Soft and fluffy lychee infused cupcakes with a silky lychee and rose Italian meringue buttercream. These cupcakes are pretty, pink and full of delicious lychee flavour.
With Mother's day coming up I wanted to create something pink and pretty for all the mums (or moms) out there! These cupcakes are soft and fluffy with a lychee centre and a light and creamy Italian meringue buttercream. I asked what kind of recipes you guys wanted to see and cupcakes were right up there, so I thought this would be the perfect time to bring these out! There is something about the fruity and fragrant combination of lychee and rose that works incredible in desserts, so here it is!
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Tips to creating perfect cupcakes
When it comes to making cupcakes there are a couple of points that you should nail in order to achieve the perfect canvas for your tall swirls of frosting. Here are a couple of points that will help you nail your cupcake game.
Never Over-mix
Like with all cakes it is important to be gentle with your batter. Over-mixing causes gluten to form- in other words you will get dense and chewy cupcakes. If you've ever had a cupcake that is dense or rock hard over-mixing is usually the culprit.
This recipe mixes the flour into the batter in two additions. Doing this helps evenly distribute the flour to create a light and fluffy cupcake. When mixing each addition make sure to either fold gently with a wooden spoon/spatula or in short bursts with your stand mixer.
Never Over-fill
Overfilling your cupcake patties is what causes excessive doming. This can lead to rounded and cracked tops, or just an overflow of batter while baking. The batter from this recipe should distribute perfectly between 12 cupcakes patties. However, if in doubt don't fill above ¾ of the way. That way your cupcakes will rise up to the top while baking without any problems!
Tips on making Italian meringue buttercream
This is the first Italian meringue buttercream on my blog! I love Italian meringue buttercream as it is so smooth, silky and delicious. It is 1000% better than American buttercream and once you try this you won't back...
The only problem with Italian meringue buttercream is that it's finicky. It requires the cooking of a sugar syrup to create a strong meringue before beating with butter. The result is worth it I promise!
This recipe uses the syrup from the can of lychees to create the meringue. It is important to watch the temperature of the sugar syrup. If the temperature isn't high enough the meringue won't be able to form, which also means no buttercream.
Once you have created a strong meringue with the lychee syrup it is important to cool it to room temperature. If the meringue isn't cooled enough it can cause the butter to melt when added.
If you add the butter and find that the meringue wasn't cooled enough it is possible to save your buttercream by placing it in the fridge for 30 minutes - 1 hour before continuing to beat for 5-10 minutes. The butter will look curdled, but it will comes together after beating.
Using canned lychees in baking
Fresh lychees are not available to everyone around the world, but canned lychees are pretty much available anywhere. Not only is it easier to find, they are also peeled and pitted so it's easier to work with!
I use the fruit of the lychee, but it's the syrup in the can that I use to create that sweet lychee flavour. Because the lychees have been sitting in it, it has absorbed all that delicious flavour and will help you create moist and delicious cupcakes.
Let's Get Cooking
If you liked this recipe make sure to leave me a comment and rating down below, I would love to know how you went. Also don't forget to tag me on Instagram @catherine.desserts so I can see and share your desserts.
Follow me on facebook, pinterest, youtube and tiktok for more of my baking creations and updates! Until next time... happy caking!
Print📖 Recipe
Lychee and Rose Cupcakes
Soft and fluffy lychee infused cupcakes with a silky lychee and rose Italian meringue buttercream. These cupcakes are pretty, pink and full of delicious lychee flavour.
