Wattleseed Cupcakes

I think I first became curious about wattleseed because of the name. Wattleseed. It doesn't even sound like an ingredient I should take seriously, but more like a Lewis Carrol character ditched Alice and wandered off the pages and into a spice rack.

Some research was needed and wikipedia seemed to have a nice cohesive little entry:

Wattleseed is a term used to described the edible seeds from around 120 species of Australian Acacia that were traditionally used as food by Australian Aborigines and they were eaten either green (and cooked) or dried (and milled to a flour) to make a type of bush bread.

Acacia seed flour has recently gained popularity in Australia due to its high nutritional content, hardiness, availability, and low toxicity. Due to its low glycemic index it is also often incorporated into diabetic foods. Vic Cherikoff (a significant pioneer in the Australian native food industry) developed Wattleseed as a flavoring in 1984 from selected species and this is now the major commercial product used because of its chocolate, coffee, hazelnut flavor profile. It is often added to ice cream, granola, chocolates and bread and widely used by chefs to enhance sauces, caramel, whipped cream and other dairy desserts.

The description of the flavor is accurate; chocolate, hazelnut, and coffee flavors. Nutella-esque but more subtle than that. As such I decided to put it to work in a cupcake.

The cupcake is adapted from the basic vanilla recipe over at Joy of Baking, but I took out most of the vanilla so I could let the wattleseed shine without competition from jealous undertastes. I just wasn't up for trial and error recipes, and I only have so much of the stuff, so her dependable (although a bit too bread-like in crumb consistency) recipe was just what I needed.

This cupcake was VERY well received at work. Honestly, I give it a few more years and wattleseed muffins will be in every frickin' coffee house. Hmm... maybe it's the next rockstar ingredient?

A special thanks to Judy as well for sending the delectible spice!

Wattleseed Cupcakes
Makes 12 / 350 F oven

What You'll Need...
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup of sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of AP flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of ground wattleseed
1/4 cup of milk

What You'll Do...
1) Preheat the oven to 350. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and cream on high speed until light and fluffy.

2) Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each for 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and beat for 30 more seconds. Be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom.

3) Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and wattleseed together in a bowl. Measure out the milk. On a low mixing speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Be sure to scrape down the sides at least once.

4) Fill into cupcake papers and bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Wattleseed Frosting
2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of ground wattleseed
2 tablespoons of milk

Put together in a mixer and beat to all hell, about 4 minutes on high. Spread onto cooled cupcakes.

Note on Purchasing Wattleseed: Wattlseed is still difficult to find in the U.S., still you can purchase it online. Keep in mind though that Wattleseed is like Saffron or Vanilla, an expensive spice since it has to be hand picked. Still if you can get your hands on some it's worth it.