Many of you may be familiar with our Italian product line Fabbri, which produces a variety of gelato and pastry ingredients. The most common application for these products, specifically with the delipaste, is to flavor gelato. Well, this weekend I went home with a few samples of the Pistachio Fine delipaste, some rose extract oil and a mind set on experimentation. I love baking and I really don’t do it often enough, yet I have all of these exotic and delicious ingredients at my fingertips. Well, I decided enough is enough. It’s time to start taking advantage of the Fabbri products and commence experimental baking.

On Friday, I found a recipe for Pistachio cupcakes and Rose Petal buttercream online. I tweaked the recipe in order to accommodate my flavoring ingredients and improvised on quantities a bit. I’m a true believer in “to taste” baking, at least with flavoring ingredients. This recipe is a chiffon-style cake and can be labor-intensive and/or tricky, but never fear. The end result is delicious and well worth the effort.
So here it is: 
Pistachio Cupcakes
36 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven
*2-3/4 cups cake flour sifted
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
**1/2 -3/4 cup grape seed oil (or vegetable oil)
8 egg yolks (approximately 6 ounces)
1/2 cup water
4-6 ounces pistachio delipaste
10 egg whites (approximately 10 ounces)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter


* Sift flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder into a bowl.
* Separately, combine oil, egg yolks, water, and pistachio delipaste. Stir to combine. I ended up adding the delipaste to taste (close to ½ cup when all was said and done). Pistachio is a very delicate flavor, so don’t be afraid to go a little crazy.
* On a low setting, start to beat the dry mixture and slowly add the wet. Increase the mixer speed to high and beat until pistachio cream is incorporated. Mixture will be very sticky, but only for now. No worries.
* In a separate bowl, whip egg whites on medium-high speed until foamy. With the mixer on medium speed, add cream of tarter. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
* Scoop a cupful of the stiff egg whites into the batter and stir to combine. This should lighten up the batter.
* Transfer the remaining egg whites to the batter and gently fold until there are no more streaks of egg white.
* Scoop into cupcake cups and bake at 350 F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
*Tip: Cake flour is a must for chiffon. All-purpose won’t give you the same delicate texture.
**Note from the baker: When all was said and done, these cupcakes turned out a bit dry. Next time around I will add more oil. Hence the 1/2 cup-3/4 cup.

Rose Petal Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons Rose oil extract, 3-4 tablespoons of milk
1. Beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl.
2. Add 2 cups of sifted powdered sugar, one tablespoon of milk and rose oil, beat until combined.
3. Add more powdered sugar (One cup at a time) along with milk (one tablespoon at a time) as needed to get to whatever consistency/sweetness you wish to achieve.

Assemble
1. Frost cooled cupcakes lightly with buttercream.
2. For pistachio garnish, grind up pistachios in a small food processor. Take up some of the ground nuts into your hand and press the edges of the frosted cupcake into the mixture.
3. Otherwise top with edible rose bud or edible rose petal.

Original recipe: http://cupcakeblog.com