Mango Tres Leches Cupcakes - Maybe

Several years ago I came across Michael Chiarello's recipe for Mango Dos Leches.  I had printed it off thinking I would try it, stuck it in a folder and promptly forgot about it.  When the 2011 Ice Cream Cupcake Contest was announced, I started thinking about it again, determined that eventually I would try this recipe.  Today is eventually.  And of course, I made modifications to the recipe.  Right now, I'm not sure how that's going to work out for me. 

The cake is a typical genoise of which, in and of itself, I'm not particularly fond.  To make half of the original recipe, I started with 3 room temperature eggs, 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt (I didn't reduce the salt).  This gets whisked at high speed until tripled in volume.

1 minutes

I started on low speed and worked my way up to high just so I wouldn't sling egg and sugar all over the walls.  (I need to invest in a pour/splatter shield for the 4 quart mixer.)  Once at high speed, I whisked for 3 minutes although I don't think it would hurt if you went a bit longer.  Some of it will depend on your mixer and ambient temperature.

2 minutes

3 minutes

Three minutes seemed to do the trick.  I really thought it was going to take longer, but I think I was recalling the days of making genoise in the 20 quart mixers at school.  Big difference!

At this point it's time for my least favorite part:  folding in the flour.  I sifted in 1 cup of flour plus 1/32 teaspoon of cayenne pepper in three additions, folding gently after each.  The folding is my least favorite part because I'm always concerned about not getting all of the flour mixed in without deflating the eggs. 

As you can see, I found streaks.  This was actually part of a huge pocket of flour that was trying to hide from me.  I think I eventually got it all, but I won't place any bets on that. 

I scooped the batter in the foil lined cupcake pans and baked at 350F for 14 minutes.  Originally, I set the timer for 18 minutes, but I could smell the cupcakes at 12 so I started checking them after that.  Again, baking time will depend on individual ovens.

It's kind of hard to tell from the photo, but all of the cupcakes sank when they came out of the oven.  I didn't mind so much since it would help keep the milk mixture from pouring down the sides. 

While I let these cool for a bit, I heated 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup coconut milk in the microwave in two 1 minute intervals.  To that I added 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I omitted the almond extract from the original recipe.)  When the milks were well combined, I added 2/3 cup of mango puree and mixed well.

Using my basic math skills, I figured I had about 2 cups (16 fl ounces) of milk/mango mixture and 16 cupcakes so each cupcake should get 1 ounce (2 tablespoons). 

After poking holes in the cupcakes with a bamboo skewer, I began spooning the milk/mango mixture over the top.  Here's where the problem began.  It appears as though the acid in the mango is sufficient to curdle the milk, making the mixture extremely thick.  The cupcakes are not absorbing it.  So far I have one tablespoon of the milk/mango mixture that's been sitting on the cupcakes for about an hour now.  It's not looking promising.  There may need to be a Plan B involved.

Success - Finally!

I love cupcakes.  I love ice cream.  So when I read about the 2011 Ice Cream Cupcake Contest sponsored by the Cupcake Project and Scoopalicious, I was enthralled. 

When I first read about it on the Cupcake Project blog, mango sorbet immediately popped into my head.  But what to go with it?  I kicked around the idea of sort of a mango tres leches cupcake with a spicy ancho chile kick to it (I may still make these - they sound so good to me), but I’ve really been fascinated with Indian cooking lately, so I decided to let those flavors be my inspiration.  Thinking about coconut rice pudding, masala chai tea and mango lassies conjured up A Taste of India Cupcakes with Mango Sorbet. 

Round One

In my first attempt, the coconut in the coconut chai cupcakes was too dominant over the chai flavors.  They were good – just not what I was looking for in terms of flavor.  The saffron buttercream I made to go with them turned out pretty well, but maybe just a bit too much saffron.  It amazes me that something so small packs such a punch! 

The second go at the cupcakes yielded more of the flavor I was looking for, but they were dry, dry, dry.  Not even brushing them with a chai tea simple syrup could resurrect them.  For quality control purposes, they went to the trash.  I was beginning to feel defeat creeping in.   The second round of buttercream kept that at bay though. 

