In honor of my sister-in-law’s big birthday celebration, I bring you…MANGO CUPCAKES! And might I add, this recipe is reaching you just in time for Valentines Day which is 3 weeks away!
My inspiration behind this tasty treat? The birthday party took place at an Indian restaurant and in case you didn’t know, India’s national fruit is the mango! (Is that a good enough justification for having eaten a whole pint of Mango Ice cream? It is, right?) And since fruit and cheese go together like soul mates, I decided to pair together the mango cake with cream cheese frosting.
Cake table at the Birthday Party. Cupcake towers are featuring mango cupcakes, chocolate chip coconut cupcakes and chocolate-dipped Rice Krispy treats.
Here are the ingredients used to make the mango cupcake –
Ingredients – Flour, Baking powder, Baking soda, Salt, Mango Puree, Sugar, Vanilla Extract, Cardamom, Canola Oil and Frosting/Decorations
The ingredients needed to make the cake are fairly basic with the exception of the mango. Since mangoes are not in season right now, I had to make a visit to my local Indian grocer to find the tin of mango pulp. I’m sure you can find this at most ethnic grocery stores. I highly recommend Alphonso mangoes for this recipe because they’re awesome. NOTE: Mango nectar is NOT the same thing as Mango Pulp/Puree.
Freshly out the oven with a rich golden-yellow color from the mango.
My crafty buddy Silpa, who happens to be incredibly talented with all things cake and cupcake, helped me with decorating. (You can see more of her amazing cake creations at The Yum Shoppe!) I’ll share a few pics so you can do this too. It’s super easy to do if you have a piping set.
After piping a thin line to frame the edge of the cupcake face, I rolled the frosted edge in the pink sugar. When rolled in the sugar, the frosting flattens a bit and that’s perfect. Next we pipe on the main section of frosting with a big tip, covering the inside edge of the pink sugar frame.
After the frosting is piped on, I added a tiny sprinkle of sugar on top for the finishing touch.
(The cupcake muffin tin liners were from my local craft store, Michaels. The black/white damask print paper wrappers were made from scrapbook paper, also from Michaels.)
If you are not in the mood to be fancy with decorating, or you don’t have a piping set, that’s okay. I find that cupcakes with the messy frosting on top always appeal to me the most, anyway! If you want to Valentine-ize them, you could still sprinkle on some pink sugar and/or add a candy heart. (And yes, you signed up for made-up words when you agreed to read this blog.)
As always, since my baby has allergies, this recipe is egg-free and nut-free. But trust me, this recipe didn’t need any of those things to achieve a soft, moist and oh-so-yummy goodness.
I can’t wait to try this recipe with fresh mangoes this summer! Let me know if you give this recipe a try so I can know how it turned out for you!
Enjoy!
MANGO CUPCAKES (Makes 24 + Cupcakes)
INGREDIENTS:
3 Cups – Flour
4 tsp – Baking Powder
1 tsp – Baking Soda
1 tsp – Salt
1/4 tsp – Cardamom Powder (optional)
3 Cups – (Sweetened) Mango Pulp/Puree
3/4 Cup – Sugar
2/3 Cup – Canola Oil
2 tsp – Vanilla Extract
Frosting of your choice. (I used this recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting.)
Pink sugar/Candy Hearts (Optional – BE SURE TO CHECK ALLERGY INFO ON THE LABELS BECAUSE MOST CAKE DECORATIONS ARE MADE IN FACILITIES THAT HANDLE PEANUTS/TREE NUTS.)
STEPS:
(Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.)
1. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cardamom into a bowl.
2. In another bowl, mix the remaining ingredients together, making sure it’s well-mixed.
3. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, using a whisk to mix just until the batter is smooth. (Be careful not to over-mix!)
4. Fill the muffin cups with 1/4 Cup of the batter per cupcake.
5. Bake for 20-23 minutes. (Time will vary based on your oven. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.)
After the baby shower, I brought back home a secret stash of the salsa and chips I had set aside for my hubby. He was SUPER excited about getting to eat some and got all set up to watch his TV show and enjoy his special snack comfortably on the couch. 
To make a long story short, Moby’s foot (paw) ended up in the salsa bowl and we had to throw it out before hubby could even eat ANY of it. I could tell hubby’s bubble had been burst in a BIG way. I felt so bad that I just had to make some more…and it’s from this second round of me making this recipe, that this post and the pics resulted! Let’s DO this! First I pre-heat the oven to 350 and then gather all of my ingredients: Fruit, Tortillas, Cinnamon Sugar (1 Cup of Sugar with 1-1/4 teaspoon of Cinnamon), Preserves and Cooking Sprays! Simple enough! 
EFFICIENCY – It’s a good idea to prep the tortilla chips and get those in the oven so you can be cutting up the fruit while the chips are baking. All you have to do is spray the tortillas (front and back) with butter flavored cooking spray, cut them into triangles. dredge them in the cinnamon-sugar mix and lay them on your foil-lined baking sheet. (For all of you smarty-pants who noticed…I didn’t have butter flavored cooking spray so I had to improvise with butter spray and cooking spray.) 
To get the tortilla triangles, I take a few 10″ flour tortillas at a time, cut them in half, stack the halves and then cut those into thirds. 
Here’s my first batch of chips ready to go into the hot oven. 
While those are baking, it’s time to chop up the fruit! Kiwis are already done…On to the strawberries and peaches. 
Important TIP: Dice all of your fruits SMALL! This way, when you pick up the fruit with your chip, you get a nice blend of all the fruits instead of huge chunks of any one particular fruit.
Sheepsake 