Chocolate Cupcakes with Dragon Fruit Frosting

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A few weeks ago I received a shipment of Freaky Fruits from Melissa’s Produce.  I was like a kid in a candy store as I tore through the box looking at all of my goodies.   While I’ve seen just about all of the fruits, there were several that I’ve never tasted but have been curious about.

One of these is the Dragon Fruit.   While the outside of this fruit is pretty crazy looking, I think the inside is one of the prettiest fruits I’ve seen.  With the white dragon fruit you have a bright white center with little black seeds rimmed by a bright pink rind.  It is so fun and I couldn’t wait to make something with it!

My first thought was to make cupcakes because I knew the black seeds would look great in a frosting recipe.   When I went searching for recipes they all seemed to pair chocolate cupcakes with dragon fruit frosting.   Since I’ve never had dragon fruit before I decided to go in that direction.

The flavor of dragon fruit is pretty mild. It is sweet but not overly so and has a light fruit flavor.   Since it isn’t too strong not only did I put it in my frosting but I put it in the chocolate cake as well.  I figured it would just give a hint of fruit mixed in with the chocolate and would certainly keep the cupcakes from becoming dry.

I baked up my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe and added in the dragon fruit.  It was slightly chunky but I knew the fruit would cook down while it was baking.   While the cupcakes were baking I made the frosting.   I had a heck of a time with the frosting because there is so much moisture in the dragon fruit it kept breaking my buttercream!   It also caused it to be runny so I had to add a lot more sugar than I thought I would.

Once the cupcakes were cool I frosted them with my dragon fruit buttercream.   I was really excited to try them and they didn’t disappoint!   The cupcakes had a full chocolate flavor with a very light hint of fruit which worked really well.  The buttercream was also lightly fruity and looked really pretty with the flecks of black seeds.

All in all I was pretty pleased with how these cupcakes turned out and I think they look really pretty too.  I can’t wait to make them again!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Dragon Fruit Frosting

Delicious chocolate cupcakes with a subtle fruit flavor topped with gorgeous dragon fruit buttercream.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 dozen

Author: Hezzi-D

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 1 c. butter 2 sticks
• 1 1/3 c. sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. cocoa powder
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 dragon fruit
• 3 Tablespoons milk

For the frosting:

• 2 sticks butter
• 4 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 dragon fruit

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.
• In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
• Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well.
• Scoop out the dragon fruit half and mash it up. Add the dragon fruit and milk to the butter and flour mixture and mix well.
• Add in the remaining flour mixture and mix until combined.
• Fill muffin cups 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 25 minutes.
• Remove from oven and cool completely.
• To make the frosting beat the butter in a large bowl with a mixer until it is smooth. Add in 2 cups of the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
• Scoop out the dragon fruit half and mash it up. Add 3 tablespoons to the frosting mixture and mix well. Add the remaining powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add remaining dragon fruit if your frosting is too stiff. If the texture and consistency is fine leave it as is.
• Pipe the frosting onto cooled cupcakes. Topped with a wedge of dragon fruit if desired.

Notes

A Hezzi-D Original recipe

Check out these other #FreakyFruitsFriday recipes:

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• Chocolate Cupcakes with Dragonfruit Frosting by Heather at Hezzi-D’s
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