While lying in bed wide awake at some unholy hour, the idea popped into my head to use some melted mango sorbet in my buttercream.  I wondered about the effect of replacing the milk in the recipe with the sorbet since there is no dairy in the sorbet.  I compromised and added a couple of tablespoons of milk to the melted sorbet.  Eureka!

But the contest deadline was looming and my cupcakes were still not to my satisfaction.  Time for round three.  I went back to the first recipe but reduced the amount of coconut.  Then, instead of using a combination ground spices, I used a bag of Celestial Seasoning’s India Spice Chai.  It worked.

Sunny-side up cupcake?

The assembly got a little messy.  I started by just placing a scoop of sorbet on top of the cupcakes.  They sort of looked like they had a bad fried egg on top.  After softening the sorbet a bit, I attempted piping rosettes.  A common problem I have with piping is that my hands seem to radiate heat.  Not great for buttercream, even worse for sorbet.  By the time I had one ready for its close up, the sorbet was already dripping down the side. 

And I was okay with that.  I snapped some pics, grabbed a fork and enjoyed some cake and sorbet bliss.  The cupcakes finally had the taste and texture I wanted:  a balance of coconut and chai, moist but not falling apart, and chewy little bits of coconut.  The sweet/tart of the mango sorbet is perfect to cut through the richness of the buttercream.  Even though the buttercream has sorbet in it, you smell it more than you taste it.  It just sort of adds to the mango experience.  

As is often the case for me, the third time’s a charm.  My lucky number 3 didn’t let me down.  I now have a recipe I'm not embarrassed to share, and half a pint of mango sorbet at my disposal.  It would have been great to make my own mango sorbet, but there is a reason I don't own an ice cream maker.  As I said, I do love ice cream.

Taste of India Cupcakes with Mango Sorbet

Coconut Chai Cupcakes

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup unsweetened, finely shredded, dried coconut

1 cup granulated sugar, divided

1 bag chai tea (I used Celestial Seasoning’s India Spice Chai)

1/2 cup + 2 Tbs unsalted butter, room temperature

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup Greek-style yogurt

1/4 cup milk

Mango sorbet for assembly (I like Häagen Dazs)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line cupcake tins with paper or foil liners.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and dried coconut together in a large bowl.  Set aside. 

Combine one tablespoon of the sugar and the contents of the tea bag in a clean coffee/spice grinder and process until nearly powdered.  Add to the remaining sugar.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about five minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down the paddle and the bowl.  Reduce the speed to medium and slowly drizzle in the beaten egg, no more than a tablespoon at a time, incorporating thoroughly after each addition.  Stop and scrape the paddle and bowl about halfway through, and again after all of the egg is incorporated.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add one third of the flour mixture.  Mix briefly, then add the yogurt.  Add another third of the flour followed by the milk, then the remaining flour.  Mix only until combined.

Use an ice cream scoop to portion into prepared pan(s).  Bake 18 – 20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Immediately remove the cupcakes from the pan to a wire rack to cool.  Cool completely before icing with mango-saffron buttercream and topping with mango sorbet.

Makes approximately 18 cupcakes.

Mango-Saffron Buttercream

3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided

pinch of saffron (I used exactly 10 threads)

1/8 tsp turmeric

6 Tbs melted mango sorbet (melt, then measure)

2 Tbs milk

1 Tbs all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tbs heavy whipping cream, cold

1-1/4 cups unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature

Combine one tablespoon of sugar, the saffron and the turmeric in a small bowl and grind with the back of a spoon (a mortar and pestle works much better if you have one) until the saffron is crushed.

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar mixture with the remaining sugar, the melted mango sorbet and the milk.  Heat on medium-low until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Gradually sift in the flour while whisking and whisk vigorously until completely incorporated. 

Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whisk on medium-high speed until the bowl is cool to the touch.  This may take up to 10 minutes, depending on the ambient temperature. 

 

It gets better - trust me.

