Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Romeo & Juliet Cupcakes

Posted by - Corrine

I kind of did my own thing with the Romeo & Juliet theme, I hope that's ok :)

Since Romeo and Juliet refers to the pairing of Guava paste and cheese, I thought what about a guava cake with cream cheese frosting.  I did cupcakes because, well, I love cupcakes and they're easier to share with neighbors.

Most recipes I could find for guava cakes used guava nectar, but I did find one that uses guava paste as a layer in the middle of the cupcakes.  I used my go-to cream cheese frosting from Baked Explorations, I decorated some with a swirl of guava paste and some just piped with frosting.  The cupcakes turned out pretty good, the cake is quite dense, like a pound cake which isn't my favourite (I'm more of a sponge cake type of girl), but my husband loved it.  I don't think I cut the guava paste thin enough so it didn't quite melt into the ribbons I had envisioned, but it tasted great nonetheless.  Next time I'll use a more standard yellow cake recipe and slice the guava paste as thin as I possibly can.










Guava Cupcakes 

from Food.com

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 ounces guava paste, sliced
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Sift flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl, set aside.
In a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together.
Add eggs, one by one, beating thoroughly.
Add applesauce and vanilla, and mix well.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture until fully blended.
Place a scoop of the batter (I used a small ice cream scoop) in each lined cup and smooth it to fill the bottom.
Top each with a few slices of guava paste
Top with another scoop of cake batter and smooth out over the guava paste, so the cups are about 3/4 full
Bake for 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (except for the guava paste).
    For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
    From Baked Explorations

    3 cups confectioners' sugar
    ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
    8 ounces cream cheese, softened
    1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    pinch of salt

    Sift the confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl and set aside.

    In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until is completely smooth.  Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.

    Add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until smooth.  Be careful not to overbeat the filling, or it will lose structure.  (The filling can be made 1 day ahead. Cover the bowl tightly and put it in the refrigerator.  Let the filling soften at room temperature before using.)

    10 comments:

    Rena said...

    Gorgeous! I love how they look and I'm sure they were yummy!

    Debbi Does Dinner Healthy said...

    Seriously nothing better than a good cupcake! So pretty!

    cocoa and coconut said...

    I love your piping/icing work. It finishes these cupcakes off perfectly.

    Priyanka said...

    M in love again and this time with ur cupcakes.....its awesome

    lena said...

    look beautiful! i'm still curious how does the guava paste taste like..i'm unable to find guava paste over here, the only thing is if i want to make this cake, i justto cook it myself.

    Laura Olson said...

    These look beautiful, even if you didn't love the taste. I'm a big cupcake fan, too!

    Corrine said...

    Aw, thanks everyone! I was really happy with the way they looked, I am a terrible cupcake decorator, I actually scooped the icing back into the bag many times before getting these ones.

    Lena - it's like very sweet guava, with a bit of a floral flavour to it. Very tasty! Apparently a lot of people just eat it with cream cheese on crackers.

    ♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥ said...

    Awwww, these are the cutest :-)
    Im baking cupcakes too:-)i lovee cupcakes +the sharing!

    Of course its all right , u got that spot on , and came up with a realll beauty , totally !
    I have my home made guava paste and yeah ur rite , even jus eaten outa the jar , its fantastic!!

    Thannxx for baking and coming up with the most wonderful of cakkeys !

    ♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥ said...

    And yeah im a big Baked fan too:-)

    Unknown said...

    Since I have no one place I could decide to write this comment, I picked the first one I saw the comment box on - What a delicious array of caked - Look absolutely gorgeous!
    I have a cake event happening on my blog this month - do check out and look forward to your participation!
    http://priyasnowserving.blogspot.com/2011/02/announcing-second-guest-event.html