I don't cry. I bake....Passion Fruit Cupcakes

This is a tale about the Baker, the Passion Fruit Princess and the Cupcakes Book.

Once upon a time there lived a Passion Fruit Princess. She flourished and produced fruit often, much to the Passion Fruit Kingdom's delight. The Kingdom would eat many passion fruits and use the passion fruit for pavlova. However, as much as they loved passion fruit, the Passion Fruit Princess bore so many fruits so often that many of the passion fruits would go rotten because the Kingdom could not finish the fruits in time. The Passion Fruit Princess was sad to see her little fruits not get eatened. "Oh woe is me. What should I do? It's such a waste!", she thought. The Passion Fruit Princess could not sleep knowing that her fruits go to waste.

Then one day one of the princess' lady-in-waiting came up with a brilliant plan: Give some away to the people who lived outside the Kingdom!

So the Princess' LIW started bringing bags of passion fruit to her office and people would take a few each time. At the office there lived a Baker (well, sometimes I do feel like I live at the office especially this week!). One day, the Baker saw the bag of fruit and asked "What IS that?"

LIW: "Umm....that's passion fruit...you don't know what passion fruit looks like?"

The Baker: "Ohhhhh is THAT what passion fruit looks like! I thought passion fruit was supposed to be like a flower!" (maybe because I go to Passion Flower ice creamery so often I envisioned passion fruit to be this blooming open flower with seeds and pulp in every petal heheh)

LIW: "Yeah, we have a tree in our Kingdom/backyard and we have SO MANY that we can't eat them all in time so I always have heaps to give away."

The Baker: "Oh wow! Well if you ever want me to take some off your hands I'd love to take some home and bake something with passion fruit in it."

LIW: "Sure! There are always heaps I will get some for you".

So off the Lady-in-Waiting went and back to the Kingdom to tell the Passion Fruit Princess the news The Passion Fruit  Princess was delighted and told her Lady-In-Waiting to bring the Baker lots of passion fruit.

The next day the Baker received 10 passion fruits from the Passion Fruit Princess. "Hmmm...what will I do with these", the Baker wondered. Then she remembered that a few weeks ago she had met a very handsome Cupcakes Book at her birthday party. She asked the handsome Cupcakes Book what she should make and the Cupcakes Book said "Make some passion fruit cupcakes- here is the recipe!"

The very handsome Indulgence 'Cupcakes' book
(Donna Hay cupcake patties also picture whom the Baker also met at her birthday party)

So off to her kitchen the Baker went to make the passion fruit cupcakes the Cupcakes Book had told her to. And this is what the Cupcakes Book told the Baker to do:

Ingredients: 

* 185g of unsalted butter, softened

* 170g of caster sugar

* 1 tsp natural vanilla extract

* 3 eggs

* 125g cream cheese, softened

* 1 tbsp fresh passionfruit pulp

* 125g self-raising flour

* 30g plain flour

* 60mL milk

For the icing:

* 300mL whipping cream

* 1.5 tsp icing sugar, sifted

* 2 passion fruit, pulp removed

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 180C and line muffin holes with 12 paper cases.

2. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together with electric beaters until light and creamy.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Add the cream cheese, passion fruit and beat until smooth.

5. Sift the flours together and fold in alternately with the milk.

6. Divide the mixture evenly among the cases.

7. Bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake,

8. While the cupcakes cool, make the passion fruit icing by beating the cream and icing sugar together until peaks form. Cut the centre out of each cake leaving a 1cm border.

9. Then using a piping bag pipe and decorate the cake with the cream and spoon passion fruit pulp on the top.

Now that the Baker has a new found love for passion fruit she will always want to try making delights with passion fruit and now knows that the Passion Fruit Princess will always have passion fruit for her. And that night the Passion Fruit Princess slumbered well knowing that her little passion fruits no longer had to rot but they will always find a good home in the Baker's kitchen.

And they all lived happily ever after.

~The End~

P.S. The Baker thinks this is one of the best cupcakes recipes she has ever tasted!!!!
P.P.S The tale is based on true events and no the Baker did not actually converse with the Cupcakes Book.