Mango season has been around for a while now and I have not posted any mango-related stuff…even though I’ve been eating so many. I usually make something or the other- either a crumble, a cake, or some good old-fashioned fruits with custard. And yes, some savory dishes as well, like a chutney or even a mango curry.
This year, however, I’ve pretty much been eating them as is the entire season. I’ve had a near-perfect season. I haven’t encountered a sad or tasteless mango thus far. It’s been pretty darn good. So each time I bought mangoes, I’d just cut and eat them- I didn’t even feel like turning them into anything different.
Until I realized that time is running out. (Gasp!) I’d be pretty pathetic if I didn’t reflect some kind of seasonal change on the blog right? Because I’ll be honest with you- other than seasonal fruit (mangoes, cherries, lychees, strawberries,) and corn in summer and red carrots in winter, I really don’t what seasonal produce to expect in India.
Growing up in Kerala, there was mango season, monsoon and then the rest of the year.
When I lived in Delhi, I knew winter had set in when those gorgeous deep-coral carrots arrived in the market.
Considering I know so little about seasonal produce, I couldn’t let this mango season slip by. And I baked these cupcakes.
While mangoes are a wonderful dessert on their own, last year I realized that they bake pretty well too. After last year’s mango custard cake, I wanted to try baking a cake where the mango flavor was completely infused in the batter- and which had bits of fruit to bite into as well. I made this by trial and it is very pleasant indeed. Initially, I thought the mangoes would make the cake sticky, but that was not the case. The saffron leaves a subtle, flowery-honey taste. And that sun-kissed hue 🙂
MANGO-SAFFRON CUPCAKES
INGREDIENTS
- 100 g butter
- 200 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 150 g flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 4-5 strands of saffron
- 1/4 cup fresh mango puree
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup fresh mangoes, cut into small cubes. (Use half of these in the batter and the remaining for decoration.)
METHOD
- First, make your ‘mango milk.’ Combine the mango puree and the milk and add the saffron strands to it so it infuses. (You can just blitz 1/4 cup fresh mango and milk in the blender too; or if you don’t have fresh puree, use packaged.)
- Pre-heat your oven to 180 C and line a cupcake tin with liners.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and cardamom powder in a bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- With a spatula, fold the flour mixture and the mango-milk mixture into the batter, alternately, mixing well after each addition. You should start and end with flour (flour-milk-flour-milk-flour.)
- Take half the diced mangoes and place in a bowl. Sieve 2 tablespoons of regular flour over them, and gently combine with a spoon. (This will prevent the mangoes from sinking to the bottom while baking.) Gently fold these mangoes pieces into the batter.
- Pour into cupcake moulds, filling batter 2/3 of the way up.
- Bake in the oven at 180 C for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Take cupcakes out of the oven and allow to cool completely before adding diced mangoes on top.
Oh you make me miss mangoes so much! This is so delicious!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks so much Uru! But don’t you get mangoes in Australia? I thought that you got some of the best ones there (This is of course after watching MasterChef Australia cooking demo.)