Haw Flake Cupcakes

I have fond memories of going to my grandparents’ house when I was younger, and eating haw flakes as a treat. Every Saturday morning, my grandparents loved feeding me and my siblings homemade lunches and occasional sweets including ice cream from the ice cream truck! There’s something about eating certain foods that brings back that sweet nostalgia. My husband grew up eating haw flakes too as a kid and he decided to buy some from the Chinese supermarket one day. Our kids wondered what are these little pale reddish tan disks of sugar? They ate one or two but somehow it didn’t have the same appeal to them. That’s ok, more for my husband and me! I had an idea to incorporate the haw flakes flavor into cupcakes. When you bite into a cupcake, you can see yummy bits of haw flake scattered throughout the inside of the cupcake!

Haw Flake Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For cupcakes:

9 individual packs of Haw Flakes, (reserve 1 pack to decorate cupcakes later)

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

For stabilized french vanilla whipped cream:

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 teaspoons French vanilla pudding mix

pinch of sea salt (optional)

Directions:

To Make the Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Set aside.

Put the 8 packs of haw flakes in a food processor. Pulse for 1-2 minutes. Then, select purée for 1-2 minutes to get a finer texture. It’s ok to have little lumps. (That will be the yummy little bits scattered in the cupcake after baked.)

In a big bowl, whisk flour, processed haw flakes, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together until mixed. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla until mixed well. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk for a minute. Add buttermilk and whisk until combined. 

Using a small ladle or cookie scooper, spoon the wet batter into the cupcake liners until 2/3 full.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center does not have any wet batter stuck to it.

Let cool completely before adding whipped cream and decorating.

To Make the Stabilized French Vanilla Whipped Cream:

Put whisk attachment and metal mixing bowl in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Using your stand mixer, add the heavy cream to the cold metal mixing bowl and whisk on a medium speed for 20-30 seconds until foamy.

Add in your confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, French vanilla pudding mix, and sea salt, and continue to mix on medium speed until soft peaks form. Continue whipping just until stiff peaks form. If you whip it too much, you might make butter!

Using a Wilton 1M piping nozzle and piping bag, add whipped cream in a spiral motion to the top of your cooled cupcakes. Add 1 haw flake to decorate the top of your whipped cream. Enjoy!

(Store cupcakes in refrigerator for up to 3 days since it has cold whipped cream. Add the haw flake on top of the cupcake right before serving. The cupcakes can be left out for up to 2 hours if it's not a hot day.)

Remember the little pink, yellow, green, and gold wrapped haw flakes!

Surprise! Yummy haw flake bits in the cupcakes!