- Prep Time: 45
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 60
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Intermediate
- Cuisine: Asian Fusion
Ingredients
Lychee Cupcake
- 60ml Syrup from can of lychees (¼ cup)
- 60ml Whole milk (¼ cup)
- 1 tsp White vinegar
- 60ml Vegetable oil (¼ cup)
- 30g Unsalted butter (2 tablespoon 1 tsp), Room temperature
- 150g White sugar (¾ cup)
- 2 eggs, Room temperature
- 165g Plain flour (1 ⅓ cup)
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 12 Lychees, from can
Lychee Italian Meringue Buttercream
- 300ml Syrup from can of lychees (1 ¼ cup)
- 300g Unsalted butter (1 ⅓ cup), Cubed at room temperature
- 2 Egg whites
- ¼ tsp Rosewater
- Dried rose petals
Instructions
Lychee Cupcake
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
- Line a cupcake tray with 12 paper liners
- Combine lychee syrup, milk and vinegar in a small bowl, set aside
- Add sugar, butter and oil to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat for 5 minutes on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy
- Add the eggs to the butter and beat on high for 1 minute, until well combined
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium sized bowl, whisk to combine
- Add half the flour mix to the butter mix and beat until just combined
- Add the lychee milk, followed by the rest of the flour, beat until just combined
- Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners
- Place a lychee in the centre of each cupcake and cover with surrounding batter
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean
- Cool before frosting
Lychee Italian Meringue Buttercream
- Heat the lychee syrup in a small saucepan over high heat
- Add the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer
- Watch the syrup carefully, start the stand mixer on medium speed when the syrup reaches 112C/ 233F
- When the syrup reaches 115F/240F remove from heat and pour the syrup into the egg whites in a slow and steady stream (ensure the egg whites are at soft peaks before adding the sugar syrup)
- Increase the speed to high and beat for 5 minutes, or until a strong meringue with stiff peaks forms
- Reduce speed to low and continue beating until the meringue is at room temperature
- Increase speed to medium and add the butter one tablespoon at a time
- At this point the buttercream may curdle but that's ok, keep beating and it will come together
- Continue beating for 10 minutes, the buttercream will start to come together before getting light and silky
- Add the rosewater and beat until well combined
- Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a star tip (or your choice of tip) and pipe swirls on top of the cooled cupcakes
- Sprinkle with dried rose petals and enjoy!
Related Recipes
Rose
Hi Catherine
Love the recipe - Step 4
*Add butter and oil to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat for 5 minutes on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy* (Would we add the sugar around this time)
Catherine
Hi Rose, Thank you for picking that up! Yes you would add the sugar to the butter and oil, and cream it together.
Rose
Thank you so much 🙂
Gigi
Hi Cat!
Love the cupcakes!! The lychee really did add a nice surprise!
For my buttercream, the liquid sugar from the canned lychees did not successfully mix into the eggwhites properly and separated. At this stage the egg whites were just at the soft peaks stage.
So I scooped it into another bowl and kept whipping but it wouldn't whip. I had to add more sugar to make a stiff meringue but of course, it got way too sweet.
I suspect that I didnt boil the syrup long enough for the water content to fully evaporate (I dont have a candy thermometer) or the canned lychees that I bought didnt have enough sugar content haha. Do you mind sharing what brand of canned lychees you used? Or how much sugar we should look out for at the back of the can?
Catherine
Hi Gigi! Thanks for your comment, so glad you commented to ask for help! Italian meringue buttercream is very temperature and moisture sensitive so it is easy to mess up without a candy thermometer.The sugar content doesn't matter as long as it reaches the required temperature, because at that temp the amount of water evaporated and sugar content should be the same no matter what brand of canned lychees used. There are a couple of methods to test whether the sugar syrup is ready without a candy thermometer, I find this blogpost quite helpful! https://bakexcitations.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/italian-meringue-buttercream-with-a-hand-mixer-without-a-thermometer/ But if you are going to be baking more I highly recommend getting a thermometer, it will be so helpful in the long run! Hope this helps 😊
Kristine
Hi, I love your recipes a d so happy to find this combo. Can I use fresh lychee and how would I adjust the recipe accordingly? Especially for the buttercream?
Thanks
Catherine Zhang
Hi Kristine, If you can find canned lychees I would highly recommend it as the sugar syrup is full of lychee flavour! If you don't have any I would replace the lychee syrup with milk in the cupcakes and add a drop of lychee extract if you have some on hand. For the buttercream I haven't tested another method to include lychees. I think the best way would be to look for another swiss meringue buttercream recipe and add some lychee puree and rose water to it!
Zai
Hi Catherine!
Would this recipe work if i put it in a cake batter instead?
