Guava Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Being half Cuban and having grown up in Miami means I was always around really great foot. Both my mom and dad are amazing cooks and there are so many great restaurants there. But what I probably miss most about living in Miami is being near Cuban food, especially Cuban pastries. My mouth is watering as I type this!

When Kevin and I got married, we wanted to have both Cuban and Armenian inspired food at our wedding. And I wanted to find a way to incorporate one of my all time favorite treats into the wedding too. So I told the baker who was making various cupcakes for us to throw in some guava paste into the batter and top the cupcake with cream cheese frosting. A nod to the Cuban pastelitos de guava y queso. And now, nearly 9 years later I thought it would be fun to finally share this recipe!

Watch the video below to see how they are made and continue reading for the full recipe.

Guava Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Servings: 24 standard cupcakes

Ingredients

1 vanilla cake mix
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
8 oz. guava paste
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup guava fruit spread

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line 2 muffin pans with cupcake liners. Dice the guava paste into 1/2″ pieces and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, add the cake mix, water, vegetable oil, and eggs. Use a hand mixer to combine all ingredients.
3. Pour the batter into the cupcake pin and fill each liner just more than 1/2 way full. Place 3-4 guava paste pieces into each cupcake. Bake for approximately 14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
4. Meanwhile, use a hand or stand mixer to combine the softened cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Mix until the sugar is completely blended. Add the remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar and blend until smooth and airy.
5. Fill a pastry bag (or a large zip-top plastic bag) with the cream cheese frosting with a large star tip. Pipe the cream cheese frosting onto each cooled cupcake.
6. Fill another pastry bag, without a tip, with guava fruit spread. Using a zig-zag motion drizzle the guava jam across each cupcake and enjoy!

You can definitely use any vanilla cake mix or your favorite recipe for the batter. When I’m short on time (which feels like always) I prefer to use a cake mix and always make my own frosting. Because 1.) ready-made frosting is kinda icky and 2.) making homemade frosting tricks everyone into thinking you made everything from scratch.

When making these and red velvet cupcakes, I follow the cream cheese frosting recipe above. It uses significantly less sugar than most other recipes because I’m a cream cheese addict and want the frosting to taste more like cream cheese than buttercream. If you’re a buttercream lover, and more powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time until it’s just right.

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Have you made your favorite pastry or other sweet into a cupcake before? Let me know what your favorite combo has been and I’d love to give it a try. It might just become my next video!

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