So, you’re probably wondering why in the world someone would use avocados in a cupcake. Well, let me tell you, it wasn’t my first choice either. I recently had a potluck dinner at my house with some students from the college ministry I work with. They decided it would be fun to have everyone bring a potluck dish that included avocado in it. And of course, they assigned me the dessert course. Lucky me!!
I searched for a while before I decided to go with cupcakes. I’d never used avocados in dessert before, so I wanted something a little safe, that I knew I could do.
So here it goes.
I didn’t get any photos of the chocolate cupcake, but it’s pretty basic. I posted the recipe below. The great thing is that it is a vegan recipe. The avocado takes the place of the butter and egg and you really can’t taste the avocado in the cake.
The frosting was the fun part for me. I started with mixing the mashed up avocados with powdered sugar and then silky mascarpone cheese.
After incorporating the cheese, I realized the frosting was too liquidy to actually stay on the cupcake.
That’s where the heavy whipping cream comes in………
Whip up the heaving cream to stiff peaks.
Add it to the avocado mixture and voila…….
The creamiest sweet frosting with a hint of avocado green color and flavor…….perfect.
When I first heard about using avocados in cupcakes, I was really skeptical, but I am definitely a believer now. The cake was chocolatey and moist and I really did not miss the butter and eggs at all!
The fact that I can use avocado in the place of butter and eggs means I can feel better about eating more cupcakes and that’s always good, right? Yay for avocados!
Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes with Avocado Mascarpone Cream Frosting
From Joy the Baker
makes 4 dozen cupcakes
6 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons baking soda
4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups soft avocado, well mashed, about 2 medium avocados
4 cups water
4 Tablespoons white vinegar
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare cupcake tins with paper liners. Set aside.
Sift together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar. Set that aside too.
Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl, including the super mashed avocado.
Add sugar into the wet mix and stir.
Mix the wet with the dry all at once, and beat with a whisk (by hand) until smooth.
Pour batter into cupcake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let cupcakes cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting with avocado buttercream.
Avocado Mascarponse Cream Frosting
16 ounces of avocado meat, about 4 medium, very ripe avocados
8 tablespoons lemon juice
6 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small tub (8 oz) mascarpone cheese
2 cups heavy whipping cream
Peel and pit the soft avocados. It’s important to use the ripest avocados you can get your hands on. If the avocados have brown spots in the meat, avoid those spots when you scoop the meat into the bowl.
Place the avocado meat into the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment. Add lemon juice and whisk the avocado on medium speed, until slightly lightened in color and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the powdered sugar a little at a time and beat. Add vanilla extract until combined. Pour mixture into separate bowl. Whip heavy cream until you get stiff peaks, then incorporate avocado mixture slowly. Put frosting into a piping bag with a star tip and pipe your cupcakes.
If not using right away, store in the refrigerator. Don’t worry. It won’t turn brown!
Karen in the Kitchen 