It is with both great regret and anticipation that I inform you we have reached the last sin: LUST. When deciding what route to take with this lecherous cupcake, it was a delightfully warm summer's day and I was pondering how intensely I was craving a tropical fruity drink (I'm sure I wasn't alone). And there it was, my inspiration! I thought it might be fun to try to cram as many tropical fruit as possible into said cupcake: a pineapple, coconut and banana based cake containing cashews, with a hint of orange zest and rum, filled with guava paste, topped with a papaya white chocolate frosting sprinkled with toasted coconut flakes and topped with a candied kiwi! Possibly the most ingredients in a cupcake EVER! Luckily the weather cooperated on delivery day to make it a fitting treat.
Cupcake
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp orange zest
1/2 tsp orange juice (fresh squeezed from zest source)
1/4 cup malibu coconut rum
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cashews, toasted and chopped
8oz can pineapple chunks with juice, diced
1 banana, mashed
1 tbsp orange zest
guava paste sliced
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease pan(s).
In a large bowl, stir the butter and sugar together until fluffy (~5 mins). Beat in the eggs, one at a time. In a small dish combine the coconut milk, orange juice, and malibu vanilla set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture in 3rds, alternating with the coconut milk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in the cashews, pineapple, banana and zest.
Scoop the batter into prepared pans about half way and place in a slice of guava paste, covering again with batter then bake. This recipe yielded a larger than normal batch at 24 regular size cupcakes and 12 minis, baked for 16 and 10 minutes respectively.
White Chocolate Papaya Frosting
5oz white chocolate
3/4 stick butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups icing/confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp papaya puree
1 tbsp coconut milk
pinch salt
Melt the chocolate and set aside allowing to reach room temperature.
Combine the sugar, coconut milk, puree and vanilla until well combined. Add butter and salt, mixing well. Finally add the white chocolate and refrigerate for ~1/2 hour allowing to harden to pipping consistency.
Prior to frosting the cakes I drizzled each with 1/4 tsp of dark rum, I then proceeded to top each cake with frosting followed by toasted sweetened coconut flakes* and a half slice of candied kiwi (I purchased these from the local store, they were part of the inspiration for this cake from when I saw them a while back). These cakes also served well without any frosting, using only the dark rum to top them off.
*Coconut flakes toasted by spreading them thinly over a baking sheet and placing them in the oven, preheated to 325 degrees for ~10 mins (until golden).
5oz white chocolate
3/4 stick butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups icing/confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp papaya puree
1 tbsp coconut milk
pinch salt
Melt the chocolate and set aside allowing to reach room temperature.
Combine the sugar, coconut milk, puree and vanilla until well combined. Add butter and salt, mixing well. Finally add the white chocolate and refrigerate for ~1/2 hour allowing to harden to pipping consistency.
Prior to frosting the cakes I drizzled each with 1/4 tsp of dark rum, I then proceeded to top each cake with frosting followed by toasted sweetened coconut flakes* and a half slice of candied kiwi (I purchased these from the local store, they were part of the inspiration for this cake from when I saw them a while back). These cakes also served well without any frosting, using only the dark rum to top them off.
*Coconut flakes toasted by spreading them thinly over a baking sheet and placing them in the oven, preheated to 325 degrees for ~10 mins (until golden).
The Panel
This week's cupcake had quite the range of reviews. Aroma was one of the major talking points for Tropical Bliss. The judges seemed to be in agreement that the banana came through, maybe a little strong (Sugar Princess commented that the cake was reminiscent of a banana nut cake) and that the pineapple was lost. But the strongest flavour of all was definitely the guava which received mixed reviews. Though perfectly suspended in the cake ("floated like a cloud" as put by Fathom's Chef) the guava was sliced far too thickly. This caused it to overwhelm many of the other tropical flavours of the cake and added an extra level of sweetness that was far from required in this '2 cups sugar' recipe. Many agreed that the cake was 'too sweet'. The cashews were well received and well portioned; Giovanni recommended trying macadamia nuts instead of cashews in future productions of the recipe. Several comments were made that the kiwi was aesthetically pleasing, presenting a nice 'pop' of green. Sugar Princess suggested serving the kiwi diced into several/smaller pieces rather than presenting it as a giant piece atop and I really like Kupcake's substitute's suggestion to finish them off with paper umbrellas.
Cocoa: "Definitely made me want to be on a tropical island with a fruity drink in hand."
Sugar Princess: "Rum added a nice summer flare."
My comments
I fully agree that this cake had a truly wonderful aroma but that it was definitely too sweet. The guava was definitely the prominent flavour and I would resolve this by using much thinner slices in the future. The papaya was faintly detected in the frosting, the cake was perfectly moist and the cashews add nice meaty bites; the coconut flakes, though subtle, added to the tropical qualities of the cake. In producing the batter, the recipe calls for the fruit in addition to the juices which initially seemed a little much as far as liquids go in the recipe but the batter definitely needed it once mixing was completed, for this reason, I am surprised that the pineapple was lost. I may try substituting pineapple rum for the coconut rum and use the 'crushed' version rather than dicing the chunks for the recipe. Also, I would use Giovanni's suggestion to use macadamia nuts rather than the cashews and definitely suggest more orange zest.
This week's cupcake had quite the range of reviews. Aroma was one of the major talking points for Tropical Bliss. The judges seemed to be in agreement that the banana came through, maybe a little strong (Sugar Princess commented that the cake was reminiscent of a banana nut cake) and that the pineapple was lost. But the strongest flavour of all was definitely the guava which received mixed reviews. Though perfectly suspended in the cake ("floated like a cloud" as put by Fathom's Chef) the guava was sliced far too thickly. This caused it to overwhelm many of the other tropical flavours of the cake and added an extra level of sweetness that was far from required in this '2 cups sugar' recipe. Many agreed that the cake was 'too sweet'. The cashews were well received and well portioned; Giovanni recommended trying macadamia nuts instead of cashews in future productions of the recipe. Several comments were made that the kiwi was aesthetically pleasing, presenting a nice 'pop' of green. Sugar Princess suggested serving the kiwi diced into several/smaller pieces rather than presenting it as a giant piece atop and I really like Kupcake's substitute's suggestion to finish them off with paper umbrellas.
Cocoa: "Definitely made me want to be on a tropical island with a fruity drink in hand."
Sugar Princess: "Rum added a nice summer flare."
My comments
I fully agree that this cake had a truly wonderful aroma but that it was definitely too sweet. The guava was definitely the prominent flavour and I would resolve this by using much thinner slices in the future. The papaya was faintly detected in the frosting, the cake was perfectly moist and the cashews add nice meaty bites; the coconut flakes, though subtle, added to the tropical qualities of the cake. In producing the batter, the recipe calls for the fruit in addition to the juices which initially seemed a little much as far as liquids go in the recipe but the batter definitely needed it once mixing was completed, for this reason, I am surprised that the pineapple was lost. I may try substituting pineapple rum for the coconut rum and use the 'crushed' version rather than dicing the chunks for the recipe. Also, I would use Giovanni's suggestion to use macadamia nuts rather than the cashews and definitely suggest more orange zest.