First off, I have to thank my friend Margie for the combination. I had been thinking, “lychees and ???” for some time. I asked her for a suggestion to which she replied, “kiwi.” And I was like, “I have some of those at home!” Soon followed by, “hmmm, kiwi frosting, I wonder how that will turn out.”

Well, I have never been so pleasantly surprised as I was with the kiwi frosting! It’s sometimes a challenge to get a good flavor from a fruit frosting without it being too running. In this case, the kiwi flavor was very prominent without having to sacrifice texture. Joy!

And the combination? Awesome. Both the kiwi and lychee flavors were distinct, but they also tasted so nice together. The cupcakes were a definite hit.

Vanilla Cupcakes
12 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
5. Measure out milk and vanilla together.
6. Add about a third of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine. Scrape the bowl.
7. Add about one half the milk/vanilla mixture and beat until combined. Scrape the bowl.
8. Repeat above ending with the flour mixture.
9. Scoop into cupcake papers about half to three-quarters full.
10. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Lychee Filling

1/2 cup lychee syrup
6 lychees
Pomona’s Universal Pectin

1. Mix calcium water per the instructions in the pectin box.
2. Drain syrup from lychees. Measure out 1/2 cup of syrup and heat with 2 teaspoons calcium water to boiling.
3. Mix 2 teaspoons of pectin in 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar. Add to the boiling syrup and mix until dissolved.
4. Chop the 6 lychees into small chunks. Add to boiling liquid. Bring to boil. Take of heat and let cool.

Note: This recipe is for canned lychees as it is not lychee season!

Kiwi Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4 ounces or 1/2 package of Philly cream cheese
4-6 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup pureed fresh kiwi

1. Bring cheese and butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours
2. Beat butter until soft and creamy. Scrape the bowl.
3. Add cream cheese and beat until combined. Scrape the bowl.
4. Sift half of the sugar into the bowl. Add the kiwi. Beat until creamy. Scrape the bowl.
5. Gradually sift remaining remaining sugar one cup at a time, beating after each, until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.

Note: The texture of the frosting is a bit runny looking and soft because of the puree. Don’t let that deter you. This is some freaking yummy frosting! Also, you want to use a nice ripe, sweet kiwi for the best results.

Assemble
1. Fill the cupcakes with the lychee filling using the cone method. This post has step by step photos of the method.
2. Frost.
3. Top with a chunk of kiwi just before serving.

Summer equals berries in this house. Even if summer also equals fog. (There is something refreshing about walking to work in a cool drizzle in July.) The three of us go through containers of blackberries on a regular basis – we heart blackberries. I was itching to mash some up and make a cupcake out of them. But things are hectic these days and I was having trouble committing. I think I purchased one or two ingredients every shopping trip over two weeks until finally on the way home Tuesday night I stopped at the corner store and thought, “I will see if they have lemons and blackberries”. And they did! Organic, too!

But was fear of rotting fruit going to be enough to get me out of my cupcake funk? I walked the ingredients home with wavering intentions… it was already getting late, I had dinner to cook, work to do, a child to hug! But I new if I got the ingredients measured out, I could get them done in no time.

Ok, maybe it wasn’t that easy (I woke up early to finish them), but they got done and they were yummy! With this combo you can’t go wrong. I like the creaminess of the curd and the looseness of the blackberry mash (I didn’t want to thicken it with too much starch). It made the cupcakes messy, but I just asked everyone to eat them with a spoon. No one seemed to mind.

Vanilla Cupcakes
12 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
5. Measure out milk and vanilla together.
6. Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine.
7. Add about one third the milk/vanilla mixture and beat until combined.
8. Repeat above, alternating flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture.
9. Scoop into cupcake papers about half to three-quarters full.
10. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Lemon Curd

2 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons powdered sugar

1. Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 4 minutes.
2. Transfer to a small bowl. Stir in butter, piece by piece. Cover with plastic wrap, and cool in the refrigerator.
3. By hand, whip together cream and powdered sugar until soft peaks form.
4. Fold cream into the chilled curd.

Blackberry Mash

6 ounce blackberries
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
seeds from 1/4 vanilla bean

1. Heat blackberries, water, and sugar over medium heat until boiling.
2. Mash with a potato masher.
3. Add cornstarch and vanilla bean and cook for a few minutes until thick.
4. Remove from heat and cool.

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces or 1 package of Philly cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2-3 cups sifted powdered sugar
seeds from 1/4 of a vanilla bean
vanilla extract to taste

1. Bring cheese and butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours
2. Beat butter until soft and creamy.
3. Add cream cheese and beat until combined.
4. Add half of the sugar and the vanilla bean. Beat until creamy.
5. Gradually add remaining sugar (more if you have to) until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.
6. Add vanilla extract to taste if the seeds aren’t enough adding in 1/2 teaspoon increments.

