Monday, May 28, 2007

Mango Lime Cupcakes with Neufchâtel Cheese Frosting & Chili Powder

Rob and I have been eating a lot of mango using this method of preparation recently. It's perfect for the summer heat. It's tropical, flavorful, with the littlest whisper of spice in the background. I could think of no better cupcake to put together for Elise's backyard ice cream social (which we will cover in the next post to be sure).

The mango is sweet and delicious in this intensely rich, moist, and dense cake. The lime perks up the cake perfectly. The Neufchâtel cheese is something new; it's basically a low fat cream cheese without that highly distinctive tang that cream cheese possesses. It's mild and sweet, perfect for fruit based cakes where you don't want to overpower or compete with the other flavors. The chili powder and lime zest were a tad bit tame, I think I would add a bit more next time as it seemed to get a bit lost sometimes. It shouldn't be strong, it should just barely be recognizable, almost invisible, but should still be present.

Overall though, I was very happy with the outcome. I was able to share it with all my Sac blogging buddies, and many other awesome peoples. A simple cupcake I plan to make again.

Mango Lime Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

What You'll Need...
1 stick of butter, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup of milk
1 1/3 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
good pinch of salt
1 mango, peeled and chopped
zest of one lime
1 tablespoon of lime juice

What You'll Do...
1) Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Beat the butter for about 2 minutes until well creamed. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through.
2) Add the egg and egg yolk and beat for 45 seconds. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
3) Combine flour, salt, and baking powder and sift together. Combine the milk, lime zest, and lime juice together. Add some of the flour mixture, then some of the milk, alternating between dry-wet-dry and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix together until just combined.
4) Fold the mango into the batter. Scoop into cupcake papers until almost full.
5) Bake for about 15-18 minutes. Cupcakes will be dense, heavy, and moist. A toothpick should still come out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

Neufchâtel Cheese Frosting
What You'll Need...
1/4 cup of butter (1/2 a stick), room temperature
4 oz of Neufchâtel cheese, room temperature (this cheese can be found near the cream cheese)
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (taste as you go)
lime zest
chili powder

What You'll Do...
1) Cream the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes. Scraped down the sides and bottom.
2) Slowly add the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla to taste. Spread on cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with lime zest and chili powder.

20 comments:

  1. Hi Garrett,

    This sounds very interesting and I will give it a go.

    Can you recommend a substitute for the Neufchatel cheese?

    It will probably be another 50 to 100 years before it reaches Ireland (though I should really go check before I say things like that).

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  2. I have always wanted to try Neufchâtel cheese. Fantastic combination of flavors. Another great job!!

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  3. Rob - Neufchatel is cream chesse, just a lighter version of it.

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  4. WOW! THis looks amazing. In Venice beach there is a guy on the corner by the beach that makes big bags of mango, pineapple and coconut mixed with chili lime and salt...one of my fave things...

    I will try this this weekend.

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  5. YAY for using the lighter cream cheese when you really don't NEED the heavy stuff. Neufchatel still tastes wonderful. Unfortunately, though, the fat free does not substitute well in most recipes.

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  6. Garrett - these were some of the best cupcakes I've ever had in my whole life. Thanks for sharing them with us yesterday!

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  7. Yum! These sound amazing. I feel another baking session coming on!

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  8. I thought your Port Royal cupcakes were pretty fabulous.

    But these....were HEAVENLY!

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  9. WoW! I'm a mango freak and anything made using mangos calls my name loud and clear. This looks and sounds incredible!

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  10. Those are pretty cupcakes to look at....and Mangoes...Hmm, wonder, if I can use the Indian Mango Pulp that I have at home......and leave out half the sugar. I'll try that.
    Oh come ON, Neufchatel?? I'll use the FULL Fat kind. ;)

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  11. This sounds/looks delicious & I like the idea of the chilli powder! Cheers!

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  12. Garrett- this recipe proved great! the consistency and flavor was superb!

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  13. Garrett,
    I made these in miniature form and instead of chili powder, I cut up some kiwis as garnish. OMG, they lasted all of five minutes at a Tiki themed party I brought them to. Mmmm....mango....

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  14. Hi ya I am going to try to use marscopne instead as we cont get Neufchatel, also what size mango or amount of pulp would you recomend

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  15. The size of playing dice is just fine. =)

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  16. I just tried this recipe today and followed everything to the tee (cupcake recipe not the frosting). I pulled the cupcake out at 15 mins and the toothpick came out undone so I baked it for 5 mins more and the toothpick finally came out dry. Then as it was drying on the rack, the middle part of the cake started to sink in! Now my cupcakes have this indentation in the middle and I know when it usually does this, it's undercooked, is it the same in this case or was there something I should have watched out for?

    Thank you.

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  17. Secret - This is normal, no worries. This cake is super dense, more dense than pound cake if not equal to it. Don't worry about the sinking because the mango has so much moisture it can't really be helped. A small smear of frosting helps the presentation. =)

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  18. I made and blogged about this recipe this weekend. Delicious! Thanks for sharing.

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  19. Hi Garrett,

    Do you think I can use sugar substitute for these?

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  20. Houndstooth: You can try but I'm not sure how the final product will come out.

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Hey, you're leaving a comment! That's pretty darn cool, so thanks. If you have any questions or have found an error on the site or with a recipe, please e-mail me and I will reply as soon as possible.
~Garrett