Catherine Zhang
Hi Zai, I'm not sure as I haven't tried it before... I don't think there would be any problems though. Let me know how it goes!
Austine
Hello.. needed some advice. I have the egg white beaten to peak and add in the boiled syrup. The mixture was at stiff peak til I add in the butter. The more butter add and over time, it just turned watery. =( what went wrong?
Catherine Zhang
Hi Austine, oh no! Did you let your meringue cool before adding your butter? It's important that it has cooled completely as the butter will melt when added into a hot meringue. If you let it cool in the fridge for a little bit you might be able to save it!
Austine
Yeah.. I fridge it for a while and then beat it up again. And it is now the buttercream. Thank god! Your buttercream recipe is easy to follow. Thanks!
Felicia
Hi Catherine,
You do lovely cakes! I've got 2 questions:
1. The temperature of 180 deg Celsius is in reference to a non-fan oven correct? Will this be 160 deg Celsius for a fan oven? - cos mine is.
2. Secondly, would you recommend this as two 6" layer cakes?
Thanks.
Catherine Zhang
Hi Felicia, I work with a fan oven so 180C for you! I haven't tried making this as a cake before. As this is a bit of a lighter cupcake it might not hold up as well. If you are looking for a layered cake i would recommend checking out my pear and caramel layer cake 😊
Jackie
Made these cupcakes for a birthday request for lychee flavor. The cake recipe was perfect for12 cupcakes and a can of 20 oz lychees can eek out all the fruit and syrup requirements. This was a great recipe! Amazing lychee flavor and the touch of rose added a nuanced floral elegance. I made these into Totoro face with a mint leaf, and addition of mint added a beautiful dimension.
Lychee Italian buttercream, as "lychee syrup" will vary depending on brand, I added another 3/4c sugar to ensure the syrup came together and that it reaches 240F (this is key to not break). I recommend using a brand of lychees from Thailand and better if you like their product. I found that some brands aren't as fragrant or can be metallic.
Instructions were clear and easy. Maybe my oven temp was off, but it took closer to 20min to bake. Highly recommend!
Catherine Zhang
Hi Jackie! I love how you added all the details, thanks for all the tips I'm sure others will find them helpful 🥰 Glad you loved the recipe and a totoro face sounds ADORABLE 🤩
Phay Shing
Thank you for sharing your recipe! I was searching for lychee Italian meringue buttercream and was intrigued that you didn't add sugar at all and was excited to try! I have to say I love it but I needed to make some .adjustments as my canned lychee syrup wasn't too sweet to begin with and the syrup reduced to dangerously low levels (maybe about 100ml?) before it reached softball stage 😅. I quickly added more sugar to the syrup when I saw that the volume was really small, about 15-20g only I think and just went with it. I am familiar with making italian meringues so I am sure I did it right.
The resulting buttercream wasn't sweet at all and was on the soft side so I added about 20g powdered sugar and continued whipping it up. The result was delicious, not too sweet but firm enough to frost a whole large cake.
Thank you once again! Love your work and I follow you on Instagram!
Catherine Zhang
Thanks for your feedback!! I assumed that most canned lychees were in a sweet syrup and as long as it reaches the right temperature it would be ok! So glad it worked out in the end 🥳🥳
J
Hi Catherine! I am going to try make this next week and I was wondering if you had a rough weight for the egg whites?
Catherine Zhang
Hi J! This recipe is pretty forgiving so 3 regular large egg whites will work 😊
Wanny
Hi Catherine, i would like to try out this nice recipe and serve this as part of a desert. May I ask if the cake and buttercream can be put in the freezer separately? Or maybe only the cake? Thank you.
Catherine Zhang
Yes you can freeze both separately, however keep in mind that when you freeze buttercream you will need to rewhip it to bring it back to that fluffy consistency.
Ler Yi
Hi Catherine! Loved the cupcakes! For my buttercream, when i piped it, there was liquid coming out along with the cream, i wonder what was the problem?
Catherine Zhang
That sounds like the buttercream separated, I'd recommend beating it for a longer period of time until it comes together and is nice and fluffy