Assemble
1. Fill the cupcakes with the lemon curd and blackberry mash using the cone method. This post has step by step photos of the method.
2. Frost.
3. Top with a blackberry.

I will be honest, these cupcakes came about by accident. My intention was a honey-almond cupcake, but I had this newly discovered sweet potato flour and wanted to try it. As soon as I added the flour to the batter I knew I had something else on my hands. Quite anxious, I pushed forward with the recipe, all along feeling a cupcake disaster was sure to ensue. Thankfully I was altogether wrong. The cupcakes turned out utterly delicious. I was surprise by their texture – quite billowy and soft, but also with a toothsome texture from the almond meal. And the sweet potato flavor was there, but subtle allowing the honey and almond to shine through as well.

The frosting? What can I say – this is my current absolute favorite frosting. It’s just a notch above it’s cousin, the salted caramel frosting recipe, that is my go-to frosting for just about anything. But bourbon has it’s adult appeal and it’s my top-pick for adult events.

You may start noticing a trend with this and future recipes… gluten-free. We have discovered that our daughter is wheat or gluten sensitive (we haven’t narrowed it down, but are basically cutting out gluten all around). This recipe is naturally gluten-free, but if you wanted to transform it into a straight up honey-almond cupcake and don’t mind gluten, just swap the sweet potato flour for all-purpose flour and omit the xanthan gum.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes
~24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups almond meal
4 large eggs
3/4 cup high-quality honey
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup sweet potato flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add almond meal and beat to combine.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
5. Measure the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
6. Measure out the honey and buttermilk. Stir to combine.
7. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the wet ingredients and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
8. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3’s full. Bake cupcakes for about 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Bourbon Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons whipping cream
2 tablespoons butter
pinch salt
4 tablespoons bourbon
2 packages phili cream cheese, room temp
1 cup butter, room temp
6 cups confectioner’s sugar

1. Heat brown sugar, cream, butter, salt over medium high heat whisking until sugar is dissolved. Cook for another minute.
2. Pour in bourbon and stir to combine. Take off heat and let cool.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until soft.
4. Add the confectioner’s sugar and beat to combine.
5. Add three tablespoons of the bourbon caramel (you might have some left over) and beat to combine. You can always add more, but the frosting may end up pretty soft.

Assembly
1. Frost.
2. Top with homemade sweet potato chips.

These cupcakes are very almondy. Almond is the predominant flavor but you catch the citrus as well, especially in the frosting. These cupcakes are great for the winter season and pair well with an Italian themed dinner. I made about 100 mini of these cupcakes along with 100 mini chocolate with salted caramel cream cheese frosting for an event. Both were a hit. The second is my go-to recipe for parties – always a crowd-pleaser.

If you follow Cupcakeblog on Facebook, you know that I have been promising the recipe for Honey Bourbon cupcakes. Well, the last batch still weren’t quite right! I will be testing these out again very soon and hope to have a successful recipe to post this month. I might tweak it to fit this competition. I think I can’t resist entering this one, it’s just too up my alley.

Almond Orange Cupcakes
~15 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

7 ounces almond paste (not marzipan)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 stick butter, unsalted/room temp
4 eggs, large/room temp
2/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
zest of one half an orange

1. Beat almond paste at low speed to loosen up, about 30 seconds.
2. Gradually add sugar while beating at low speed.
3. Continue to beat at low speed for 1 minute or so.
4. Add the ricotta and beat to combine.
5. While beating at low speed, add a tablespoon of butter at a time, waiting for the butter to incorporate until adding the next pat.
6. Stop the mixer, scrape the bowl, beat at medium for about 2 minutes until fluffy.
7. Crack eggs into a bowl and break up with a fork.
8. At low speed gradually add eggs about a tablespoon at a time, waiting for the eggs to incorporate until adding the next bit.
9. Beat again at medium speed for about 2 minutes.
10. Measure out flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl and whisk to combine.
11. With a rubber spatula, fold flour mixture into the cake batter until combined.
12. Mix in orange juice and zest.
13. Scoop batter into cupcake liners, fill about 1/2 inch from the top (3/4 full).
14. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Note: These cupcakes are moist and don’t rise too much so you can fill the papers pretty full. They also stay flat if you like that.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces or 1 package of Philly cream cheese
1 stick butter
3-4 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice, plus more to taste
zest of one half an orange
zest of one half a lemon

1. Bring butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for a couple of hours.
2. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy.
3. Sift 3 cups of the powdered sugar into the bowl, add the juice and zest, and beat until combined.
4. Add more sugar and/or orange juice until you get to the consistency, flavor, and sweetness you like.

Note: You can also add a little natural orange extract if you want to pump up the orange flavor.

Assembly
1. Frost cupcakes.
2. Top with an almond or candied orange peel.

