palatable palette – shinjite's kitchen canvas

i been wanting to make bobby flay’s gingerbread cupcakes with caramelized mango buttercream since i saw the cupcake throwdown on his show last year. but when i read the recipe, the richness of the ingredients held me back. so i finally took a stab at modifying the ingredients a little to make it slightly healthier. so here is my version of bobby flay’s gingerbread cupcakes with a meringue buttercream from allrecipes.com with some fresh mangos.

GINGERBREAD CUPCAKE

Cupcake Ingredients

• 1-3/4 cups 100% whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• a pinch of sea salt
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 4-ounces unsweetened organic apple sauce
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 6 tablespoons maple syrup, ginger syrup or honey
• 3/4 cup water

Cupcake Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12-muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners and spray the inside of each liner and the top of the pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves into a medium bowl.

Whisk together the apple sauce, brown sugar, eggs, and syrup in a large bowl until blended. Add some of the water to batter then some of the dry ingredients to the batter. Continue alternating with the water and flour until everything is added and smooth.

Fill each paper liner with 1/3 cup of the batter, about 1/4-inch below the top of the liner.

Place into preheated oven and bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted into the center come out clean, about 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the tops with a little ginger syrup.

Allow cupcakes to cool prior to frosting.

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MANGO MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

Meringue Buttercream Ingredients

• 1/2 ripe mango, peeled
• 2 large egg whites
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 cup unsalted whipped butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract – or -
  mango juice from 1/2 mango prep
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Meringue Buttercream Preparation

Add mangoes to a food processor and process until smooth – or – for chunkier mango pieces, chop in a food processor. Drain mango in a separate bowl (you can use the mango juice from here). Set aside.

Place the egg whites and sugar into a metal bowl and set over a pan filled with about 2 inches of simmering water. Heat, stirring frequently, until the temperature of the egg whites reaches 140 degrees. They will feel very hot to the touch.

Transfer the heated egg whites and sugar to a large mixing bowl or stand mixer. Mix at high speed (or as high as you can go without egg flying out of the bowl) until they have reached their maximum volume, 5 to 10 minutes. Mix on medium or medium-high speed while pinching off small pieces of butter and throwing them in. Mix in vanilla or mango juice. The buttercream may look like it is breaking down, but keep on mixing and it will come back together.

Fold in mango.

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FROSTED CUPCAKES

Frost each gingerbread cupcake with the mango meringue buttercream. Sprinkle ground ginger and cinnamon on top.

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original meringue recipe from allrecipes.com: Easiest, Most Delicious Meringue Buttercream

* find bobby flay’s original recipe from the cupcake throwdown: Gingerbread Cupcakes with Caramelized Mango Buttercream