)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and cream cheese on high speed until fluffy, scraping down the bowl as necessary, about 2 minutes.
Add powdered sugar ½ cup at a time, beating between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add the rose water and beet juice, and beat to combine, about 30 seconds.
If frosting is not the desired consistency, add a teaspoon of whole milk at a time, beating between each addition, until consistency is reached. Beat an additional two minutes to add body to the frosting before transferring it to a piping bag. Decorate cupcakes as desired.

Thanks so much to Aiya Matcha for sponsoring this post! We used their cooking grade matcha for pretty much every matcha recipe on this site. All opinions are our own!