Two sources of previous inspiration collided recently. A lunch at Ozumu introduced me to yuzu and then a couple of weeks later a pass through the Village Market in the Ferry Building turned up a jar of yuzu marmalade. I took it as a sign that a yuzu cupcake was in order.

Yuzu is making its rounds on dessert menus these days often paired with white chocolate. I decided to go the same route. I thought about a third flavor, but wanted to keep this first experiment pretty simple partly because I was taking them to a party with a lot of kids. The yuzu marmalade is quite tart and at least my kid wasn’t a fan. She ate up the rest of the cupcake though. The adults agreed that the yuzu and white chocolate combination was tasty. The white chocolate whipped cream is a light alternative to buttercream when you don’t want something too sweet.

Oh, and I don’t think that I have mentioned that I am on Facebook. If you prefer to get your updates there…

White Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
~18 regular-sized cupcakes / 350 degree oven

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean
4 large egg whites

1. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
4. Measure out milk and vanilla and mix together. Add the seeds scraped out of 1/2 of a vanilla bean.
5. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
6. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until firm. Fold egg whites gently into the batter until you can see no more streaks.
7. Scoop into cupcake papers about half full. Don’t overfill.
8. Place cupcakes in the oven and turn the oven down to 350 degrees. Bake for 20-22 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Note: These cupcake will rise some and then shrink back a bit. If you are using regular cupcake papers, the paper shrinks with them. With the firmer cupcake papers I use, they pull from the side. I don’t worry about it too much as it’s not obvious once the frosting is on top.

White Chocolate Whipped Cream from Gourmet Productions

2 cups heavy cream
9 ounces white chocolate, I used Green & Blacks
1 vanilla bean

1. Pour heavy cream into a medium sized bowl and warm over a bain marie (water bath).
2. Split the vanilla bean and add it to the cream.
3. Chop the chocolate and add it to the cream once its steaming. Whisk to melt chocolate.
4. Once smooth remove from the water bath and chill until cold in the refrigerator. Whisk occasionally so a film doesn’t form on top.
5. Whip with a whisk attachment on high speed until for about 3 minutes until it’s frosting consistency.

Assemble
1. Fill the cooled cupcakes using the cone method with yuzu marmalade.
2. Frost.
3. Garnish with what you have on hand. I had some chia seed!

I felt the need to give these cupcakes a name – they had that much personality. I was about to add half as much chili as planned, but thought why not and dumped it all in. The result? Chili cherry chocolate cupcakes with a good kick. Funnily enough, “cherry bomb” was my ring name when I was an amateur kick boxer. I got that name from the cherry tattoos on my arms and my explosive power, I am sure… My fighting days are well passed me, but a taste explosion is well within my repertoire.

I purchased a jar of Italian wild cherries in syrup based purely on the attractive container. The jar lay ignored in a drawer while I struggled with what to do with the gluten-free chocolate cupcake recipe as a base for something I intended to bring to a party. A trip to the ferry building resulted in a 13 dollar jar of yuzu jam (for a later recipe – it better be tasty!) and I was still without ideas. The cherries called to me from their cool, dark spot and finally inspiration hit. But cherries and chocolate are pretty run of the mill. I decided on the chili so these cupcakes wouldn’t be forgettable.

I was hearing good things at the party. The cupcakes were spicy but that was appreciated. I liked the combination of the chocolate, chili, and tart but sweet cherries.

Gluten-Free Chili Chocolate Cupcakes
~16 regular-sized cupcakes / 350 degree oven

3.5 ounces (100 grams) Valrhona 85% cacao (or any bittersweet chocolate)
1-1/2 sticks (172 grams) butter
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (223 grams) sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (40 grams) quinoa flour, gluten-free (or all purpose flour for non-gluten free)
1/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum (if using gluten-free flour)

1. Chop the chocolate and transfer into the bowl of a standing mixer.
2. Add the butter to the chocolate and place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate melts and the butter is combined.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes.
4. Measure out the flour, cocoa, chili powder, cayenne powder, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum (if using) into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk together.
5. Transfer the cooled chocolate/butter mixture to the electric mixer and beat for 3 minutes.
6. Add one egg at a time, mixing for 10 seconds between each.
7. Add the flour mixture and mix to combine.
8. Scoop into cupcake cups only 2/3s full. Bake all the cupcakes at 350 F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Note: If the oven is not hot enough than these cupcakes may over-flow. One way to be safe is to either fill 2/3’s full or another trick I use is to preheat to 375, then drop the heat to 350 once I put the cupcakes in. I also rotate the pans after 15 minutes of baking. It is safe to gently move them at that point and I find the lower back of my oven to be a bit cooler.

