Passion Fruit & Almond Cupcakes with Passion Fruit Icing

Still in time to wish everyone who visits Jo's Deli & Bakery and this blog, a very Happy Chinese New Year!

The past 3 months have been really fruitful. Though busy preparing for the festives, classes and orders, I managed to bury myself in my little library, read as many books as I could on baking science and recipes. Got to tried out recipes which I couldn't find time doing so before this too. Being able to spend more time with my fellow decorators on MCDC is another great pleasure.

Let me share with you a recipe from my baking experiemental sessions. You could substitute passion fruit puree with store bought one but there is nothing like the satisfaction and aroma you could get from digging the pulp of the fruit and turn it into your very own homemade puree. Try it.

For more pictures on how to prepare these cupcakes, please visit this post at the club.

Passion Fruit & Almond Cupcakes with Passion Fruit Icing
Makes 18-20 small cupcakes

Passion fruit puree:
120g passion fruit pulp and seeds (from approx. 3 fruits)
2 tbsp castor sugar
6 tbsp water

Batter:
60g butter, melted
80g castor sugar
3 large eggs
130g passion fruit puree
50g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
120g ground almond

Passion fruit icing:
100-125g icing sugar, sifted
60g passion fruit pulp and seeds

Method:

To prepare passion fruit puree:

Combine passion fruit pulp, seeds, sugar and water in a saucepan. Heat up till all sugar is melted. Let the mixture cool down a little before puree in a food processor. Sieve puree through a fine sieve to get rid of the seeds. Weigh the puree again. You should have about 130g. Add water to top up if necessary.

To prepare cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven at 175 degC. Line cupcake moulds with liners.
2. Sift cake flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add in ground almond and use a hand whisk to mix well. Ground almond can be lumpy sometimes so make sure you mix well to break the lumps.
3. Using paddle attachment of mixer, beat sugar and eggs at high speed till light and pale. Add in passion fruit puree and melted butter.
4. Make a well in the centre of dry ingredients in (1). Pour (2) in and stir with a spatula. The batter is watery.
5. Fill liners to 80% (for 3.25 oz souffle cups and larger ) - 90% full (for small cupcakes) (Note 1). These cupcakes doesn't rise much.
6. Bake cupcakes for 22 mins (small)-25 mins(large). Let cupcakes stand in mould for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack.
7. This recipe is actually pretty nice when consumed warm. Otherwise, let cool completely before icing.
8. Optional: To dress up cupcakes, let passion fruit icing (recipe below) stand for 10-15 minutes to thicken a little. Pour one tsp of passion fruit icing on cupcakes.

To prepare passion fruit icing:
Combine passion fruit pulp, seeds and sifted icing sugar in a bowl. Stir using a hand whisk over a pot of simmering water (i.e. double boiling) till icing is of pouring consistency. Do not overheat icing as you will melt too much of icing sugar which results in a non-crusting icing when poured on cupcakes later.

Notes:

1. Fill small size cupcakes to 90% as batter get baked faster in small cups, doesn't allow it to rise much. Batter in larger size cups need longer to get thoroughly cooked hence it has more time to rise in the oven, i.e. 80-85% is sufficient. Result may vary with types and brands of oven though.

Love,