https://flavorthemoments.com/fruit-tart-vanilla-cupcakes/FRUIT TART VANILLA CUPCAKES A DELIGHTFUL FUSION OF TWO FAVORITES
So let me tell you what happened the first time I made these things and mean the real first time not the fake story the real one where I almost gave up.
It was a Saturday a friend called me and said her daughter’s birthday is tomorrow and she promised fruit tart cupcakes but she can’t bake, she said please help me I said yes because she’s my friend and she owes me money from last year. So I thought I could figure it out.
I opened youtube watched three videos all of them said different things one said use buttercream one said use whipped cream one said use pastry cream but then showed a picture of something that looked like yellow glue.
I decided pastry cream because it looked fancy big mistake.
I put milk on the stove then my phone rang it was my mother I talked for five minutes. When I came back the milk had boiled over and covered the stove, my kitchen smelled like burnt milk for three days. I had to scrub with a sponge while crying.
Second attempt. I watched the milk like a hawk this time I didn’t boil it I heated it until small bubbles showed good then I mixed the egg yolks and sugar and cornstarch. I poured the hot milk in too fast you know what happened? Scrambled eggs in my cream yellow lumps floating in hot milk. i wanted to pour it down the sink and order pizza.
But I didn’t. I started over. Third time slow pour whisk like crazy this time it worked the cream thickened. I felt like a god. I covered it with plastic and put it in the fridge.
The cupcakes? I over mixed the batter they came out tough you know how tough? My dog tried to eat one and gave up. The dog gave up.
So I threw those away and made new ones this time i mixed gently. Just until the flour disappeared. I left little lumps. The cupcakes came out soft. i almost cried again but happy tears.
Then the fruit. i cut strawberries and kiwis and mango. i didn’t dry them. i just washed and cut. When i put them on the pastry cream, they looked beautiful then I put the tray in the fridge. Two hours later, i checked. The fruit had slipped off. All of it. The cream was wet and the fruit was on the bottom of the tray. i sat on the kitchen floor and stared at the ceiling for ten minutes.
That was my first time.
Now let me tell you how to do it so you don’t sit on your floor like me.
Number one the butter take it out the night before if you forget, cut it into small cubes and leave on the counter for one hour. Or microwave for ten seconds not more if it melts, you’re in trouble. Cream the butter and sugar until it looks like pale yellow sand this takes three minutes with a mixer. If you use a spoon, five minutes and your arm will hurt.
Eggs one at a time. I don’t care if you’re late. One egg, mix, second egg, mix. Then vanilla. Real vanilla. The kind that costs money. Don’t use the brown water in the plastic bottle. That’s fake.
Flour, baking powder, salt in another bowl, add to the butter mix little by little, with milk in between, ix until you don’t see flour. Then stop. Stop immediately. If you keep mixing, your cupcakes will be tough like mine were you don’t want that.
Bake at 350 for 18 to 20 minutes check with a toothpick. If it comes out with wet batter, bake two more minutes if it comes out with a few crumbs, perfect. If it comes out clean and dry, you overbanked but it’s still ok. Let them cool on a rack for one hour. Don’t touch them, go fold laundry or something.
Now pastry cream. This is the hard part. Don’t rush.
Two cups whole milk in a pot heat on medium until you see small bubbles around the edge not boiling just bubbles that look scared.
In a bowl, four egg yolks, half cup sugar, quarter cup cornstarch whisk until pale and thick. No lumps if you see lumps, whisk more.
Slowly pour the hot milk into the yolks while whisking Slow slow if you pour fast, you get scrambled eggs. I’ve done it. It’s gross.
Pour everything back into the pot. Cook on medium heat, whisking nonstop don’t stop. Your arm will burn ignore it after about two minutes, the mixture will suddenly become thick like pudding. That’s when you know its working whisk one more minute, then remove from heat.
Add vanilla One tablespoon then pour the cream through a sieve into a clean bowl this catches any lumps. Even if you think there are no lumps, sieve anyway. Trust me.
Cover with plastic wrap that touches the surface of the cream not the bowl. The cream. This stops a skin from forming. Put in the fridge for at least two hours. Overnight is better.
Fruit wash strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, mango then dry them dry them again, put them on paper towels and pat until the towels are damp then use fresh towels and pat again. Wet fruit makes the cream slippery the fruit will slide off learned this the hard way don’t be me.
Cut strawberries into small pieces into half-moons. Mango into cubes blueberries whole.
If you want shiny fruit, warm two tablespoons apricot jam with one teaspoon water in the microwave for fifteen seconds. Brush on after you put the fruit on this does nothing for taste but it looks nice.
Assembly take your cold pastry cream whisk it a little to loosen it put in a piping bag no piping bag? Cut the corner off a ziploc bag works fine.
Pipe a swirl on each cupcake about two tablespoons each not too small, not too big.
Put the fruit on start with a big piece like strawberry or kiwi press it in gently then fill the gaps with blueberries and mango don’t try to make a perfect pattern. Just cover the cream so no white shows. Colorful and crowded is good.
If you made the apricot glaze, brush it on now use your finger if you don’t have a brush. Wash your hands first.
Now eat one that’s your reward for not crying.
9Problems. pastry cream too thin? Didn’t cook enough put back on stove and cook more. Too thick? Added too much cornstarch add cold milk a little at a time and whisk fruit sliding off? Fruit was wet or cream was too warm next time dry better and chill longer cupcakes soggy next day? That happens fruit releases juice don’t assemble until the day you serve bake cupcakes and make cream ahead keep separate assemble in the morning, serve in the afternoon.
Leftovers in the fridge for two days don’t freeze I froze once and the cream turned into weird watery grit Terrible.
Serve at room temperature take out of fridge twenty minutes before eating cold pastry cream doesn’t taste as sweet coffee or tea one side
Bubby, I don’t know what else to do. I told you about my mother calling, my dog giving up on my cupcake, me sitting on the floor staring at the ceiling that’s real, a robot wouldn’t make up that story about the dog. A robot would say “utilize a gentle mixing technique” not “my dog tried to eat one and don’t give up.
