Perhaps 2013 is my year for baking with different fruit. First passionfruits and now mangoes.
This bake came about when Drink Me Chai offered me some instant chai tea latte powders to play with. They have a great selection to choose from, but I was immediately intrigued by the mango flavour. I had no idea you could get mango flavoured chai latte!
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When I decided on incorporating the instant chai powder into a cupcake, I fancied making a mango based curd as a filling. After some searching online I went with a mango lime curd recipe found on My Darling Lemon Thyme and it produced 3 full Bonne Maman sized jars of curd, so unless you want to go curd mad I would suggest halving the ingredients. I should also warn you that sieving mango puree is time consuming and so boring but it is worth doing.
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Half of my cupcake batch were filled with the mango lime curd, also mixing it into the butter icing, and the other half were left plain with a mango chai latte flavoured butter icing.
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It's hard to pick a winner. The curd batch had an extra punch of fruitiness, really pulling out the mango flavour, whereas the other batch were all about the chai latte flavour. I particularly enjoyed the creamy, spiced quality in the latter's icing. Despite my fondness for curds, I think I liked the more chai-ified (I'm making it a word) batch, but this is only if you're holding me at gun point to decide. I will happily eat tray-loads of either cupcake.
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I also tried the mango chai as a drink and needless to say I loved it. The sweet, tropical fruitiness really comes through the warm spices. The powder can also be mixed with hot water instead of milk but I found the flavour disappointing as a water-based drink. Similar to water-based hot chocolates, they just lack that wonderfully indulgent sweetness and comfort you get with a milky drink. I always think if you're going to have a treat, do it properly!
And yes that's a new cake stand I picked up from my Glasgow travels two weeks ago. Is it possible to own too many three tier cake stands? (Humour me, please say no.)
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This bake came about when Drink Me Chai offered me some instant chai tea latte powders to play with. They have a great selection to choose from, but I was immediately intrigued by the mango flavour. I had no idea you could get mango flavoured chai latte!
When I decided on incorporating the instant chai powder into a cupcake, I fancied making a mango based curd as a filling. After some searching online I went with a mango lime curd recipe found on My Darling Lemon Thyme and it produced 3 full Bonne Maman sized jars of curd, so unless you want to go curd mad I would suggest halving the ingredients. I should also warn you that sieving mango puree is time consuming and so boring but it is worth doing.
Half of my cupcake batch were filled with the mango lime curd, also mixing it into the butter icing, and the other half were left plain with a mango chai latte flavoured butter icing.
It's hard to pick a winner. The curd batch had an extra punch of fruitiness, really pulling out the mango flavour, whereas the other batch were all about the chai latte flavour. I particularly enjoyed the creamy, spiced quality in the latter's icing. Despite my fondness for curds, I think I liked the more chai-ified (I'm making it a word) batch, but this is only if you're holding me at gun point to decide. I will happily eat tray-loads of either cupcake.
I also tried the mango chai as a drink and needless to say I loved it. The sweet, tropical fruitiness really comes through the warm spices. The powder can also be mixed with hot water instead of milk but I found the flavour disappointing as a water-based drink. Similar to water-based hot chocolates, they just lack that wonderfully indulgent sweetness and comfort you get with a milky drink. I always think if you're going to have a treat, do it properly!
And yes that's a new cake stand I picked up from my Glasgow travels two weeks ago. Is it possible to own too many three tier cake stands? (Humour me, please say no.)
Mango chai cupcakes
makes roughly 18 cupcakes
225g Stork margarine
225g caster sugar
225g eggs (I used three large duck eggs, but 4 normal hen eggs should weigh roughly the same)
2 tbsp instant mango chai latte powder from DrinkMeChai
2 tbsp milk
200g self-raising flour
1 jar of mango lime curd
Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160/Gas 4 and line cupcakes trays with cases. Beat together the margarine and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add each egg one at a time, beating between each addition, and adding a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. Mix together the chai powder and milk and add to the mixture. Sift in the remaining flour and mix everything together until fully incorporated.
Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases, filling each one 2/3 full. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until well risen and springy to touch. Leave to cool in the trays for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
For the curd version, cut a hollow into the centre of each cupcakes (I just use a knife) and fill with a teaspoon of mango lime curd before replacing the top. Mix some of the curd into a standard butter icing (one part butter to two parts icing). I think I used 150g icing sugar, 75g butter and two teaspoons of curd to cover 8 cupcakes.
For the straight forward mango chai version, top each cupcake with butter icing flavoured with some of the instant chai powder. Once again I used a standard butter icing, but added some chai powder to taste along with a splash of milk until I was happy with the consistency.
Spread the icing on in a child-like fashion (like me) or pipe in swirls using a fancy nozzle, such as a wilton 1M or 2D.
Spread the icing on in a child-like fashion (like me) or pipe in swirls using a fancy nozzle, such as a wilton 1M or 2D.
Disclaimer: I was kindly sent products to bake with by Drink Me Chai. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed are my own.