Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Pear cardomom cupcakes with rose infused vanilla bean custard & white chocolate ganache








I stumbled on the sweetest kitchen's mystery box cupcake challenge by pure accident during December and have been drooling from afar at all the entries so far. I have been procrastinating and grumpy all day, so the only cure for that of course is to bake. also the perfect time to try a new recipe and de-stress plus finally take part :).I have to say it worked wonders lol, but now i face playing catch up . it was worth it to make these cupcakes! they were a completely unexpected and a delightful surprise (if i do say so myself :P)


This month's theme for the challenge is flowers. We could use them as decoration, in the cake, in the icing as long as there's flowers somewhere. I readily admit i am not a flower kind of gal. They really don't stand a chance with me, i have even been known to shorten a little bitty cactus' life expectancy to under a fortnight. I have discovered that i love making them though. The cupcake bouquets are still one of my favorites, and now i might just have to add eaten flowers to the lot too.

I really liked the idea of using roses in some shape or form in my entry. I was slightly worried as all i read about rose flavor was that it was a love or hate thing. So i played it safe. I made pear and cardamom cupcakes (the smell in my kitchen made for a very inpatient wait), i filled them with a Rose infused vanilla bean custard & topped them with a Rose infused white chocolate ganache. I have to admit that i was a tad worried that infusing the ganache might overpower the cupcake, so i also made a small batch of standard white chocolate ganache, but the rose infuse version won out!!. The smells that filled the kitchen this evening definitely helped chase the grumps away. the only thing i would change is adding a wee bit more pear to the cupcakes. I then placed a lone cupcake in a fondant made whimsical teacup (read: wonky lol but it adds character!) and topped the lovely mound of rose infused ganache with a handmade rose bud). It's not a love or hate thing though, when you pick up the cupcake you can smell the roses, but the taste of it is an added bonus it's subtle and light and not at all overpowering but there is no mistaking it. I will definitely make these again (recipe to come)




The winner of May’s Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge will receive prizes from:

Thank you to all our prize sponsors!



official rules for the challenge can be found here http://www.sweetestkitchen.com/mysterybox/ hopefully it won't take me another 6 months to have a go again :)

1 comment:

  1. Hi! I would love to make these cupcakes for an upcoming party. Please post the recipe!!! Thanks so much :)

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