Cantaloupe Cupcakes

Summer must be coming to an end.  My burning desire to wear worn-out jeans, boots, and anything chocolate brown is almost as strong as my craving to wear light skirts was in early Spring.  Before letting summer and its ponytailed, sandaled, swimming pool splashes disappear, I had to give it a proper cupcake sendoff.  The golden ball of cantaloupe that tops these cantaloupe cupcakes almost looks bright enough to give you one last tan (or, in my case, burn).

Growing up, we always ate cantaloupe in big smiley wedges and topped them with cottage cheese.  I had the idea of combining the two flavors into a cupcake. I found a Lithuanian recipe for cottage cheese cake on Jolita's blog, Surfing the World Cuisine, and used that as a recipe starting point.

The cake tasted like cottage cheese and cantaloupe in cupcake form.  It's not particularly sweet, but once you top with it cantaloupe buttercream, it's just the sweetness level you'd expect from a cupcake.  You'll notice that the recipe uses two kinds of flour: all-purpose and semolina.  While you could stick to only all-purpose, I suggest trying the semolina - it gives the cupcakes a firmer texture and a slightly earthier flavor (if you're new to semolina flour, check out my post on semolina flour for more information).

Warning:  There are recognizable bits of cottage cheese in the cake.  So, if you're not a cottage cheese fan, these cantaloupe cupcakes might not be for you.  You could easily replace the cottage cheese with ricotta. 

Cantaloupe Cupcake Recipe

Although the recipe has been dramatically changed, as noted above, it was inspired by Surfing the World Cuisine.

Yield: 36 mini cupcakes (shown above) or 18 standard-sized cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 16 ounces full-fat cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 4 ounces cantaloupe, pureed
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup semolina flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon baking powder

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons very finely chopped cantaloupe 
• Cantaloupe balls for topping cupcakes

Cupcake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix cottage cheese, sugar, milk, cantaloupe, and eggs.  Note: Even when you are done mixing, you will still see cottage cheese bits in the liquid. 
3. Mix in melted butter, semolina flour, all-purpose flour, vanilla, and baking powder.
4. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
5. Bake minis for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. Standard-sized cupcakes will take about 20 minutes.

 Frosting Directions:

1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat butter for 3 minutes on high speed.
2. Add powdered sugar a little bit at a time until fully combined.
3. Mix in vanilla and cantaloupe.
4. Pipe or spread on cooled cupcakes.
5. Just before serving, top cupcakes with cantaloupe balls.