Recipe for Valentine’s Day: Pomegranate Chocolate Cupcakes With Pink Pomegranate Frosting

This is a perfect recipe for Valentine’s Day.

I was sent some POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice to experiment with.  I wasn’t sure what to try, but when I saw a POM Velvet Cupcakes with POM Frostingrecipe (via the Four Seasons Hotel, Beverly Hills) that I happened to already have all the ingredients for, I was sold. Had it not been for POM Wonderful, I never would have tried these.  They are some of the best chocolate cupcakes I’ve had in a while. Even though the pomegranate is there, these taste like moist chocolate cupcakes.

I have a kitchen scale from my living in London days, but I used online conversion calculators to translate ingredients into cups for your reference. However, if you have a kitchen scale, definitely use that to be totally sure. My cocoa powder was very fine, like powdered sugar, so I’m pretty sure I used a little more than the 1/2 cup suggested below. I also separated the directions into a slightly easier to read layout, because I kept re-reading the ones on the POM website.

UPDATE: I received reports from readers that these cupcakes didn’t turn out as good as mine did. It might be the cocoa I used or the fact that I have a kitchen scale. If you use the measurements in cups, etc., check the conversions.

POM Cream Cheese Frosting:
Juice from 3-4 large POM Wonderful Pomegranates, or 1-1/2 cups POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
1 cup arils from 1-2 large POM Wonderful Pomegranates
4 oz. (1 cube) soft unsalted butter
8 oz. (1 packet) cream cheese, at room temperature
14 oz. powdered sugar (I put in one 16oz box):
Prepare fresh pomegranate juice.  Score 1-2 fresh pomegranates and place in a bowl of water.  Break open the pomegranates under water to free the arils (seed sacs). The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top. Sieve and put the arils in a separate bowl. Reserve 1 cup of the arils from fruit and set aside, (refrigerate or freeze remaining arils for another use) for decoration.

Reduce the pomegranate juice, over low heat, down to 3 fl. oz. Allow to cool.

Place butter into electric mixer bowl with paddle attachment and cream on medium-high speed for 1 minute, add the cream cheese and continue to mix for 2 more minutes. Turn the speed down to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar and the pomegranate juice reduction, mix until the sugar is fully combined.

Remove icing from the mixer and place into a piping bag with a round or star tip.

I didn’t have a full bar of cream cheese so I used half mascarpone and half regular cream cheese.  I love mascarpone frosting, but it’s soft and doesn’t pipe well.  So I just spread it on smoothly. It also shouldn’t sit out for a long period of time, like on display at a party, because it will droop. Since it’s Valentine’s Day, I might also suggest that you use the conversation hearts as decoration on top or other Valentine’s Day candy.

POM Velvet Cupcakes
juice from 6-9 large POM Wonderful Pomegranates, or 2-1/2 cups POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
16 oz. (2 1/4 cups) granulated sugar
14 oz. (3 1/2 cubes) soft unsalted butter
4 ea large eggs
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
15 oz. (3 cups) all-purpose flour
1-1/2 oz. (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
3/4 oz. (1 1/2 tbsp) baking soda
pinch salt
1/4 cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350F.  Reduce the pomegranate juice, over low heat, down to 1/2 cup.  Cool.

Place sugar and soft butter in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream on medium-high speed, until the mixture is pale yellow and fluffy, turn the speed down to low and add the eggs in one at a time,

In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, pomegranate juice reduction, white vinegar and vanilla extract.  Slowly add half of this to the mixer. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt, and then sift at least two times until well mixed.  Add half of this to the mixer, add the remaining half of the liquids to the mixer, and then the remaining dry ingredients. Add heavy cream, beat just until combined.

Place cupcake liners into cupcake pan, and using a spoon, fill with cake batter until it is just about 3/4 full, bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow the pan to cool slightly, and then remove cupcakes to a wire rack to cool fully.  Once the cupcakes are cooled completely, they can be iced with the pomegranate cream cheese frosting and topped with fresh pomegranate arils. Makes about 30 cupcakes.

Nutrients per Serving (1 cupcake without frosting): 161 calories (75 calories from fat), 2g protein, 9g total fat (6g saturated), 20g carbohydrates, <1g dietary fiber, 40mg cholesterol, 13g total sugars, 5mcg vitamin A RE, 157mg sodium, 15mg potassium, <1mg vitamin C.

Nutrients per Serving (1 cupcake with cream cheese frosting): 240 calories (109 calories from fat), 3g protein, 13g total fat (8g saturated), 31g carbohydrates, <1g dietary fiber, 51mg cholesterol, 23g total sugars, 23mcg vitamin A RE, 175mg sodium, 37mg potassium, 1mg vitamin C.

I will throw out another disclaimer.  The cocoa that I used in this recipe is from La Maison Du Chocolat.  It is so good, that it deserves it’s own blog post.  The pomegranate juice takes a while to reduce on low heat so you may want to do this in advance.  I spent quite a bit of time just waiting for it to reduce and cool. Next time, I’ll do it while multitasking earlier in the day which will drastically speed up the process of baking these cupcakes.

The pomegranate frosting definitely tastes a little fruity so be prepared for that.  I’m not usually drawn to fruity frosting, but I liked it. I might try buttercream next time. I will see if I can use pomegranate juice as a coloring rather than red food dye on my daughter’s birthday cake.  It would show brighter pink in a shortening based frosting, rather than mauve-ish in this butter based frosting.  I’m more comfortable going natural when I can. Also, these cupcakes are best if eaten right away or after a day or so in the fridge at room temp. After a few days, they get dry.

At VONS La Jolla, they also have POM Teas which I have been a fan of for some time.  Lychee is my favorite.  They also sell POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice there and at the Henry’s in Pacific Beach, last I checked.  It’s so much easier to buy the juice rather than squeezing it out of real pomegranates so do yourself that favor.  A bottle of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice is about $5.

Don’t forget to reserve some extra POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice to serve with these cupcakes.  Try a splash of it in sparkling water or even in some Prosecco.  In the latter, it’s ruby red gorgeous.   Put a few aril floaters on top for garnish.  I promise the combo will be a hit!

Visit www.pomwonderful.com for tons more recipe ideas.

Tagged as: Cupcakes, Food, Four Seasons Hotel, POM Wonderful, Pomegranate, Recipes