Here it is! This is a highly requested recipe from my instagram: lychee cupcakes with lychee rose buttercream! I absolutely love lychee fruits and lychee desserts. It took me a while to figure out how to put lychee in a cake and still preserve the fruit flavor. This recipe uses REAL lychee fruit (from a can) and no artificial lychee extracts. Don’t know what lychee is? It’s a tropical fruit popular in southern China and other southeast Asian countries. Take a look at my food glossary for more information on lychee and other Asian ingredients. And keep scrolling down below for my recipe!

lychee cupcake with lychee rose buttercream

Ingredients for Lychee Cake and Lychee Buttercream

For this recipe, I used canned lychee, which can be found at Asian grocery stores. To be honest, I probably would have used lychee extract if it was easily available, but I’m not about to spend a bunch of money ordering lychee extract online from an unknown source. That left me with the conundrum of how to incorporate real lychee fruit into a cake without getting a funky texture. Thankfully, wonderful pastry chefs like BraveTart already worked out the kinks in adding other types of fruit to their cake recipes. I based this recipe off of BraveTart’s blackberry cake and strawberry cake recipes. All I needed to do was figure out the right ratio of fruit puree to baking soda, given the acidity level of lychee.

lychee cupcake with lychee rose buttercream
Baby is ignoring how soft and fluffy the inside of my cupcake is.

If you’ve had lychee, though, you’ll know that the flavor is sweet but very delicate. I knew I needed to add some sort of extract to help bring that flavor out. The combination of rose and almond extracts really enhanced and brought out the lychee flavor for me. Maybe I was subconsciously inspired by Laduree’s ispahan flavor macaron, who knows! If you don’t have rose water, it’ll still taste great with just almond extract, which is easily available at grocery stores.

lychee cupcake with lychee rose buttercream

Asian vs. American style cake? Changing the Flour

EDIT 09/2020: My husband thought the cake was too dense for him, so I made it again with only 1 cup cake flour and it resulted in a spongier texture, which he preferred. Asian cakes tend to have more a light, spongy texture, so I highly recommend reducing the flour if that’s your preference too. If you like dense American cakes however, leave the recipe as is. And yes, all purpose flour can definitely be substituted for cake flour.

This recipe makes enough for 12 cupcakes or one 8 inch round cake layer. Give it a go and let me know what you think!

lychee cupcake with lychee rose buttercream
4.59 from 55 reviews

Lychee Cupcakes with Lychee Rose Buttercream

Real lychee fruit gets incorporated into this white cake batter for fluffy, soft cupcakes.
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
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Ingredients
  

Lychee Cupcakes

  • 1 20 oz can lychee, drained (save the syrup!)
  • 1 stick softened unsalted butter (4 oz)
  • 3/4 cup sugar (145g)
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup egg whites (from about 2 eggs)
  • 1 1/4 cup cake flour (155g)
  • 1/8 tsp almond extract
  • 1/8 tsp rose water

Lychee rose buttercream

  • 2 sticks softened unsalted butter (8 oz)
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2-3 tbsp lychee syrup
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1/4 tsp rose water

Instructions
 

For the cupcakes

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake tin with 12 liners.
  • Measure out 200 g of drained lychee from the can. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, this will be about the entire can, minus 4-5 lychees.
  • Puree the lychee in a blender. You should have about 3/4 cup of lychee puree.
  • Cream butter, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Add egg whites and blend until emulsified.
  • Mixing on low, alternate adding small batches of lychee puree and cake flour until fully incorporated.
  • Add almond extract and rose water and mix.
  • Scoop batter into cupcake liners and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  • Let cool while preparing the buttercream.

For the lychee rose buttercream

  • Beat softened butter and salt until fluffy.
  • Add powdered sugar and 2-3 tbsp of the reserved lychee syrup until the buttercream is your desired consistency. Remember that your kitchen temperature will also affect how thick or thin your buttercream appears.
  • Mix in almond extract and rose water. 
  • Frost cupcakes when cool. Enjoy!
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review below!

Thanks for stopping by! If you’re looking for more recipes to use up your rose water, check out my strawberry rose daifuku.