The Guava Saga, or: How Participating in the Cupcake Round-Up Challenge Nearly Burned My House Down

Oh Goodness. Last night was a long one for me; I spent several hours working on a hand-sewing project for a friend and watching movies with Johnny. My eyes were bleary and I felt like passing out, when all of a sudden I remembered that the deadline for the Cupcake Round-Up was the next morning. Ah, shoot! So I set aside my sewing supplies for the time being and headed into the kitchen to whip up something fun. I knew I didn't have time to make both of the recipes I'd been mulling over, so I decided to go where my pantry took me.

I knew I wanted to do a filled jumbo cupcake, and I knew I wanted to do something with the tin of guava paste I'd picked up a while back. I settled on making an almond-flavored cupcake, figuring that the creamy nutty flavor would pair well with the sweet, tangy guava. I used what has become my standby cupcake recipe, Tattletail's Vanilla Cupcakes by Amy Sedaris, but instead of 2 teapoons of vanilla I used 1.5 tsp of almond extract and only .5 tsp of vanilla. The almond smell was very strong while baking, but thankfully the flavor was not too overpowering—it was just right.

Now, what to do with the guava paste? Originally I planned on making a guava cream filling for the center of the cakes, with a lighter whipped cream on top, but after experimenting I decided to just use the same mixture for the insides and on top. I wanted the lightness of whipped cream, the sweetness of the guava, but needed something else. Then I remembered the guava tarts I've had from Cuban bakeries, which always contain a layer of cream cheese filling. The slightly sour creaminess mellows out the guava in such a nice way. So, I improvised a blend of all these ingredients, plus a squeeze of lime. It needs no additional sweeteners, since the guava paste already contains sugar. So delicious and easy!

After the cupcakes were cooled, I used chopsticks to poke holes in the middle of each one, then filled them using a pastry bag with a plain round tip. I switched to a star tip and swirled on some more as topping. I was feeling happy to have met the Cupcake Round-Up challenge deadline, and in my relieved (and tired...and cocky) state, I decided to toast some coconut for the tops of the cupcakes. Y'know, just to make them that much cuter/tastier (in retrospect I think some lime zest would be better). I spread some flaked coconut on my toaster oven tray and selected the Lightly Toasted setting. Walked away from the kitchen for literally one minute...and returned to find the toaster oven up in flames! I do mean engulfed. I screamed, "Help, help!" but Johnny was fast asleep by this point and my kitchen was rapidly filing up with smoke. I suddenly remembered you're supposed to put baking soda on an electrical fire, so I threw open the oven door and tossed the entire box onto the flames. What you see here is the aftermath (complete with the dirty dishes sitting on my counter). Siiigh. Time for a new toaster oven...and for a new resolution: Absolutely NO More Baking After Midnight.

The recipes can be found on my Flickr.

Comments

[gleek]

oh no! poor toaster oven :( i once set my microwave on fire. that was pretty horrible. my brother came to the rescue that time :) the cupcakes look yummy! i want one.

[chiffonade]

Eep! I'm glad you're a-ok! And the cupcakes sound divine.

[Susan]

Scary! I haven't had a good disaster with my toaster oven lately, but the top came off of my blender while I was puree-ing carrots for soup a few days ago and the liquid carrots flew everywhere... and they were hot as hell too! ugh! It was the biggest mess.

I love your cupcakes! Can't wait to hear the results of the contest but I am way impressed :)

[Helen]

That recipe looks delicious! Hope the oven disaster won't stop your creativity!

[Jenny]

Thanks for the sweet comments everyone! Cupcakes for all!! And yep, I'm in the market for a new toaster oven, but nothing will keep me from making more cupcakes. It's like a biological imperative or something!

[heather]

Yum! They look yummy and the almond/guava sounds like a wonderful combo!

[sher]

Well, I think the toaster oven made a noble sacrifice--but it was worth it. Those cupcakes look fabulous!! I love the idea of using the guava paste. (And beautiful pictures!)

[passionfordecor]

I love guava and its easy to get fresh ones where I live, so I'm gonna give this a try one of these days. You cupcake looks luscious!

[passionfordecor]

Your cupcake looks absolutely scrumptious! Wish I could have one. Must give the recipe a try one of these days. Beautiful pics!

[Honor]

Oh no!!! Funny, last night I made guava cupcakes, adapted from a passionfruit cupcake recipe and I also toasted coconut for the top. My experience WOULD have been almost identifical if it had not been for the fact that I caught my coconut right before it went up in flames.

[Jenny]

Thanks for the sweet words y'all! I still haven't replaced my toaster oven yet. Ha!

[Sandy]

Okay, so I came across your blog and got totally inspired to make this my own. I made the vanilla cupcakes (I'm Puerto Rican and we use guava a lot in vanilla cakes) So, naturally I made the vanilla cupcakes and instead of the wonderful frosting/filling you made, I decided to make a cream cheese filling and topped it with guava INSIDE the cupcake before I baked them. 1 layer batter, filling, guava, more batter on top. Then I frosted it with the barefoot contessa's cream cheese frosting which I love because it's not too sweet. The result made my hubby get chills ;) Thanks for the inspiration!