Guava Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

The February challenge over at Have the Cake was to make a Romeo and Juliet cake.  Romeo and Juliet refers to the pairing of guava paste and cheese, so I thought a guava cake with cream cheese frosting sounded delicious.  I did cupcakes because, well, I love cupcakes and they're easier to share.

Most recipes I could find for guava cakes used guava nectar, but I did find one that uses guava paste as a layer in the middle of the cupcakes.  I used my go-to cream cheese frosting from Baked Explorations, I decorated some with a swirl of guava paste and some just piped with frosting.  The cupcakes turned out pretty good, the cake is quite dense, like a pound cake which isn't my favourite (I'm more of a sponge cake type of girl), but my husband loved it.  I don't think I cut the guava paste thin enough so it didn't quite melt into the ribbons I had envisioned, but it tasted great nonetheless.  Next time I'll use a more standard yellow cake recipe and slice the guava paste as thin as I possibly can.

Guava Cupcakes
from Food.com

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 ounces guava paste, sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Sift flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl, set aside.
In a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add eggs, one by one, beating thoroughly.
Add applesauce and vanilla, and mix well.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture until fully blended.
Place a scoop of the batter (I used a small ice cream scoop) in each lined cup and smooth it to fill the bottom.
Top each with a few slices of guava paste
Top with another scoop of cake batter and smooth out over the guava paste, so the cups are about 3/4 full
Bake for 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (except for the guava paste).



For the Cream Cheese Filling:
From Baked Explorations

3 cups confectioners' sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Sift the confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until is completely smooth.  Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.

Add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until smooth.  Be careful not to overbeat the filling, or it will lose structure.  (The filling can be made 1 day ahead. Cover the bowl tightly and put it in the refrigerator.  Let the filling soften at room temperature before using.) 

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