Bubur Pulut Hitam Cupcakes (Black Glutinous Rice Cupcakes)

If you had been following the cupcake craze in Singapore and Malaysia, you would have noticed a trend nowadays..... cupcake flavours that are based on our local delights like ondeh-ondeh, kuih koci, cendul, teh tarik, etc. The pioneer baker of these cupcakes is, I believe, Cikkiah, a talented baker from Malaysia. Over the years, she has inspired many bakers, including many in Singapore, to come up with so many fusion cupcake flavours, including nasi lemak cupcake! Yes! There's also nasi lemak cupcake! I'm not kidding.

I'm a great fan of local kuih, so I'm all for cupcakes with kuih flavours..... I've tasted a few flavours and I love them all... In fact, I've also gone to a couple of baking classes in which I managed to pick up some ideas and tips to bake and assemble the cupcakes. But since the classes are still ongoing as they are quite popular, I'm not sharing any of the recipes so soon, just to be fair to the teachers. Nevertheless, I'll be sharing with you my creation of a cupcake recipe based on my favourite dessert, Bubur Pulut Hitam or Black Glutinous Rice Porridge..

Like many fusion cupcakes, this cupcake basically consists of the sponge cake, filling, frosting and toppings. I adapted Carol Pastor's vanilla cupcake recipe for my coconut milk cupcake, cooked thick bubur pulut hitam for the filling, combined mascarpone cheese & non-dairy whipped cream for the frosting & topped it off with more bubur pulut hitam & coconut milk drizzle. The result is one superb fusion cupcake! It's like eating bubur pulut hitam but here the porridge is thicker than usual and it is enveloped in a fluffy & moist sponge cake & topped with rich but fluffy frosting. I love the assembly....

This is an experiment for me, and I think there's still room for improvement especially for the flavour. I will definitely reduce the sugar for the sponge cake as it is slightly sweet, but I wouldn't reduce it too much as doing so may affect the texture of the sponge. I also find the overall flavour of the cupcake slightly too rich... this is no surprise as there's coconut milk in the cake, filling and topping and the mascarpone frosting is also quite rich (and delicious!). As a result, the flavour of the glutinous rice filling is not as intense as I would prefer it to be. So the next I bake this cupcake, I need to adjust the glutinous rice filling recipe too. Perhaps I should not add any coconut milk to the filling...
All in all, I would consider this a successful experiment. So if you are a fan of black glutinous rice porridge and also love having cupcakes, do give this recipe a try..

Bubur Pulut Hitam Cupcakes 
(Black Glutinous Rice Cupcakes)

CUPCAKE
Ingredients:
2 whole eggs
115g (1/2 cup) caster sugar (I will reduce to 90-95g next time.)
135g (1 cup) self-raising flour (sifted together with the baking powder)
1/2 tsp baking powder
50ml (1/4 cup) thick coconut milk (from a box)
50g (4 tbsp) butter - melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. (I use paper cupcake cases & place them onto a baking tray.)
2. Beat eggs & sugar until thick & fluffy.
3. Fold in flour & coconut milk. Mix until well blended. Finally, add in melted butter & vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly.
4. Spoon mixture into paper cases until they are 3/4 full.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen & golden brown. Test lightly by pressing the centre of the cakes with your fingers. The sponge should lightly spring back.
6. Remove from the oven & leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely. (I removed the cakes from the baking pan onto a wire rack.)

Recipe adapted from CUPCAKES by Carol Pastor.

BLACK GLUTINOUS RICE FILLING

Ingredients:
100g black glutinous rice
1 and 1/2 cup water
1 pandan leaf (torn)
50g palm sugar (gula Melaka)
1 and 1/2 tbsp thick coconut milk
1/8 tsp salt

Method:

1. Rinse the black glutinous rice with water thoroughly until the water turns clear. The water will still remain slightly black or purple but clear. Fill the rice in a container, then pour water up to about 2 cm above the  rice. Soak for about 1 hour.
2. After soaking, drain the water & place the rice, 1&1/2 cups of water & pandan leaf into a saucepan. Cook on medium fire, stirring continuously, until the rice becomes soft & sticky. Add some water if the rice becomes too thick & dry.
3. Add in the palm sugar & salt. Continue cooking until the sugar has dissolved. Finally, add in the coconut milk. Continue cooking until the dessert thickens. Set aside to cool. Remove the pandan leaf before using.

MASCARPONE CHEESE FROSTING
Ingredients:
125g mascarpone cheese (room temperature)
125ml (1/2 cup) non-dairy whip cream

Method:

1. Using a spoon or a spatula, stir the mascarpone cheese until smooth.
2. In another bowl, whisk the cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone cheese until completely incorporated. Fill into a piping bag.

ASSEMBLY

      Using a cupcake corer or a knife, core the center of the cupcake. Fill the hole with black glutinous rice filling. Then pipe the mascarpone cheese frosting. Finally spoon some filling on the frosting & drizzle some coconut milk (I diluted some thick coconut milk with just a little bit of water for the drizzle.).

Notes & modifications:

1. The cupcake recipe makes 10 regular size cupcakes. I filled the batter into 17 medium paper cake liners. I'm glad I used the medium liners. After coring the cake, I was able to fill up quite a generous portion of filling, as you can see in the last picture.
2. I use non-dairy whip cream instead of the dairy alternative as the former produces a more stable frosting.
3. Any leftover glutinous rice filling can be diluted with some water & heated up to make bubur pulut hitam or black glutinous rice porridge.