 

When the mixture is cool, switch to the paddle attachment.  Add the vanilla and whipping cream and mix briefly just to combine.  Add the butter all at once.  Begin on low speed and gradually increase the speed to medium-high.  Don’t worry if the buttercream looks curdled – just keep going.  Beat on medium-high for 8 – 10 minutes or until the buttercream is smooth and creamy.  



Almost there.



If you’re not using the buttercream  immediately, store in the refrigerator for up to three days or up to two months in the freezer.  Thaw frozen buttercream in the refrigerator.  Allow it to come to room temperature and then re-beat before using.

Makes approximately one quart.

Made it!

Assembly

Place the buttercream in a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip.  I like Wilton’s 1M cupcake icing tip, but Ateco 824 also works well.  Pipe a border around the edge of the cupcake (plain or fancy - it's just to keep the ice cream contained), leaving space in the center for a small scoop of mango sorbet.  Add the sorbet just before serving.  You can also try piping some softened sorbet in the center, but that didn’t really work out so well for me. 

Devour immediately.

So Close & Yet So Far

As I was prodding the corner of the pâte de fruit before bed last night, I was really thinking I'd nailed it this time.  Almost.

Beyond the fact that I didn't butter the parchment, cutting these things is a task to try one's patience.  First I tried a cutter dipped in hot water.  Nope.  After washing and drying the cutter, I smeared some butter on it.  Not happening.  I repeated these endeavors with a chef's knife.  Not so much.  My third attempt was a pizza cutter dipped in hot water.  Marginal success.

If you look closely you can see little white pectin blobs in a couple of them.

I say marginal success because these were just shy of having the firm texture I wanted.  So while the pizza cutter did a decent job of cutting, the pieces eventually melded back together.  Although I did get a few nice squares cut, the shape was totally lost when I tried to get them off of the parchment.  I tried to massage them back into shape with a small offset spatula dipped in water but, again, the results were marginal.

While I am a bit frustrated and it's tempting to give up, I'm too close to getting it right to throw in the towel now.  And while these are far from attractive, the taste makes up for their appearance. 

Given the fact that, by weight, there's more sugar than fruit I really thought they would be toothache sweet like my last batch was.  Surprisingly, not.  Ancho was my first choice for the chile.  The jar turned out to be empty though, so I used the cayenne.  It actually works really well.  It lets the mango flavor come through at first, and then the heat follows it up without being overwhelming.  Other than struggling to get them off of the parchment, I'm not mad at these.



But I still need to figure out how to get the firmer texture.  Do I need to increase the pectin?  Do I need to cook them to a slightly higher temperature?  Temperature may be my issue.  It's difficult to pinpoint 223 degrees F precisely on my Taylor thermometer.  I'm thinking it's time to look into a Maverick digital thermometer.

There are a few other things to clear off my calendar before I can make time to try these again.  Next week I'll be making my caramels for the food blogger bake sale in St. Louis.  And after that I have to do some cupcakes for a tasting with a potential wedding cake client.

In the meantime, this is my recipe.  I recommend the 8" pan vs the 9" x 13" I used, and definitely
BUTTER THE PARCHMENT.

Mango-Chile Pâte de Fruit

1 Tbs butter

13g powdered pectin (1 Tbs)*

625g granulated sugar, divided (about 2-3/4 cups), plus extra for dredging

1g ground cayenne pepper (1/4 tsp)

450g pureed fresh mango (2 cups)

10g glucose (1 tsp)

4g citric acid powder (1/2 tsp)

4g water (1/2 tsp)

Spray an 8” square pan with a small amount of cooking spray, or rub with some butter, and line with parchment.  (The cooking spray/butter keeps the parchment in place.)  Rub enough butter onto the parchment to create a smooth, thin layer.  You may not need it all. 

 In a small bowl, combine the pectin with 60g (1/4 cup) of the sugar and whisk to combine thoroughly.  In a separate bowl, combine 50g (3 Tbs plus 2 tsp) of sugar with the cayenne pepper and whisk to combine.

