Rose Hokkaido Cupcakes with Pistachio-Infused Cream + potluck + event!

Hi everyone, I’m back in the States!! We arrived, exhausted from four plane rides, in Boston yesterday late afternoon (that’s what you get for traveling with miles, I suppose!). New Zealand was an incredible experience. Alex and I did a self-drive adventure, embarked on many trails and hikes, gingerly participated in adventures such as floating down a river in a pitch-black cave, illuminated only by the glow of 2 million glowworms suspended on the ceiling, and combatting sea-sickness to go 20km out into open sea to swim with 500 dusky dolphins. 500!! Before and during the trip, we heard this question constantly: why New Zealand for your honeymoon? The short and quick answer is just because. We’re young, we crave adventure, we’re photographers, we want to go somewhere new and different. The long answer, well, you can go do your own research on the amazing experiences New Zealand can offer.

That being said, I’m so excited to have a post ready for you the day I get back~!! Like a good girl, I’d prepared this way before I left so that I wouldn’t be scrambling to take photos and make cupcakes on Sunday night. Like a not-so-prepared blogger, I didn’t have anything written up except the recipe I’d developed. Oops. Because my mind is still fuzzy from travel fatigue and sorting through hundreds of emails + snail mail, I’m going to keep it short. I’d like to talk to you about three things:

1. I’m participating in a virtual edible flower potluck!! See list of links at the end of the post. So delighted to be joining all these talented bloggers. Please go check out their posts – there are some amazing things being done with flowers!
2. My contribution: rose hokkaido cupcakes with pistachio infused whipped cream. Pistachio and rose are a match made of dreams, and I couldn’t resist yet another infusion. I couldn’t really find any previous recipe about infusing whipped cream with pistachio, but I did find quite a few for hazelnuts. I applied the same principle and – it totally worked! I wanted to eat the rest of my pistachio-whipped-cream by the spoonful. I’m never going back to regular whipped cream again! As for the cupcakes, they are a super soft cupcake, made in a similar style to a chiffon cake, that is supposed to collapse. They’re supposed to get wrinkly and then puffed up again later by filling it with a custard or cream. Isn’t that amazing? I found this recipe and this to be very helpful in developing the resulting cupcake recipe. I made a few tweaks and ditched the custard cream completely, instead choosing to fill it with a soft whipped cream infused with pistachio. Yum. See recipe below.
3. I’m hosting an event with Meg of Bread+Barrow!!!!!! and YES it is about edible flowers!! If you’re in the Boston area, I’d love if you would stop by and hang out with us. We’re going to talk about edible flowers, how they can be incorporated as a flavor, decoration, and styling element, and you will have the opportunity to play around with the props and do some photographing yourself. Also, we’re so honored to have Scoopsies ice cream at this event!!! It’s free of charge and you can RSVP here. 

Alright. I’m about all tapped out. I’ll let the photos tell you the story and I’m off to combat jet lag!

You should start off the night before by making the infused cream.
Do not let the heavy cream come to a boil. After letting it cool to room temperature, chill it overnight. By the time you are ready to whip it up the next day, it will be cool enough.

For the cupcakes:

You’ll be whipping up a soft meringue with the egg whites and folding that into thick, beaten egg yolk mixture with cake flour and other dry ingredients.

Ending up with a soft, pale-yellow batter, ready to be spooned gently into cupcake liners. The traditional way to make hokkaido cupcakes is with these independently standing hard square liners, such as these. I didn’t find any in local stores so I just used normal cupcake liners. This recipe makes 12 using normal cupcake liners. From what I’ve read, the hard ones hold more volume – so if you are using those, just keep an eye out, you may need to adjust the time they are in the oven.

After they are done baking, you’ll notice that they will immediately wrinkle and collapse:

THIS IS NORMAL. Let it be and prepare everything else. You will be piping your whipped cream right into the middle of these cupcakes. Watch them inflate like a balloon!!!

I could’ve left these cupcakes with just crushed pistachios as a topping – I think they look quite good with just that, but I went berserk and topped them with some petals as well. 

