Strange Fruit 3: Lychee Cupcakes
August 3, 2012
I have emptied the mangosteen and jackfruit cans in my Strange Fruit series, next up: a can of lychees! Lychees are delicious, fragrant Asian fruits. These little olive-size wonders are a beautiful pale pink with a soft, fibrous flesh. Their sweetness is distinct, even after canning and significant sit-time in syrup. To make the best use of these babies, I used Vegan Cupcakes Takeover The World‘s recipe for lychee cupcakes, knowing that Isa’s recipes are no-fail and the results would be absolutely delicious. Of course, they’re scrumptious.
Here are the lychees draining. I love that all of the syrup and most of the fruit are utilized in the cupcake and icing recipes. I sliced the rest of the fruit in half to use as a garnish.
With the pureed lychee, the texture of the cake was moist and spongey.
Given today’s high temps, the icing turned into more of a glaze. I also skipped the shredded coconut, which would have bulked up the texture. I love how the cake peeks through the dripping icing, exposing some of the larger bits of blended lychee. Sultry.
How beautiful! I will definitely make these pretty, feminine cakes again.
More on cans II:
Up next in the strange fruit series: Banana blossoms. I’m totally clueless on this one.