Gina Chong

Food + Travel

Passion Fruit Cupcakes with Marscapone Frosting

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Was especially excited for my shipment from Melissa’s this time. If you don’t know about them, they are a company that sends produce right to your doorstep. I’ve had a great experience with them and gotten some top-notch quality fruit, especially ones that I don’t know where to find anywhere else.

This time I picked out one favorite item, and one that I’ve never tried before. Passion fruit is one of my favs, I love tart/sweet desserts so I knew I could make something delish out of those. My other item was cactus pears. A buddy messaged me one day with a random thought she had: that I should try making something with cactus pears on my blog sometime. I had no idea where to find them and didn’t really want to spend the time calling every grocery store in the area, so when I saw them on Melissa’s I jumped at the chance to try them out. Stay tuned for a recipe, should be coming next week.

These cupcakes turned out just as good as I hoped, and I actually ate one for breakfast this morning (whoops!). I made them with my favorite white cake recipe, and adapted my favorite lemon cream recipe to make the passion fruit filling. So yum. And the flowers are edible!

*Thanks to Melissa’s for always providing the best produce!

passion fruit cupcake edible flowers
passionfruit cake

passion fruit cupcake

passion fruit cupcake filling curd
passion fruit cupcake marscapone frosting

Passion Fruit Cupcakes with Marscapone Frosting
Makes about 18 cupcakes

Cupcakes:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Passion Fruit Cream:

  • 8 passion fruits (should get about 2/3 cup juice)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter

Frosting:

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 8 oz. marscapone, room temp.
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 Tbsp Grand Marnier (opt.)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line your muffin pan with cupcake liners.

For the cake:

Beat together the oil and butter. Pour in the sugar in two additions, then add the eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In another small bowl, whisk together the milk, buttermilk and vanilla.

While continuing to beat the batter, alternate between adding in the flour mixture and the milk mixture. Begin and end with the flour.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely.

For the Filling:

Prep passion fruits by cutting in half and scooping out the pulp. Place pulp in a food processor and pulse a few times to separate the seeds from the pulp. Strain out the seeds and discard.

Fill a sauce pan with 1-2 inches of water and place over medium heat, bringing it to a simmer.
Combine the passion fruit juice, eggs, egg yolk, sugar and salt in a heat-proof bowl and set on top of your simmering pot of water. Whisk continuously until thick, about 10 minutes (should read at 180F and whisk should leave a trail). Set aside to cool to about 140F. 

Pour the passion fruit mixture back into your food processor and set it to blend on low. With the processor running, add your butter one tablespoon at a time, waiting to incorporate each before adding the next. Pour the cream into a clean bowl, cover with cling wrap, and set aside in the fridge. 

For the Frosting:

Pour heavy cream into a clean bowl and beat. One it starts getting thick, gradually add your sugar until incorporated. Beat until soft peaks. Add your marscapone and Grand Marnier, and beat until stiff peaks. 

To Assemble: 

Use a paring knife and small spoon to cut a hole in the middle of each cupcake. Fill with passion fruit cream. Pipe marscapone frosting on top and enjoy.



Cake recipe adapted from HERE. Cream adapted from Tartine’s.
passionfruit cupcake filling cream curd


Comments

  1. Hi, thank you! So they are edible flowers that they sell at Whole Foods here. These were mostly pansies I believe. You should be able to use any edible organic flower that hasn't been treated with chemicals, etc.

    Reply

  25. Yeah I have seen those before, they are really pretty! I've also seen them done in popsicles, I guess they make everything better! Thanks for the recommend!

    Reply

  29. Yes that's exactly what it is! And I was planning on making a drink out of them too! Like a mocktail, but I just might make lemonade!

    Reply

  35. That's too bad even your Whole Foods doesn't have it! I guess I am blessed being on the West coast because I saw it at mine. But yeah, that is definitely what Melissa's is good for.

    Reply

  46. These are so gorgeous and they sound delicious! I am always envious of your mad baking skills! 🙂 Are cactus pears part of the prickly pear cactus? When we did an alternative break in college we went to NM for a week. We had the best thing EVER called prickly pear lemonade. It was so good. It was bright pink, so pretty and yummy. Excited to hear what you end up making. 😉 XO – Alexandra

    Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things

    Reply

  50. These cupcakes are absolutely stunning. . .almost too pretty to eat . . .but you had one for breakfast! Gasp! RIP sweet cupcake. 🙂

    And can we talk about that passionfruit filling because I love, love, love passionfruit but haven't had it since I left Nairobi. My local Whole Foods never seems to carry it (sad face). What's a girl to do when she needs these cuppies in my life? I'm going to have to check out Melissa's.

    Reply

  53. These are beautiful and look delicious too! I've never had cactus pears OR passion fruit but I bet this would be quite a way to try both! I love the assembly pictures at the end too!

    Reply

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