Pinoy Cupcake: Mango Filled Vanilla Bean Cupcakes Frosted with Cream Cheese and Caramel Crunch

The name's quite a handful isn't it? Its just that I can not seem to name this creation any other way.

When I look for cupcake recipes on the net or in my books it always seems that the ingredients are almost always too "westernized" (not much of a surprise there, whose invention are cupcakes anyway?). Not that I mind, but it wouldn't hurt to incorporate a bit of a Pinoy twist, would it?

For my first venture in infusing Pinoy flavors into cupcakes, I made fluffy classic vanilla cupcakes and filled them with mango jam. Why mangoes? Why not. For me, its the classic Pinoy fruit. No other mango in the world comes close to the succulent flavor ours have.

I remember going home for the summer after a gruelling semester at college and for some reason, our mango trees seems to have overproduced mangoes. Standing in our gate, I could already smell the nice warm scent of ripe mangoes. Well, what's a girl got to do when she has all the time in her hands and a mountain of ripe mangoes as well? Make mango jam of course. (along with mango juice, mango chutney, mango cookies among others).

The mango jam I used for this recipe is from one of the last batches of mango harvest from last summer. It's a good thing there's still some left for my recipe.

I'm in a cream cheese mood these past few weeks so instead of a classic vanilla frosting, I made a cream cheese one instead. It's a good thing because it blended well with the sweetness of the mango jam. Finally I topped my cupcakes with crushed caramel crunch. Mangoes and caramel? Mmmmmmm..... can't think of a better combination to kick off my Pinoy Flavor cupcakes series.