Like plucking petals off a rose. Did you know rose petals were edible? YES THEY ARE!! You’ll see them everywhere, used as decoration, either sugared or plain. You’ll see whole roses on top of cakes or petals scattered in a meat dish or salad. I broke them up into petals and curled them up to form mini rose-shapes on top of the cupcakes.
Now the ultimate question: the taste? Like a delicate fluffy rose cloud with a lovely texture of crushed pistachios. Rose and pistachio = one of my favorite flavor combinations. There’s a reason you see this pairing everywhere these days. This is what the cupcakes look like on the inside:
CREAM-FILLED CUPCAKES. not ordinary cupcakes but SUPER FLUFFY AND SOFT chiffon cupcakes!!!!!!!!!! I’ll be making these again for sure!

Be sure to visit everyone else’s posts!

Baking Magique | Salted Lavender Chocolate Buckwheat Cookies (Gluten Free)

The Bojon Gourmet | Hibiscus, Rhubarb + Yogurt Ice Pops

Bread + Barrow | An Edible Flower Luncheon 

Dunk & Crumble | Strawberry Lilac Pavlovas

Earthy Feast | Lentil Salad with Browned Butter Baby Turnips, Sourdough Bits, Soft Boiled Egg, Microgreens + Marigold

EGeeDee | Coconut Golas (Indian Shaved Ice on a Stick) in a Hibiscus Syrup

Fix Feast Flair | Mini Pistachio-Rose Olive Oil Cakes with Lemon-Chamomile Whipped Cream

Ginger and Toasted Sesame | Hwajeon: Sweet Matcha Rice Cakes with Fresh Flowers and Honey Syrup

Kale & Caramel | Ricotta & Basil Stuffed Nasturtiums

A Little Saffron | Raspberry Rose Fizz

London Bakes | Strawberry + Rose Cake (Gluten Free) 

Snixy Kitchen | Chamomile Honeycomb Ice Cream

Top With Cinnamon | Lime, Mango and Elderflower Cakes

Vegetarian Ventures | Breakfast Sweet Potato with Hibiscus Tea Yogurt & Turmeric Granola

Vidya Living | Rustic Rhubarb, Strawberry & Chamomile Galette (Gluten Free)

Will Frolic for Food | Lilac Lemon Grapefruit Sherbet (Vegan)

RECIPE: Rose Hokkaido Cupcake with Pistachio-Infused Whipped Cream
*Make pistachio cream the night before

Pistachio-infused cream
4 tbsp pistachio – ground with mortar and pestle or food processor
1 cup heavy cream
2.5 tbsp sugar

1| Bring heavy cream to just under a boil. Turn off heat and add in pistachios. Steep for 30-45 min. Let cream come to room temperature, then chill overnight.
2| Strain cream and then whip on high speed, with sugar, until soft peaks form.

Rose Hokkaido Cupcakes
4 egg yolks
20g sugar
pinch salt
32g canola oil
32g whole milk
42g cake flour, sifted
20g rosewater (or, 1 tbsp)
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rose petals
1/4 tsp baking powder

4 egg whites
45g sugar
1/4 tsp lemon juice (optional)

crushed pistachios, rose petals for decoration

1| Preheat oven to 350F.
2| Sift cake flour with baking powder, chopped rose petals, and salt. Set aside.
3| Whisk egg yolks with 20g sugar until pale and thick. Add in oil, milk, rosewater until well incorporated. Add in sifted cake flour mix and fold until just combined.
4| Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add in remaining sugar and lemon juice until soft peaks form.
5| Add 1/3 of egg white mixture to the yolk mixture and fold, taking care not to over-mix.
6| Add in remaining egg white mixture and fold until just combined. Don’t over-mix!
7| Line cupcake pan with tall baking cups, or hard stand-alone paper cups on a baking tray.
8| Fill cups to about 3/4 full.
9| Bake for 20-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely to room temperature.
10| Pipe whipped cream right into the middle of the cupcake. It should inflate. If desired, leave some cream remaining in the middle. Top with crushed pistachios and rose petals. Alternatively, you can sprinkle powdered sugar on top to cover the wrinkles!