The Avocado Sisters Have An Adventure with Mangoes: Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes with Fresh Mango Filling

Yesterday I was expecting a delivery!  Everyone who attended Camp Blogaway was notified to expect a box filled with mangoes from the National Mango Board.  After learning about mangoes at camp, and bringing a few home to taste,  I was very excited to receive two different varieties as well as some other very nice goodies.

My avocado sister,  Rachael (La Fuji Mama) and I  planned another avocado adventure for this week.  Rachael  wanted to take some photos and video while the trees are still in bloom and the tiny baby avocados are beginning to appear.   We decided to make  it a family day, since our daughter-the-geologist  would be here from Northern California for the weekend.   I made  Fluffy Pancakes with Mangoes, Blueberries and Avocados yesterday, and I wanted to make something else with mangoes and avocados for our lunch today.  Everyone enjoys cupcakes, so I started looking for a recipe that includes avocado.

I found this recipe by another San Diego area blogger,  Kirbie’s Cravings.   The avocado chocolate cake has no butter or eggs in it!  The recipe calls for  1/4 cup of vegetable oil and  1/2 cup of  avocado, pureed and added to the dry ingredients.  I used a whole medium avocado…closer to one full cup of pureed avocado.

I also used the Ultra-Grain All Purpose Flour that was in our goodie bags from camp.  It looks and tastes like white flour, but has more fiber and better nutrition without the strong flavor and density of whole wheat.   I decided to follow the recipe,  but bake it as cupcakes.

I had some baking cups from Paper Chef that we were given at Camp Blogaway, so I baked the cupcakes in the parchment baking cups.  They’re so nice!  The paper doesn’t stick to the cupcakes at all!

When the Fuji family arrived, we  talked about mangoes and the gorgeous boxes of fruit we had received in the mail.  The National Mango Board also sent a recipe book,  a cute bowl,   paring knife and a flexible cutting mat.  We were all set to chop mangoes and fill our avocado cupcakes! But first we took a long walk through the avocado grove with our daughters and our cameras.

After spending the morning out in the grove with our girls, we all needed a lunch break.  Rachael brought some Kerrygold cheddar cheese …another sponsor of Camp Blogaway last weekend…we’ve fallen in love with their delicious cheeses.   We made these fun crackers combining the Kerrygold cheddar with fresh California avocados from our ranch and fresh juicy mangoes.  Our Cutco cheese knife came in handy…another sponsor from Camp Blogaway!

 

We had fun with the mangoes…putting them on our crackers,  eating them in our guacamole,  and just eating juicy sweet chunks of perfectly ripe mango! We used the yellow mangoes…the Ataulfo variety.    It was a good thing we had plenty, because we needed some fresh diced mango for our cupcakes!

 

Everyone loved these cupcakes!   No one could tell that they were made with a whole grain blend flour with double the fiber of other all purpose flours.  The moist cake has a strong chocolate flavor and no indication that avocado is included in the cake…just the healthy fat and nutrition of California avocados! !  Next time we plan  to slice the cupcakes in half  so we can have more mango inside, like a short cake.  Our families were delighted with the juicy, sweet mangoes  and whipped cream instead of heavy sweet frosting.     Avocados and mangoes in one dessert: heaven!