Apple Cider Cupcakes filled with Fuyu Persimmon curd and Fuyu Persimmon Buttercream. Yum.
Willowbird Baking Challenge #4. Filled cupcakes with a “Fall” Theme
Apple Cider. Persimmons. Yup just add in pumpkin and that’s a trifecta of fall flavors. I love the word trifecta. Yes I am a dork. And these don’t have pumpkin in them. I took a break from pumpkin. For maybe a day.
I couldn’t have picked a more hectic week to do a more involved than normal cupcake. Pretty much everything we had going on with life, kids and work was happening. I was determined to fit in the time to make these cupcakes
A wise person once told me that to get anything done ask the busiest person you know. Because they know how to schedule their time to get everything done. I do find that if I have more things to do, I get them done in a timely manner rather than when I don’t have much going on, I tend to really slack off.
Julie had this week be a filled cupcake and wanted fall themed. Well I had seen persimmons at our farmers market the week before so we picked some up this week. We also took our kids to a local orchard, I know right? And apple orchard in Vegas? But there is one here, there actually are several, and we went apple picking, got a bunch of veggies actually and some apple cider. So I knew I wanted to make a cupcake with persimmon curd filling, but I wanted more than just a vanilla cake. So I decided on an apple cider cupcake. And persimmon buttercream of course.
I use an apple corer for cutting out the middle of the cupcake instead of a piping bag with a tip and shoving into the cupcake because I have totally used too much pressure and blown out the bottom of cupcakes before. Oops
So good. I love filled cupcakes. It’s like a secret middle since one doesn’t normally expect a cupcake to have a filling.
Apple Cider Cupcakes with Persimmon Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Apple Cider Cupcakes filled with Fuyu Persimmon Curd and frosted with Fuyu Persimmon Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
Ingredients for Curd :
- 2 Fuyu Persimmons, washed, stem and leaves cut off, quartered
- 1 tsp. lemon zest
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 whole large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
- 1/2c plus 2 tbsp. sugar
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 4 Tbsp. cold butter, cubed;
Ingredients for cupcakes:
- 1 ¾ c all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. apple pie spice
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1/2 C butter(1 stick), melted and cooled
- ¾ C sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs (room temp)
- ¼ C apple sauce
- 1 C fresh apple cider, room temp;
Ingredients for buttercream
- 4 egg whites
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 3 sticks butter
- 1/4 c persimmon puree (leftover from the puree made for the curd)
- ¼ c persimmon curd;
Instructions
Instructions for the curd:
Puree the persimmons with the lemon zest and juice until smooth. Set aside ¼ C for the buttercream. Pour remaining puree in to a medium saucepan, set aside.
In the top pot of a double boiler or in a bowl set over, but not touching, a pan of simmering water, whisk together the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar and salt. Whisk until thickened and smooth, about 5-6 min. Remove from heat and stir into the saucepan with the persimmon puree. Place pan on stove and heat on medium, stirring until thickened about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add in the cold butter cubes one at a time and stir again until fully incorporated.
Pour curd into a glass bowl, straining through mesh sieve with a spatula to separate any egg solids, then press plastic wrap down on the top of the curd to prevent a film from forming on top. Refrigerate at least 2 hours until cold and set. Chilling overnight is best if you have the time.
Instructions for the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350.
Line standard muffin pans with paper liners.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a small bowl, whisk and set aside.
In bowl of a stand mixer combine sugar and melted butter; add in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Add the apple sauce and vanilla and mix again, scraping down sides if needed.
Alternate adding in the flour and apple cider beginning and ending with the flour.
Once all is combined mix another 30 seconds. Don’t over mix. Divide batter amongst the muffin tins, filling each up about 2/3-3/4 of the way full.
Bake for 15 min or until a toothpick comes out clean, or the tops bounce back when pressed down lightly. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, cool completely on a wire rack.
Instructions for buttercream:
Set a pan filled with an inch of water on the stove and heat to a simmer. In a bowl of a stand mixer combine the egg whites, sugar and salt and whisk over simmering water until the mixture reaches 160 deg f. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
Once it reaches 160 deg f immediately remove from heat and set bowl back on stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment slowly raise the speed to high and beat until the bowl is cool to the touch and the mixture is thick and white ( think marshmallow fluff), about 10 minutes. You can either keep the whisk attachment on or switch to the paddle at this point.
With the mixer on medium speed add the butter in one tbsp. at a time until it’s all the butter is in, the frosting may look soupy but don’t worry it will come together. Slowly raise the speed back up to high and whip until it thickens and you hear and see a difference in texture. Scrape down the sides as necessary. Add in the persimmon puree and curd and mix on low until it’s all mixed in, if it gets soupy looking again just mix on medium high to get it back to the right texture.
Assembly of Cupcakes:
Use an apple corer to take out a piece of the center of cupcake, being careful not to go all the way through the cupcake, then fill with about a tablespoon or so of curd.
If you don’t have an apple corer you can use a piping bag and a long piping tip and injecting the cupcakes with the filling is fine. I have blown out through the bottom of cupcakes before doing it that way so I stick with the apple corer method. So either way is fine. Just be careful not to use too much pressure. When I use the apple core technique I replace back a small bit of the core I took out on top of the filling so it’s easier to frost.
Once they are all filled, frost the tops with a big swirl of buttercream and drizzle more puree on top. I used a basic pastry bag and a 1M open star tip. Any bag or piping tip would work, or you can just use a spatula.
These are best eaten at room temp, if chilled set out until they are room temp before serving.
Notes
This is a several step recipe for each component but well worth the effort. Read through the recipe carefully several times, make sure you have all ingredients on hand before you start. The curd can be made a day ahead of time to save time on the day of baking and assembly. The Swiss meringue buttercream is a simple technique once you get the hang of it. If your kitchen is hot (over 75 deg) it will make the buttercream too soft, almost melty. If its not coming together you can always pop the mixing bowl into the fridge for a few min and whip again. This type of buttercream is silky and smooth, more butter forward than sugary like traditional American buttercreams tend to be. I much prefer less-sweet frostings like Swiss meringue.
Fuyu persimmons are my fave and what I used. If you want to use Hachiya you need to make sure they are almost overripe. They have an almost pudding like texture to them when ripe, and I have not made this recipe before with them so I can't tell you how it would work with them since their consistency is much more watery.
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