Mango Lemongrass Cupcakes with White Chocolate Ganache

Lemongrass is one of those ingredients that most people tend to give the evil side-eye to in the supermarket. Surely a squeeze of fresh lemon would give the same flavour and is much easier? 

Lemongrass has a unique flavour, citrussy of course, but there's a depth of flavour not found in a plain old lemon. Since my introduction to this herb I've been discovering thai curries and stirfries using it and have grown quite fond of it's scent.


I've always been curious about what it would taste like in something sweet though. The tin of mangoes winking seductively at me from the shelf seemed like the perfect partner in crime. The mango flavour is quite subtle in these cupcakes, I suspect it would be more pronounced had I used chopped mangoes, instead of the puree, but I wanted something that would just blend into the batter and let the lemongrass shine.

I made this based on a apple-spice cupcake from Recipezaar, adapted for the flavours I had in mind.

Mango Lemongrass Cupcakes with White Chocolate Ganache

Makes 12 cupcakes

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
2 tsp minced lemongrass
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup and 3 tbsp milk
3/4 cup mango puree (approx 1 tin mangoes)

For white chocolate ganache: (makes double what you need)
75g white chocolate
1/4 cup cream
2 tsp butter

1. Preheat oven to 180C and grease a muffin-tin.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and foamy. Add eggs, mixing well.
3. Gradually add flour and baking powder together with the milk and lemongrass.
4. Lastly stir in the mango puree and stir to combine.
5. Spoon batter into muffin-tin and bake for 25 minutes, remove from tin and set on a wire-rack to cool.
6. For ganache: Place chocolate and cream in a small microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir to combine and until chocolate has melted. Add butter and stir to combine and melt. Place in fridge to cool off and thicken, then use to ice the cupcakes.

Nutritional info (per cupcake): Calories 228.5 Total Fat 10.9 g Saturated Fat 6.7 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.4 g Monounsaturated Fat 2.7 g Cholesterol 49.1 mg Sodium 85.4 mg Potassium 76.2 mg Total Carbohydrate 29.4 g Dietary Fiber 0.3 g Sugars 2.5 g Protein 2.9 g