In a large pot, combine the mango puree and the sugar/cayenne mixture.  Bring to 120°F over medium heat.  Whisk in the sugar/pectin mixture and bring to a boil.  Boil for one minute.

Add the glucose and the remaining 515g (2-1/4 cups) sugar.  Heat to 223°F, stirring to avoid scorching.  Just before the mixture reaches 223°F, combine the citric acid and water.  Stir in the citric acid solution once temperature is reached and cook an additional 30 seconds.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.  Allow to sit, uncovered, for 24 hours before cutting.  Remove from the pan to a cutting board and use a pizza cutter dipped in warm water to cut into squares or try using a buttered cutter to cut into desired shapes.  Dredge in additional granulated sugar.  Coarse turbinado sugar may be pretty as well.

*For this recipe I used Sure-Jell 100% Natural Premium Fruit Pectin

Pâté de Fruition or Pâté de Failure?

AKA:  More About Pâté de Fruit Than You Ever Wanted to Know.

Last month I decided I was going to join the party of attempting pâté de fruit (see April 11 - 13 for that saga).  It didn't work out so well.  Shae of Hitchhiking to Heaven summed this up the best in her post on her attempt entitled Clementine Pâté  de Oops.  But I knew I would try again because sometimes I'm just stubborn that way, and determined a little research would be in order before any further attempts.

I recalled that I had originally found a link for Capfruit's commercial pâté de fruit recipes from the French Pastry School's website so decided to see if I could find it again.  Indeed I could.  This time when I found their recipes for pate de fruit, I didn't have to worry about translating.

One of the problems with other pâté de fruit attempts I'd read about was suggested to be the use of homemade fruit puree versus commercially prepared.  I checked the Capfruit website to see if they listed ingredients for their purees.  What I found is that their purees are 90% fruit and 10% sugar.  Is that extra bit of sugar the reason home purees seemed to have a higher failure rate?  Maybe; but I'm not sure it's the only reason.  Since I was using their recipe for my pâté de fruit, I thought I should try to duplicate their fruit puree.  I decided that I would use the same 90/10 proportions:  for 500 grams of fruit puree (I cut the recipe in half), I used 450 grams of fruit and 50 grams of sugar.

Their recipe also calls for glucose instead of corn syrup and citric acid instead of lemon juice.  Believe it or not, I actually had both of these things.  The glucose came from Hobby Lobby of all places (it's used in cake decorating) and the citric acid from the International Grocery (on hand for my occasional forays into cheese making).  One thing I noticed right away is that the glucose is much, MUCH thicker and stickier than corn syrup.  Again, I'm not sure that would be a cause for failure in and of itself, but perhaps combinations of things . . .

Research in hand, now it was time to get started.


Mise en place:  everything in its place. 


Experience has taught me to be totally prepared before beginning to work with anything involving boiling sugar.  (And note the extremely large cup of coffee to the left.)  I took the time to make sure all of my ingredients were weighed out before beginning.  The recipes were in metric and standard, but since my scale only does 1/8 ounce increments, I went with the metric.  Grams are more precise anyway.  I did try to get volume measurements on all the ingredients, but the weights (metric or standard) will still be more accurate.



Getting a boil on the thick puree without burning it
was a bit of a challenge.



After heating my mango puree, I added powdered pectin mixed in with some of the sugar.  The purpose of this is to try to keep the pectin from clumping up.  That part was definitely not so successful.  Maybe I should have been whisking instead of stirring.  I spent a lot of time chasing pectin globs around trying to crush them on the side of the pan.  This mixture is then brought to a boil and boiled for one minute - kind of like making jelly.  At that point, the glucose and remaining sugar is added and it's cooked to 223 degrees F.  A digital thermometer would be really awesome here.  Once it reaches temperature, the citric acid is stirred in and the mixture is cooked for 30 seconds before pouring into the prepared pan.  Then the really hard part:  it's supposed to set for 24 hours before cutting it.  Antici . . . . . PATION!

