Hummingbird Upside-Down Cupcakes

My hummingbird cupcakes with pineapple almond butter cream cheese frosting are among my  favorite cupcakes.  But, not everyone has almond flour, walnut oil, and golden syrup lying around (some of the key ingredients in that cupcake recipe).  This hummingbird upside-down cupcake recipe presents a simpler alternative with the same show-stopper flavor combination of pineapple, pecan, and banana. 

Hummingbird Cupcakes with Pineapple Almond Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

It seems that outside of the South (some people think of St. Louis as the South - but we're definitely Midwest), no one has heard of hummingbird cupcakes.  You are missing out!

My hummingbird cupcakes are everything that banana muffins wish they could be.  The hummingbird cupcakes have a strong banana flavor, but so much more complexity.  The addition of pineapple adds moisture and the sweetness of nature's candy.  The cupcakes have a nutty flavor (thanks to the pecans mixed throughout), but even if you happen to get a nut-free bite (unlikely), the nut flavor will still be there; I baked my hummingbird cupcakes using almond flour rather than the more typical all-purpose flour (bonus - the almond flour means these hummingbird cupcakes are gluten-free!).

Because banana is the most intense flavor in the cupcakes, I wanted to play up the pineapple in my cream cheese frosting.  When you add real pineapple (as opposed to pineapple flavor) to frosting, it tends to make the frosting too wet to pipe.  The natural tendency is to add more powdered sugar to compensate - making the frosting well above sugar levels I can tolerate.  For this frosting, I used almond butter as the thickener, which gave the frosting a pipeable texture (with enjoyable nutty undertones) without adding too much sweetness.  I'm in love.


What are Hummingbird Cupcakes?

Lime, Pineapple, and Mascarpone Breakfast Soufflé with Dulce de Leche

I've never made a soufflé before.  Soufflés sounded like scary, fancy French food - something that Julia Child would have futzed over for months trying to perfect.  I learned, however, that a soufflé (which means "puff up" in French) is just a cake with separated eggs. The beaten egg whites are used to give the cake lift - not so frightening.   My soufflé is even less imposing since it's made in a cast iron skillet.  Breakfast in a skillet is like a man in a cowboy hat. It doesn't matter how handsome the dish actually is; sticking it in the skillet gives it instant appeal.

Each bite of this lime, pineapple, and mascarpone soufflé is like eating warm lime clouds, pineapple sunshine, and a soft dulche de leche breeze.  I see more soufflés in my future.

Piña Colada Cupcakes

Groom 4.0 (read the back story for more details) has selected these Piña Colada cupcakes as his pick for one of their wedding cupcake flavors (he gets one and Bride 4.0 gets one).  "Is there anything you would change about these Piña Colada cupcakes?" I asked him after he'd finished it.  "I just want there to be lots more of them," he replied with a grin.  His wish will be granted because there will be over 100 Piña Colada cupcakes at his wedding!

As my friend Andrew (of Church of Burger/Pizza fame) notes, these cupcakes aren't just moist, the inside is almost wet due to the juicy pineapple bites scattered throughout the cake.  These Piña Colada cupcakes are so close to the real deal that Andrew pointed out that the Piña Colada cupcakes would be the perfect cupcake to eat poolside in Las Vegas.  

Honey Cupcakes Baked in Ham

As far as I know, this is the first cupcake recipe baked in ham ever developed.  I baked a honey cake inside of a piece of ham to recreate a flavor of honeyed ham. With so many cupcakes out there now featuring bacon (see my beer cupcakes with bacon cheddar frosting, French Toast bacon cupcakes from The Busty Baker, and Cakespy's ode to bacon cupcakes as evidence), I figured, "Why not salute a different part of the pig?"!



What surprised people the most about the cupcakes in ham was that the ham flavor was not strong - some even said they couldn't taste it. The ham acts as an edible, environmentally friendly (depending on where your ham comes from) cupcake liner. If anything, it adds a salty flavor to each bite, which gives a zen sweet and salty effect.

Candied Pineapple Recipe

Candied pineapple, according to a quick informal poll of my friends, is typically thought of as dried pineapple that has been sugared. My recipe was about as dry as a St. Louis summer (for those not from St. Louis, picture rainforest-like humidity). What makes my candied pineapple different from non-candied pineapple is that the juice is extra sweet and the outside of the pineapple has an irresistible glossy shine.

Aside from topping a cupcake, candied pineapple could be:

• eaten all on its on,
• used in or on top of a meat dish,
  
• mixed into a fruit salad, or
  
• thrown on the grill (although I haven't tried it).

Candied Pineapple Recipe

To make candied pineapple, I followed the same technique outlined in a post by The Repressed Pastry Chef on candied orange slices. I am reprinting that technique, modified for pineapple.

