I was still caught up in the amazing California citrus season when the strawberries began to arrive at the Farmers Market. It started with one or two vendors offering a few containers. Now, they are everywhere – organic, conventional, big, small, full flats, or small pint baskets – you can get just about anything you want.
I’ll admit they aren’t quite as tasty, or as rewarding, as the buckets we used to pick from our own garden, but they will certainly do. I’ve been buying loads, eating some and freezing others to use in my oatmeal when the season is over.
With ataulfo mango season falling at the same time as the strawberries here, and with easy access to avocados, I felt compelled to combine all three.
I also can’t seem to get over the desire to play with avocados as a substitute for butter in my baked goods. First it was the Avocado Pound Cake with Blood Orange Glaze, and now cupcakes.
These cupcakes are soft and fruity, and the frosting? I think I may be making my frosting with avocado from here on out. I’ll admit, I tried it with just avocado and it was a little too green-tasting (for lack of a better term). The addition of strawberry puree did the trick. It sweetened it up and balanced the flavor of the avocado.
These don’t keep long. I’d suggest baking them just before you will need them, cool, frost and eat soon after. If you don’t plan to finish them off, keep unfrosted cupcakes in the refrigerator for only a day or two. The oils from the avocado tend to surface when they sit for over a day.
Strawberry, Mango and Avocado Cupcakes with Strawberry Avocado Frosting
Makes: 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
½ cup mashed avocado (about 1 Hass avocado)
2 large eggs
1 cup raw sugar
½ cup pureed strawberries
½ cup pureed mango
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
3 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine ground salt
Frosting
2 tablespoon mashed avocado
5 ¼ cups powdered (confectioner’s) sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk (any variety)
½ tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 tablespoon pureed strawberries
Pinch of salt
Prep
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place cupcake liners in a 12-cupcake baking pan. Spray the liners with olive oil or non-stick cooking spray.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the avocado, eggs and sugar until blended, 60 to 90 seconds, scraping the bowl as needed. Add the strawberry and mango purees and mix just until all ingredients are combined. Add the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients (a little at a time) to the wet ingredients, stirring gently, just until everything is combined.
Transfer the batter to the cupcake tins, filling each liner with an equal amount.
Bake 15 to 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool.
For the frosting, add the avocado and powdered sugar to the bowl of a mixer. Using the whisk attachment, mix on medium-high until the two are combined to create a very thick paste.
With the mixer on low, add the milk, lime juice and strawberry puree. Continue to mix until all ingredients come together to form a spreadable frosting. Mix in the salt.
Use a small cookie dough or ice cream scoop to top each cupcake with about 1 tablespoon of frosting. Serve right away.
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I recently discovered the phenomenon of using avocado like butter with the avocado grilled cheeses I made. It really does provide both the texture and flavor of butter. I’ve seen people bake with them before but I always assumed it was for the moisture, not thinking about it as the binder. I recently saw someone use cold bananas in much the same way. Think biscuits made with refrigerated bananas instead of butter. It piqued my curiosity!
Those strawberries don’t even look real, they look perfect!
As for these cupcakes, what a combination! I have GOT to try these, they sound fabulous!
Danielle – Those biscuits sound good! I’m really liking the avocado because the flavor is pretty easy to mask with other ingredients. I mean, I love avocado, but sometimes you just want it for the fat content. 🙂
Cathleen – They are amazing here! I still can’t get over them. I hope you like the cupcakes!
We often have avoccados go on sale for something like 4 for $5 or whatever, but I never buy that many because I generally can’t use them up before they go bad. Perhaps if I baked something with them that wouldn’t be an issue… I think I’m going to need to do some experimenting 🙂