There are times when I try a recipe a dozen times, take pictures of them and still don’t blog them because I am not happy with the recipe or the photo. Then there are also times when I bake/cook something the first time and immediately feel like it needs to be on the blog. I baked these Chocolate Tamarind Cupcakes today and it would be a crime not to share it with you all.
You might be wondering how I ended up with the crazy idea of Tamarind in cupcakes… I recently posted about the holiday I won at Kabini because of a photography contest I won. The same Online Grocery Store right now has another contest going on which is a recipe contest. The challenge this time is to come up with a tasty innovative recipe using tamarind. After a bit of brainstorming I decided that I was going to use Tamarind in baking! I felt like the tangy sweet flavor of tamarind will compliment chocolate really well so I decided on Chocolate Tamarind Cupcakes.
I used the base recipe of ‘Red Wine Chocolate Cake’ but tweaked it to make it softer, fluffier and spongier. Though my initial idea was to just share the recipe for the contest, after tasting the cupcakes I quickly snapped a few pictures and sat in front of the computer to put together the post immediately.
Tamarind does magic here! Though these cupcakes have ¾ cup of thick tamarind puree, they don’t really taste sour. Instead they turn out amazingly soft, moist and fluffy. I know it sounds weird, but you need to try it to believe it.
Bake them right away!
Notes:
To make the tamarind pulp yourself, soak dried tamarind (about the size of a Lime or a medium size Indian Orange) for 20 to 30 minutes. Using your fingers, squeeze the soft mushy tamarind to get all the pulp out. Scoop out the seeds and the fiber to leave behind a smooth puree.
If you are using store bought tamarind paste, use ½ cup instead of ¾ cup and increase the amount of water to1 ¼ cup.
You can use white sugar instead of unrefined sugar.
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla powder
- 1 cup unrefined cane sugar
- 5 table spoons vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup tamarind puree
- 1 cup water
Pre heat the oven at 150 degree Celsius.
In a bowl, combine the tamarind puree, sugar and water. Stir well for the sugar to dissolve. Now add the oil to it, stir and keep it aside.
In a big bowl, combine, whole wheat flour, baking soda, cocoa, vanilla and salt. Mix for everything to combine well. Now pour the wet sweet tamarind water slowly and mix well.
Pour the batter into a greased/lined cupcake tray and place it in the preheated oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or till the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack.
17 comments :
helenbeee June 5, 2013 7:41AM
could you suggest a complementary icing for these cupcakes? They look amazing and I love tweaking recipes by adding in ingredients.
Devika April 25, 2013 1:42AM
Thank you so much for sharing! I really enjoy your web-site.
Christina April 1, 2013 1:09PM
So, I have candied tamarind….any ideas what I can do with that? I hate the taste of it on it’s own, but I bet it’d be amazing if baked into something! I’ll take suggestions
Maria March 28, 2013 6:59AM
Awesome recipe tamarind in cake idea is very unique and your cake looks so spongy and yummy
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen March 24, 2013 5:13AM
Oh I know the feeling, so many times there are recipes that never make it to the blog because they aren’t quite right and then you hit on one that’s just perfect and you can’t wait to share it.
Sharanya March 22, 2013 2:06PM
Oops I didn’t read the notes
thanks
Sharanya March 22, 2013 1:45PM
Hey chinmaye
I am wondering if I can use the ready made concentrated tamarind pulp which is much thicker
Sanjeeta kk March 21, 2013 11:14AM
I really want to taste those cute little cup cakes before doing this daring act of adding tamarind to my bakes
wonderful as always Chin!
Shivangi March 21, 2013 7:22AM
what an unusual concoction !! Although my brain’s telling me it’s strange and weird, my tastebuds seem to think otherwise. So craving to try them, but since i don really bake have to convince one of the friends to do it. :-p
Sia | Monsoon Spice March 20, 2013 10:35AM
Tamarind in cupcakes?! I could never have thought of using it in baking and that too in sweet cupcakes! And then again tamarind and dates chutney is my favourite condiment and I can imagine using these two ingredients in baking now
I wonder what you will come up with next time!
Lail | With A Spin March 19, 2013 8:35PM
Never thought of using tamarind in cake. Thanks for the idea.
dixya@food, pleasure, and health March 19, 2013 8:04PM
very cool. I would have never thought about combining these two. I will need to make this like you said to believe it because you know how some food- you can kinda of imagine the taste, this one is def. different. I love your creativity
Deesha March 19, 2013 6:26PM
Wow Chinmayie, that’s a great recipe. It looks wonderfully moist & delicious
Snehal March 19, 2013 5:40PM
Tamarind in cupcakes – who would’ve thought! That sounds quite interesting!
Pinky March 19, 2013 2:50PM
Tamarind, chinamye..only u can come up with these cupcakes….they look great btw dont they taste sour ..3/4 cup extract is a lot….
Chinmayie March 20, 2013 10:26AM
They don’t taste sour at all! So far 8 people have tasted it and none of them could trace the tamarind in them
Please try the recipe and let me know what you think!
dassana March 19, 2013 2:23PM
tamarind in a cup cake. you are a genius chinmayie