• 1.5 C water
• 1/2 C sugar
• 12 pineapple rings (I used the kind from the can, but fresh pineapple would also work.)
  

1. In a large, heavy pot, bring water and sugar to a boil.
2. Add pineapple rings.
   
3. Let the mixture boil for about 5-10 minutes. Be sure that all of the pineapple rings are under water.
   
4. Reduce the heat to medium and let it continue cooking for about 30 minutes. The liquid will thicken and become a syrup.
   
5. Remove from heat but let the pineapple remain in the pot as they cool for about 10 minutes.
6. Remove to a sheet of parchment paper to cool completely.
7. The syrup remaining in the pan can be saved and used in other dishes.

Candied Pineapple vs. Pineapple Candy

If you are looking for pineapple candy rather than candied pineapple, check out my yummy pineapple candy. While the cupcake that the candy was on was a bit of a fail, I loved that pineapple candy.

Grape Cupcakes Topped with Wine Whipped Cream

Grape Cupcake Man says, "I love grape cupcakes!" Grape Cupcake Man also says, "I need you to lick the Muscat wine whipped cream frosting off of my grape cupcake face - it's blocking my eyes!"

When I first made Grape Cupcake Man, my in-house food photographer refused to take the photo: "It's just too weird." Perhaps I did go a bit overboard, but I wanted to use the whipped cream and I didn't want to hide the grapes like I did here:

Clearly, Grape Cupcake Man was the only choice.

Regardless of how you frost the grape cupcakes (or if you frost them at all), these grape cupcakes are a perfect choice to serve while sitting outside with a bottle of wine, grapes, cheese, and nuts. Enjoy!

Grape Cupcake Recipe

I found a most appetizing recipe for a grape cake on the Desert Candy blog and decided to convert it to grape cupcakes. I have included the recipe with my modifications below. The main change I made was to add some ginger and pineapple flavor to replicate the tastes found in my recent punch recipe.

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t ground ginger
  
• 1/4 t baking soda
• 1/2 C Muscat wine
• 1/2 C pineapple juice
  
• 3/4 C sugar
• 4 T (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 4 T (1/4 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 C red seedless grapes

1. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ginger into a medium-sized bowl.
2. Combine wine and pineapple juice in a small bowl.
   
3. Whisk 3/4 cup sugar, butter, and olive oil in a large bowl until smooth.
   
4. Whisk in eggs.
   
5. Add flour mixture alternately with wine/juice in 3 additions each, whisking just until smooth after each addition.
   
6. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full.
7. Sprinkle grapes over batter.
8. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes or until top gets slightly brown.
   

Muscat Wine Whipped Cream Frosting Recipe

This Muscat wine whipped cream frosting went perfectly with the cupcakes, but it worked nicely as a dip for grapes. Yum!

• 1 C Muscat wine
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 C heavy whipping cream

1. Bring wine and sugar to a boil in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan.
2. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for about thirty minutes.
3. Remove from heat and bring to room temperature.
4. Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
5. Add 1/3 C of the muscat wine syrup you just made.
   

Note: Use more whipping cream or less syrup if you want a thicker frosting.

Punch Recipe - Grape, Pineapple, and Ginger

This punch recipe combines fresh grapes, pineapple, and ginger. Other grape punch recipes I've tried use grape juice or fake-tasting powder (like Kool-Aid). Using fresh grapes in a punch recipe works really well (aside from having to strain the skins), but don't expect the punch to taste like the traditional grape juice variety unless you are using Concord grapes.

Punch Recipe

I made this punch recipe for this month's Taste & Create (the food blog event where food bloggers pair up to try each other's recipes). My partner this month was Experiments, Emotions, and Experiences with Food. While there were tons of appealing recipes of all kinds on my partner's blog, I decided to opt for her punch recipe to avoid worrying about converting a dessert into a Kosher for Passover creation (two days left!).

I am reprinting my partner's punch recipe below, with my notes. Note that the recipe makes just one large glass. Double, triple, or quadruple the recipe depending on how much punch you need!

• 1/2 C (around 15) black seedless grapes (Feel free to experiment with other seedless varieties.)
  
• 1/2 C pineapple, cubed
• 1 T fresh ginger, chopped (The ginger flavor is VERY strong in this punch. If you are not a huge ginger fan, you may want to reduce the amount to taste.)
  
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 3 T sugar
• 1/2 t salt (This was a bit too much salt for me. You might consider cutting this amount in half.)
  
• 1-2 C ice water

1. Put all ingredients in the blender.
   
   
2. Blend.
   
   
3. Strain.
4. Dilute with more water, if needed.
   
5. Serve chilled over ice.

Up Next

Grape cupcakes with pineapple and ginger - of course!

