Chocolate & Pear Cupcakes with Spiced Tahini Buttercream
Fluffy chocolate cake with pops of bright pear that comes wrapped in a nutty tahini buttercream. And I can't forget the stunning candied cake decoration - a crisp pear slice. This is a lush cupcake, and a heckin easy recipe to boot.
Prep Time 45 minutes mins
Candied pears 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins
Total Time 2 hours hrs 5 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Chocolate & Pear Cupcake
- 1 cup ap flour (120g)
- 1 cup sugar (200g)
- 6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (43g)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg room temp
- 1/2 cup oil (vegetable, coconut etc.) (120ml)
- 1/2 cup buttermilk (120ml) *read afterword
- 3/4 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup hot milk or water (120ml)
- 1 pear peeled, finely chopped
Spiced Tahini Buttercream
- 1 cup unsaltened butter, softened (2 sticks, 226g)
- 3/4 cup tahini, well stirred (201.1ml)
- 2 1/2 - 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted *read afterword
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 2 tsp chai spice *read afterword
- 1/4 tsp salt
Candied Cake decoration
- 2 bosc pears
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
Cupcake
Preheat oven to 300°F and prepare a cupcake pan with liners.
Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk them together, set aside.
Combine the egg, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla in another medium-sized bowl.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
Now add the hot milk/water to the batter and mix until well combined. The batter will be thin.
Fill the cupcake liners about halfway and sprinkle a tbsp of the chopped pear over the top. Bake for 18-23 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool for 2 minutes, then remove them from the pan to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Buttercream
Beat butter and vanilla bean paste until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes. On the lowest speed, beat in the tahini with butter until well combined.
Add the chai spice and the powdered sugar, a generous tablespoon at a time, beating slowly to combine. Once all the sugar is added, beat the frosting on med-high until smooth.
Using a frosting bag with your desired tip, pipe frosting onto each cupcake.
Candied Cake Decoration
Best achieved with a mandolin, slice the pears to a ¼ inch thickness.
Simmer equal parts sugar & water in a medium-sized pot. In batches, carefully add the pears to the pot until the slices are translucent -about a few minutes.
Preheat the oven to 250°f , and line your trays with parchment paper, and position the slices in neatly spaced rows.
Bake the slices for an hour to dehydrate and then raise the oven temperature to 350°f degrees and bake for 10 minutes to get crispy edges.
Use right away to decorate your cupcakes or store them in an airtight container until ready to use.
Keyword buttercream, candied cake decoration, candied pear, chocolate, cupcake, pear, tahini