lychee nut cupcakes

So today i made some lychee nut cupcakes, with a coconut rum glaze. 

This recipe comes from vegan cupcakes take over the world, but i did a little tweaking to it. I think this recipe came out pretty good. It's not your typical cupcake, its not too sweet, and has a glaze as opposed to a frosting. So if your feeling adventurous and looking for something light and not too sweet, then this would be a good recipe to try. 


So first off heres a little info about lychee nuts for those of you who may be unfamiliar with them. Lychee nuts come from Lychee trees which are a medium-sized evergreen, that produce the small fruits. The Lychee nut has a pink-red rough textured rind that is in-edible. However this is easily removed, revealing a sweet, translucent white flesh. They are mainly popular in china, but have been gaining popularity in many other countries. They can be found fresh in many asian markets. They may also be found canned in many specialty grocery stores, or stores such as Whole Foods.

So here is the recipes:


Lychee nut Cupcake
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
5 tbsp ground flaxseed (or flaxseed meal)
1/3 cup oil (plus i added about 1 tbsp more)
1/4 cup coconut milk (plus i added about 1 tbsp more)
1 can (4 ounce) Lychee fruit drained, chopped, and syrup reserved 
1/4 cup lychee syrup (i added maybe 3 tbsp more)
2 tsp vanilla extract


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin tin with paper liners. 
2. In a large bowl, vigorously mix the flaxseed with 6 tbsp of water with a fork until gelatinous. Then add the oil, coconut milk, and lychee syrup to flaxseed mixture and mix to combine. 
3. Add your dry ingredients, and mix to combine. I found the mix to be very very thick which is why i added a bit more of the oil, coconut milk, and lychee syrup. Just use your judgement on how it looks add more of the lychee syrup than the other 2 ingredients, so it will have a stronger flavor. You want the consistency to be about as thick as boxed cake mix batter, maybe slightly thinner than that.
4. Fill liners about 3/4 of the way full and bake 20-25 minutes, until edges are browned and toothpick comes out clean. 




Coconut Glaze 
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar 
1/4 cup coconut milk
Dark rum to taste (i added about a capful and a half)


Mix all ingredients until smooth, them pour over cooled cupcakes. I used a piping bag to make it easier, but you could always spoon some in the middle, and it will spread over the cupcake. Top each with a bit of coconut right after the glaze has finished spreading, before it sets or the coconut won't stick. 

Toasted coconut 
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut 

Spread evenly over a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake at 325 for about 7 min, rotating halfway through. Just keep a close eye on it. You may have to shake it halfway through to disperse the coconut so it cooks more evenly. Cook until its golden brown. 

Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes

Today i figured i would post the recipes, and procedures i used to make these banana cream pie cupcakes. These were just an idea i had the other night and decided to experiment with it a bit. The results were delicious, these could possibly be my new favorite cupcakes!

Banana Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. baking soda (add to pureed bananas)
3 very well mashed bananas, very ripe

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Like cupcake pan/muffin tin with paper liner, Then mash bananas and mix in baking soda and vanilla with them.

2. Cream butter, sugar until light and fluffy, then slowly beat in the eggs, until mixture is smooth.

3. Sift flour, then add the salt and baking powder to the flour (use a whisk to stir this mix to ensure even distribution of the baking powder).

4. To the creamed butter mixture, add the milk and flour (alternating, beginning and ending with flour).

5. Add in the banana mixture, mix until incorporated

6. Fill pan, bake 16-20 min,rotating pan halfway through.

After the cupcakes have completely cooled, take a pastry tip (if you don't have one, you might be able to use an apple corer, be creative i'm sure you can figure out something.) cut out a hole in the center of each cupcake, just don't go all the way to the base of the cupcake. You can then use the tip to try to widen the hole a bit.

Here is a photo after making the hole

Now its time for the filling, this can be made up to a day in advance. I simply used jell-o vanilla instant pudding mix, because thats what i associate banana cream pie with. Simply follow the instructions on the package (however i did use cream instead of milk, and i used about 1/2 cup less than they said so the pudding would be extra thick. However you could always make pastry cream, if you're not to keen on the pudding idea. Here is a good simple recipe for pastry cream.

Vanilla Pastry Cream

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
• 6 egg yolks
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 pinch salt

Directions:

1. Place the milk, half the sugar and the vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Combine the egg yolks and the remaining sugar in a bowl and whisk until light in color. Add in the flour and the salt, mix to combine.
3. When the milk just begins to boil, remove from heat and remove vanilla bean. Very slowly dribble the hot milk into the yolk mixture, stirring all the time. When about half of the milk has been added, place all of the yolk mixture into the saucepan over medium heat. Using a spatula or a whisk, mix the pastry cream as it heats, making sure to reach all of the corners of the pan when you stir. Bring the mixture to a boil. Let boil for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. The mixture will be thick.
4. Remove from heat and add the butter. Strain if you wish for a smoother cream. Place into a bowl and cover directly with plastic wrap to stop a skin from forming on the cream. Chill

So once your filling is chilled and set, fill a pastry bag with a round tip small enough to fit in the hole of the cupcakes. Or you can simply cut the tip of the pastry bag to the desired size. Then simply fill all your cupcakes, below is a photo of this. If your wondering what the pink is on the bag, well thats duct tape, as i was filling the bags the bag burst open so i quick grabbed the first tape i could find to repair the bag.

Now it's time for the icing

Vanilla Confectioners Frosting

Ingredients:

453g (1 box) confectioners sugar

1 cup (226g) unsalted butter; softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tablespoons cream or milk

Directions:

1. Cream the butter until it is light and fluffy

2. Then mix in the vanilla, followed by the confectioners sugar. Start beating on a low speed just until it is incorporated (you don't want sugar flying everywhere), then turn up the speed and beat until no lumps remain and mix is light and fluffy.

3. Finally beat in the 4 tablespoons cream or milk, more may be added until the desired consistency is reached. It shouldn't be runny, but it should be soft enough for easy piping.

When you've made your frosting simply fill your pastry bag that has been fitted with the tip you want (i personally like a large star tip) and pipe away!

Sorry no picks of me piping i couldn't manage to do that and take a pick at the same time.

The way i piped these cupcakes was using a large star tip, start out in the center with the tip held just a bit away from the cupcake, and with even force start piping and moving in a circular motion while moving farther away from the cupcake. Then to get that peak, simply stop squeezing and gently pull away. (I know that sounds confusing but hope it helps somewhat).

Then for the Finishing touch some graham cracker crumbs sprinkled on top

Heres a pic of the final cupcakes

Heres a photo of the inside of the cupcake