Cuban Party #2 - Tropical Cupcakes

Took me a bit, but here it is! :) The second recipe from the Cuban party. It was a complete success! Even thou I managed to make just enough for each to taste one. Well one could say that like this they had an even bigger success :D.
You could only try it once, want more?
A-a, sorry, come back next time :).


Notice that some pictures are much better than the rest... guess which ones were taken by a mere mobile phone? :D

Total time: 3h (5' preparation, 2h resting, 10' baking, 10' cream, 15' filling)
Serves: 13 cupcakes (~5cm diameter)
Difficulty: moderate
Calories: fairly enough :)
Baking: 180°C, 10'

Ingredients:

Batter
- 5 tbs (120 gr) plain flour
- 2,5 tbs cocoa powder
- 100 gr diced butter
- 4,5 tbs (70 gr) powdered muscovado sugar
- 1 egg yolk

Cream
- 5 tbs (10 gr) cocoa butter
- 100 gr dark chocolate (min 64%)
- 3 tbs (70 gr) dark muscovado sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 4 tbs heavy cream
- 50 gr banana
- 7 tbs squeezed orange juice
- 4 tbs powdered coconut - dehydrated

To bake the batter you can use different forms, in my case I used silicon cupcakes. You can also use metal ones, just mind it will be much better to use non sticking surfaces.

Batter
1. Sift the flour with the cocoa powder in a separate bowl. Then divide the egg yolks in one bowl, from the egg whites.
2. Start mixing the butter with the sugar, until you get a soft cream.
3. Add the egg yolks to the mixture until well combined.

4. Add the flour mix in two steps, mixing each time until well combined. You will get a nice and thick batter. If necessary use your hands.

5. Form the batter into a roll, cover in plastic wrap and let it cool in the fridge for about 1-2 hours.

6. (Preheat the oven on 180°C.) When the batter rested enough cut a piece approximately 2cm thick. Cover the cupcake form evenly with the batter. Using a fork, make holes in the batter in regular strokes. This will avoid lumps during baking. The batter will decrease in size, so make sure to give enough height to fill in the cupcake with the cream.

7. Bake for 10' on 180°C. Divide the cupcakes from the cup as soon as they are baked. It's much easier to do it now.

Cream:
8. While the cake is baking you can prepare the cream. Mesh the banana well, squeeze the orange, and mix them with coconut.
9. Add in a pan the cocoa butter, heavy cream and the banana mix. Bring to boil constantly mixing.
10. Lower the heat and leave it to boil for a few minutes. While it's cooking, put the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whip them manually for a minute. Cut the chocolate into small chunks and add it to the eggs.
11. Now add the boiling mixture to the eggs constantly mixing. You will get a nice, thick cream. Let it cool down for about 5'.
12. Now you can fill in the cupcakes with the cream.

13. Put in the fridge for about an hour.
14. After they cooled down, if you wish you can decorate them with some melted dark chocolate and dehydrated coconut.

Can you resist them? ;)

TIPS:
• As usual, to get powdered brown sugar use a coffee bean grinder.
• If you're making cupcakes and you're not sure how will the batter turn out, try baking only one at first. That will give you an idea of how high the sides of the cupcake should be.
• If you wish to make them less heavy you can use milk instead of the heavy cream, but add 1 more tbs of cocoa butter to thicken the cream
• If you don't know what to do with the egg whites, I will post soon a new recipe ;) Here it is :)
• If you want instead of cupcakes you can make a bigger tart (cca. 24cm in diameter)