Dragon Fruit Buttercream Frosted Cupcakes

Dragon Fruit Buttercream Frosted Cupcakes are chocolate cupcakes, topped with a scrumptious dragon fruit buttercream frosting. They’re delicious and perfect for parties and special occasions!

Last week when we went to the succulent farm, we made a stop at my favorite fruit market on the side of the road. There are quite a few of them in Socal and they’re open year-round. Last week the mart had local organic dragon fruit, so I picked a few up to make something delicious!

I was actually going to make a salad, but my sweet tooth, having a mind of its own, convinced me I needed a frosted cupcake with dragon fruit buttercream… I know, crazy!  

I made my mother-in-law’s amazing chocolate cupcake recipe and then altered my favorite buttercream recipe using dragon fruit and my goodness were they yummy!!

How To Make Dragon Fruit Frosted Cupcakes – Step By Step

Chocolate Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
• Boil 1 cup water.
• Combine all of the wet ingredients in a bowl and with the mixer on medium slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry and blend, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.
• Then add 1 cup boiling water and continue to mix.
• Pour into cupcake molds and then bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not overcook these cupcakes or they’ll become dry.

Meringue Dragon Fruit Buttercream Frosting

• Add the sugar and the egg whites into a heatproof mixing bowl. Fit the bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
• Whisk constantly until the mixture is hot, sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are a little frothy. About 4 minutes. It should look like a shiny marshmallow cream.
• With the whisk attachment, beat eggs on medium speed until cooled and thicker for about 5 minutes. 
• Switch to the paddle attachment and one at a time, add in one stick of room temperature butter beating until smooth. 
• On medium speed, add in the dragon fruit juice and vanilla bean extract. 
• If the buttercream curdles or separates, just keep beating until it comes back together. You should end up with a shiny, smooth and absolutely delicious buttercream frosting!

Meringue Buttercream – Perfect For These Frosted Cupcakes!

Buttercream often takes quite a bit of whipping in order to reach the right consistency of light and fluffy.

Cool butter is whipped in and many times the meringue buttercream breaks, but with more beating it comes together and makes a silky, very buttery, not too sweet or grainy buttercream.

This buttercream is great to work with, perfect for these frosted cupcakes! It’s not overly sweet or greasy, great for these little chocolate cakes.

What Does Dragonfruit Taste Like?

Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya or the strawberry pear, is a beautiful tropical fruit that is sweet and crunchy. It tastes a bit like a cross between a kiwi and a pear.

Though it may look intimidating, cutting and preparing this exotic fruit is easy. It adds a unique and delicious flavor to these frosted cupcakes!

Dragon fruit is grown in Southeast Asia, Mexico, Central and South America, and Israel. The plant is actually a type of cactus of the genus Hylocereus, which includes only about 20 different species.

Dragon fruit is also low in calories and offers numerous vitamins and minerals including Vitamin C, fatty acids, phosphorus, and calcium. It also supplies a good amount of fiber and antioxidants.

Dragon Fruit Buttercream Frosted Cupcakes – An Easy Cupcake Recipe

These frosted cupcakes not only look great and taste delicious, they are also relatively simple to make! Plus, this recipe gives you 16 of the lovely little cakes, great for bringing to parties or pleasing a last minute crowd in your living room!

Just 15 mins prep time and 45 cook, then you’ll have a batch of these scrumptious little fellas! Dragon fruit is pretty widespread in supermarkets and grocery stores and the other ingredients are all pretty standard. But it all comes together in perfect cupcake!

Top Tips For These Frosted Cupcakes

• Use the best ingredients available.
• Bring your ingredients to room temperature.
• Don’t over mix the batter, or you will end up with tough cupcakes.
• Use a scoop to fill the cupcake molds, to keep them all even.

Check Out These Other Delicious Cupcake Recipes

American Flag Cupcakes

Lucky Charms Cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Sunflower Cupcakes

Chocolate Toffee Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Crazy Cupcakes by Bigger Bolder Baking

Moist Vanilla Cupcakes by Beyond Frosting

If you have tried this frosted cupcake recipe, please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below!

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Print Recipe

Chocolate Cupcakes with Dragon Fruit Buttercream

My mother-in-law’s amazing chocolate cupcake recipe topped with my dragon fruit buttercream!

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate cake, flavored frosting, fruit frosting

Servings: 16 cupcakes

Calories: 459kcal

Author: Eden

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 2 cups flour
• 1 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup boiling water

Meringue Dragon Fruit Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup blended dragon fruit
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

Instructions

Chocolate Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
• Boil 1 cup water.
• Combine all of the wet ingredients in a bowl and with the mixer on medium slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry and blend, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.
• Then add 1 cup boiling water and continue to mix.
• Pour into cupcake molds and then bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not overcook these cupcakes or they’ll become dry.

Meringue Dragon Fruit Buttercream Frosting

• Add the sugar and the egg whites into a heatproof mixing bowl. Fit the bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
• Whisk constantly until the mixture is hot, sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are a little frothy. About 4 minutes. It should look like a shiny marshmallow cream.
• With the whisk attachment, beat eggs on medium speed until cooled and thicker for about 5 minutes. 
• Switch to the paddle attachment and one at a time, add in one stick of room temperature butter beating until smooth. 
• On medium speed, add in the dragon fruit juice and vanilla bean extract. 
• If the buttercream curdles or separates, just keep beating until it comes back together. You should end up with a shiny, smooth and absolutely delicious buttercream frosting!