I wasn't sure if the 9 x 13 would be big enough,
but as it turns out, it's just a little bit too big. 
I'll just have to be happy with skinny candies.

So I won't know until tomorrow if it's successful, but so far I'm extremely optimistic.  If it really is successful, I'll post my recipe tomorrow.  There was one step I forgot again though:  buttering the parchment.  Hopefully after all of this, they won't be ruined by my inability to get them off of the paper.

Fish & Fruit

Ewww.  Sort of.  Why fish and fruit? 

Fish, actually seafood, because it was on Saturday night's menu.  We had a bag of bay scallops in the freezer that I'd been staring at for about a week before deciding it was time to make ceviche (or seviche) again.  If you've never had or heard of ceviche, it's a Latin American seafood dish that "cooks" the fish with the acid in citrus juice, usually lime.  It took me a long time to build up the courage to try it.  But once I did, I kind of liked it.  I have one go-to recipe that I adapted from Williams-Sonoma's Savoring Fish & Shellfish and I don't usually deviate too far from it.

My favorite ways to eat ceviche.  I love the crunchy with the creamy textures.



These are called "champagne mangoes".  I'd never heard
of them before yesterday.  Pretty tasty though.

Fruit, specifically mangoes, because I got a 5-1/2 pound box yesterday with a new recipe in my head.  Several of the blogs I read have been talking about/trying pate de fruit (PAHT duh fwee - your French lesson for the day).  They look beautiful:  little blocks and hearts and circles of gem colored fruit purees jelled firm and coated in sparkling sugar.  I want to try to make them because I want to eat them.  I've looked up at least 15 different recipes for them, some using pectin, some using gelatin, some using neither.  I'm going to start with an adapted pectin recipe. 





After washing all of the mangoes, I started by
cutting off their "cheeks".  Sounds a bit cruel, no?




Last night  I prepped the mangoes to make the puree.  I really wanted to finish everything last night but it was getting late and being tired does not bode well for the success of an untested recipe.  Especially when I've read about so many others' failures.  So today's project is finishing the mango pate de fruit.


The cheeks are then scored, without cutting through the skin.
If the mangoes are really ripe, this is easier said than done.



The scored mango can be scooped out with a spoon
or cut from the skin with a knife.  I like the spoon
method because it gets more of the fruit.





















One of the things I've noted is the failure rate appears to be higher among those using fruit they puree themselves versus buying commercially prepared fruit puree.  I found myself wondering if the puree was too thin and if the fruit was drained of some of its juice before pureeing.  So I'm going to try letting my cubed mangoes drain a bit before processing  and sieving them.  We'll see how it goes.


But thinking about ceviche and mango instead of "fish and fruit", has me thinking that may not be such a bad combination after all. 

Scallop Ceviche

8 oz bay scallops, thawed if frozen

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice, divided

1 cup halved grape tomatoes

1 red Serrano chile, minced

2 Tbs olive oil

1 large, ripe avocado

Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 Tbs finely chopped cilantro (or flat-leaf parsley if you think cilantro is vile)

Rinse the scallops in cold water.  Remove the “foot” if desired.  (This is the muscle on the side where the scallop attaches to the shell.  It’s usually slightly more opaque than the rest of the scallop.  I remove them because they are a bit tougher than I prefer.)  Place the scallops in a glass bowl and pour over all but two tablespoons of the lime juice.  Refrigerate for an hour, stirring occasionally to make sure all of the scallops get to bathe in the lime juice.  The scallops are done when they turn milky white and opaque.

In a larger glass bowl, add the tomatoes, chile remaining two tablespoons of lime juice and olive oil.  Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit and either scoop out the flesh with a melon baller or cut into cubes.  Add to the bowl and stir to combine.

Drain the lime juice from the scallops and add them to the tomatoes and avocado.  Season to taste with the salt and pepper and sprinkle with the cilantro or parsley.

I like to serve this with crispy blue corn tortilla chips or rustic, crunchy bread toasted with olive oil, salt and pepper.  It provides a nice texture contrast. 

Serves two nicely as a meal, or four as an appetizer.