Meringue Frosting

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar

1. Combine egg whites and sugar into the mixing bowl of your stand mixer and set over a bain marie (water bath).
2. Whisk by hand for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved or preferably until the mixture reaches 110 degrees Fahrenheit. (Apparently 160 is safest. I have never tried that so can’t tell you if it will still be ok for the frosting. So if you are concerned use pasteurized eggs.)
3. Transfer bowl to electric mixer, beat on medium speed for 10 minutes.
4. Beat on high speed until stiff glossy peaks form, about 5 to 10 minutes more.

Assemble
1. Fill the cooled cupcakes using the cone method with cherries. I used jarred cherries in syrup and included one whole one and some chopped up ones.
2. Frost.
3. Toast with a torch if you have one.

It’s summer. And in most parts of the US when it is summer, it is warm. Maybe even *hot*. In San Francisco, it’s foggy, drizzly, and 55 degrees. Despite the fact that I have to wear a jacket and scarf when heading out in the morning, I am still thinking of summery things – like ice cream. I have been itching to make an ice cream cupcake and finally got around to it this weekend.

I have done these before – yummy concoctions consisting of layers of cake, ice cream, and frosting – but for my two previous attempts, I made my own ice cream or sorbet. This time around I was hoping to be inspired by my favorite ice cream shop – Humphry Slocombe.

Humphry Slocombe is walking distance from my house. For a while there Naomi and I would head over just about every other Saturday for a cone. We stopped by Friday evening to pick up a couple pints for the cupcake project. (It’s a good time to go, around 6pm on a weekday, there is no line…) The color of the salted watermelon sorbet immediately caught my eye. I confirmed with the guy behind the counter that the fudgsicle sorbet would pair well – he had tasted the combination earlier in the day.

Indeed this cupcake combo is a winner. I am surprisingly pleased with how the watermelon buttercream frosting turned out and the watermelon-chocolate combination, even with a hint of salt, is wonderfully tasty. It feels like summer almost!

The recipes below will make you 12 to 14 ice cream cupcakes with some ice cream and frosting left over.

Chocolate Cake
1 sheet pan / 350 degree oven

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp
1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup high quality unsweetened cocoa powder like Valrhona brand
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
2 Add eggs one at a time and beat until well combined.
3. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
5. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
6. Spread the batter evenly onto a sheet pan that has been covered in parchment paper and greased well with butter.
7. Bake for about 20-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Note: Let the cake cool fully in the pan. After about 30 minutes, I flipped the cake on to a second sheet pan and then removed the parchment paper. This seemed to make it easier to cut the rounds, but may have been unnecessary.

Watermelon Syrup

~ 2 cups fresh watermelon meat

1. Peel and chop the fresh, seedless watermelon.
2. Using a blender or food processor puree the watermelon.
3. Separate at least 2/3 cup watermelon juice from the pulp by pressing it through a metal sieve.
4. Bring at least 2/3 cup of watermelon juice to boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and boil the juice for about 10-15 minutes or until reduced by almost half.
5. Once again separate the juice from any solids by pouring the a metal sieve. Allow to cool.

Watermelon Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup watermelon syrup

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy.
2. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy.
3. Add watermelon syrup and beat to combine.
4. Add more powdered sugar to arrive at the consistency and sweetness you like.
[optional] Add pink food coloring and beat to combine.

Candied Watermelon Rind Rounds

leftover watermelon rind
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

1. Using a small circle cookie cutter (about 1/2″ diameter) stamp out 14-16 watermelon rind rounds.
2. In a small saucepan combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil.
3. Add the rounds, reduce heat to low, and cook for about 10 minutes.
4. Take off the heat and let sit for about 5 minutes.
5. Remove the rounds and place on a wire grate to cool.
6. After cooled, roll the rounds in sugar.

Assemble
Something like this setwill come in handy when making these sorts of cupcakes. As will the type of cupcake papers I use. You will also need room in your freezer to freeze the cupcakes in between steps.

1. Find the right sized cutter to get a cupcake round for the bottom and top of the cupcake. I had to use to very different sized cutters.
2. Eyeball how many cupcakes you can get out of the sheet pan before you start cutting. I eyeballed about 14 which is what I got.
3. Stamp out the bottoms and tops.
4. Fill each cupcake paper with a bottom round of cake.
5. Take your first ice cream flavor out of the freezer and transfer it into a bowl. Mix it with a wooden spoon to soften.
6. Scoop a small scoop of ice cream into each cupcake. Smooth out with the back of a spoon. Transfer the cupcakes to the freezer to chill for 20-30 minutes.
7. Now repeat with the second ice cream flavor and chill again for about 10 minutes.
8. Now top with the last cupcake round and chill again for 10 or so minutes.
9. Now top with buttercream frosting and a candied watermelon rind round.

Note: Store cupcakes in the freezer. Let them sit at room temperature for 10 or so minutes before serving. Firm ice cream works best for these projects otherwise the ice cream gets very melty…