Pineapple Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Ganache and Homemade Pineapple Candy: The Happy Cupcakes

The best pineapple I've ever had was in Thailand. My husband and I drove down a stretch of road where there were pineapple stands every few feet. For those who live in Thailand or have been to Thailand, I can't tell you where exactly this took place. I am directionally challenged in my own country. No hope in another country.

As we drove through what I shall refer to as the pineapple district, we asked our guide how he chooses which pineapple stand to stop at. "The one with the prettiest girl working there, of course." Guess I should have known. Economics 101: Sex sells.
The pineapple in my pineapple cupcakes was not the best pineapple. In fact, it wasn't even organic! Instead of my typical trip to Whole Foods, I headed to our local supermarket chain, Dierbergs, to do my shopping this week. The reason for this unprecedented trip was that I had remembered seeing canned pineapple cut into fun shapes like stars. I thought I could candy some shaped pineapple and it would be a really cute cupcake topper. After browsing the store and talking to the manager, I learned that the shaped pineapple was only available seasonally (stars for July 4th, Christmas shapes in Dec.,etc.). Oh well. Turns out it wasn't such a great loss, I was able to make candy and shape it myself as you will read about later.

Since I was already there and Dierbergs did not carry organic pineapple, I ended up buying a can of conventional crushed pineapple to use in the cupcakes and candy. I will say though that Dierbergs is starting to carry more and more organic products. The problem is that there is an inconsistency in how they are shelved. Some are mixed in with the conventional products while some have their own sections. It seems to me that the organic products should always be presented with the conventional products so that consumers can see their options and make an informed choice. End soapbox.

Armed with my canned pineapple (Note how despite the fact that I was willing to go through the effort to make my own candy, I didn't want to mess with cutting a whole pineapple), I headed home to bake.

The Cake

I got the recipe for the cupcakes from Coconut & Lime:

For those regular readers among you, you may note that I made:

• Coffee cupcakes that didn't have a strong coffee flavor
• Tomato cupcakes that didn't have a strong tomato flavor
• Tangerine frosting that didn't taste like tangerine
• Beer cupcakes that didn't have a strong beer flavor

I would like to officially welcome pineapple cupcakes to the list of cupcakes that don't strongly taste like their title ingredient. The cupcakes had bits of pineapple in them which obviously tasted like pineapple. However, the cake which was loaded with pineapple juice, did not taste at all pineappley.

My second complaint about these cupcakes was that they were a bit too moist (greasy?). The bottoms of the cupcake wrappers were slimy. This has not happened to me before and I hope it does not happen again.

The Ganache

For the frosting, I opted for a milk chocolate ganache. The goal was to make the chocolate taste pineappley by adding some pineapple rum. True to the trend, there was no detectable pineapple taste (or rum taste for that matter) even when adding more pineapple rum than planned.

I got the recipe from Allrecipes. Here is the recipe with my modifications:

• 9 oz milk chocolate, chopped
• 1 C heavy cream
• 2 T pineapple rum

1. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl.
2. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
3. Bring just to a boil, watching very carefully because if it boils for a few seconds, it will boil out of the pot.
4. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Stir in the rum.
5. Allow the ganache to cool slightly before frosting.

Saving the Best for Last - The Pineapple Candy

While the cupcakes were a letdown, the candy topper was not! The pineapple candies were awesome! They were sweet but not overly sweet with a strong pineapple flavor and a melt in your mouth consistency. They were also easy to make aside from being messy and sticky.

If you choose to make these, I would recommend putting them on the cupcake the day you are going to serve them. I left them on the cupcakes for a couple of days and they got soggy. Good thing that I had extras not on the cupcakes to snack on. I got the recipe from about.com. I have reprinted it below.

Makes about 1/2 pound pineapple candies

• 1 C granulated white sugar
• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 1/4 C heavy cream
• 1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, undrained
• 1 T butter
• 1 t pure vanilla extract

1. Place white sugar, brown sugar, heavy cream, and pineapple (with juice) in a heavy saucepan.
2. Stir and bring to a gentle boil.
3. Cook, without stirring, until the temperature reaches 242 F. on a candy thermometer.
4. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla.
5. Stir to combine, then beat until creamy, thick, and light in color.
6. Drop by the teaspoonful onto the a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Let cool to harden. If the mixture becomes too thick to drop onto the pan, add a teaspoon of very hot water, beating well after the addition.

The Smile

Taking my sex sells pineapple economics lesson into account, I probably should have given the cupcakes batty eyelashes and red puckered lips. However, since I didn't have to sell these cupcakes, I instead opted for a fashion lesson from one of my favorite musicals, "You're Never Fully Dressed without a Smile."