How about Mango?

Sitting outside at company housing with Jamie & the Strawberry Cupcakes turned about to be quite an adventure.  Lots of people got to sample the cupcakes (since there were so many of them!) and it gave me my next baking experiment.  I believe the exact words were something like "You need a bigger challenge, why don't you try mango?"  I don't like mangoes, but a challenge is a challenge.

This one took some research for me, since I'm not a mango fan.  I didn't exactly have a "go-to recipe" for mangoes.  In all of my googling I found a lot of interesting mango desserts.  I found mango tarts, mango pies, mango sorbet, mango yogurt, mango mousse.  I knew wanted to be able to incorporate at least one of those fun things into my cupcake, but first I had to decide on a cupcake.  Because of the success of the strawberry cupcakes, I didn't just want something with a mango puree in it.  I wanted the cupcake to have chunks of mango.  After reading many recipes, I finally decided to go with this one and switch up the frosting with something a bit different.  And, the cupcakes came out exactly the way I wanted them to - light, fluffy and full of mango chunks.

Now back to my research.  I really liked this recipe that I found for a Mango Lime Mousse.   It's meant to be made in little chocolate cups and served as its own dessert, but I thought it would make a tasty filling for my mango cupcakes.  I used Cool Whip in place of the Dream Whip that the recipe calls for, just because I think it tastes better.  And then I piped it into the center of the cupcakes.

For a frosting I went with one that I use often - Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting.  I thought the vanilla bean would go really well with the mango, and it helps that it's one of my favorite frostings ever.  Here's how you make it:

1/4 Cup     Butter
1/4 Cup     Cream Cheese
2 Cups      Confectioners Sugar
1 Vanilla Bean, split & seeded
1 Teaspoon  Vanilla Extract

Cream together the Butter & Cream Cheese.  Add in Sugar slowly, beating with each addition.  Mix in Vanilla & Seeds from vanilla bean.

This frosting is nice and thick, and the tiny black specks from the vanilla bean make it pretty as well as yummy.  I stuck a dried mango on top of each cupcake, and I have to admit - even I liked them.

Almost a Classic

What goes together better than Chocolate & Strawberries?  

As we were eating the apple cupcakes of the previous experiment, my friends Chris & Jamie put their brains together (which is a very dangerous thing) and requested a strawberry cupcake, with a chocolate filling and a strawberry frosting.  At first I was a little skeptical, because I thought this would be way too much strawberry and not enough chocolate.  But, I said I would do it anyway.

Instead of a strawberry flavored cake, I decided to do a vanilla based cake that had chunks of fresh strawberries mixed in.  I used Martha Stewart's Recipe for Strawberry Cupcakes, that can be found here.  For the filling, I made a tasty chocolate ganache.  I first learned how to make ganache from JoyofBaking.com and have been a big fan of it ever since.  The important thing to know, and you can read all about this on the Joy of Baking site, is that ganache can take make different forms, like a glaze or a truffle.  For my cupcake, I wanted it to be a whipped ganache, so it would be airy and light.

When it came down to the frosting, I was torn.  The Martha Stewart site linked to her recipe for Strawberry Buttercream, which I am sure would have worked just fine.  However, I'm not a fan of egg whites in my buttercream.   I prefer what is considered "American Buttercream," which is pretty much butter, powdered sugar and whatever flavoring you are going for.  So, I just made my own Strawberry Buttercream.  I'm not going to lie to you - I fell in love with it and may have eaten a few spoonfuls before frosting the cupcakes.   And, it's very simple.

1/2 Cup    Butter
1/2 Cup    Fresh Strawberries, diced
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Dash of Salt
3 Cups     Confectioners Sugar (feel free to use more or less depending on your taste)

Just cream the butter.  Then add in strawberries, vanilla & salt and beat.  Add Sugar in parts, mixing in between.  My frosting was a bit thin, but thats because of all the liquid in the strawberries.  I stuck the frosted cupcakes in the fridge and they firmed up enough.

I love that you can see the chunks of strawberry inside of the cupcake!  I still had a lot of strawberries, so I cut them in half and used them to top the cupcakes.  They were very yummy and certainly one of my favorites so far.

As a side bar (since it wasn't really a cupcake) I had a request from my friend Keleigh that week as well, to make her a muffin.  I broke out my trusty Magnolia Bakery book again and made her these delicious Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins.   I think she was pleased.