Give your cupcakes a fruity, tropical taste with this easy Guava Frosting recipe. It's pale pink color is all natural and the flavor is perfect with vanilla, chocolate, or coconut cupcakes!
I love fun and unique frosting flavors! Be sure to also try our Dragon Fruit Buttercream Frosting, Lemon Buttercream Frosting, and Fresh Strawberry Frosting!
I had half a container of guava paste leftover from making guava cream cheese Cuban pastries the other day and couldn't decide what to make with it. I was tempted to try this guava cream cheese babka since it's been way too long since I've made babka around here. The guava bars from Serious Eats were another front runner.
But then I remembered I had some fun new Sprinkle Pop sprinkles (their signature pink & mint mix) and cupcakes just sounded delicious and so here we are.
Which is unsurprising given my love of fruity, uniquely flavored frostings like this dragon fruit buttercream frosting that I shared last year. I made my favorite vanilla cupcakes from Sally's Baking Addiction and kept these pretty basic to really let the guava buttercream frosting shine.
But I'm dying to try this with my chocolate cupcakes now because I think the chocolate and guava flavors would actually be pretty incredible together.
What is guava paste and what does it taste like?
If you don't know what guava tastes like, it's got this totally unique, very tropical, fruity flavor. It might be described as a cross between a strawberry and pear with a citrusy hint of passion fruit and floral in the mix.
Maybe? It's basically really tough to describe but so, so wonderful. Just trust me - if you like tropical fruit flavors, you will love guava.
Guava paste is made from cooking down the guava fruit with some sugar until it turns into a super thick jam. My favorite brand of guava paste is Goya and you can order it on Amazon or just pick it up in a Latin market if you have one near you. It comes in a pretty large 21 ounce container, so you will have enough to make a couple of guava recipes.
Although it's really thick - almost solid even - you can add water back into it to turn it into a sauce and use it for other recipes that call for things like guava jelly, guava marmalade, guava sauce, etc. rather than hunting down each of those ingredients, which have been harder for me to find than guava paste.
How to Make Guava Frosting
This guava frosting recipe is based off a typical American Buttercream. There is no cooking involved and it's really easy to make if you have a stand mixer.
First, place softened butter and the guava paste in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat them together on medium-high speed for a few minutes until creamy and smooth and light.
At first, I was afraid that the guava paste was too thick and that it wouldn't break down and combine with the butter, but cutting it into cubes helped and they ended up blending together beautifully.
From there, this is just like any other frosting recipe. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt alternately with a little heavy cream until the frosting is a smooth, spreadable consistency.
Then you can use it to frost a cake or cupcakes however you like. I scooped this guava buttercream frosting into a piping bag fitted with an Ateco 808 piping tip to do this frosting technique that is really simple. You just hold the tip directly over the top of the cupcake, close to the surface, and pipe a steady flow of frosting which mounds out around the tip. Keep pressing with continuous pressure, lifting up slowly as the mound grows and spread out.
You can swirl it off and leave a pointy tip in the center of the cupcakes or moisten your finger slightly with a little water and flatten it out, which is what I did here. Then add a few pastel sprinkles and you are ready to go!
This recipe makes enough for 18-24 cupcakes. If you plan to frost a layer cake with it, you may need to make 1 ½ batches.
More Frosting Recipes to Try
- Graham Cracker Frosting
- Homemade Rainbow Chip Frosting
- Eggnog Buttercream Frosting
- Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Dragon Fruit Buttercream Frosting
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Guava Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- 10 ounces guava paste cut into chunks
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 4-6 Tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Cream butter and guava paste together in the bowl of a stand mixer using the whisk attachment until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing between each addition and adding 1 tablespoon of cream each time. Add vanilla and salt and beat for 5 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl periodically and adding additional cream as needed to get the desired texture for frosting or piping.
- Use to decorate cakes and cupcakes.
I've honestly got to say I don't think I've ever tried Guava! These cupcakes are so pretty and I love the way you applied the frosting and just a few sprinkles. It really gives them a sophisticated look.
I am ABSOLUTELY in LOVE with this Guava Frosting!!!!!
This frosting is delicious!! You were right about it pairing perfectly with coconut cupcakes!
What a unique flavor! Great combination to pair with with vanilla cupcakes and I bet this will be fabulous on a whole cake!
I'm loving your ratio of frosting to cupcake, you're a gal after my own heart - looks delicious!
What a unique and fabulous flavor for a frosting!! Im really looking forward to trying this!
My grandfather was obsessed with guava jelly and ate it with everything!! He flipped when I made this for him and has already asked for it again!
I bet this would be great with a dark chocolate cupcake too! Im obsessed with all things guava so this is right up my alley!
I love guava and I must try this soon. Sounds delicious and love the pretty color!
What brand of guava paste did you use? Both guava pastes that I bought where a bit too stiff, so they wouldn’t fully “incorporarte with the butter. No matter how long I mixed it, scraped, etc. It just isn’t working out. Any recommendations? Should I have put the paste in the microwave to soften a bit? Thanks. I see the potential great taste but not having any luck here.
I used Goya brand guava paste. I have tried microwaving guava paste before, but it didn't really seem to loosen much unless I added additional water to the paste. I have found when making this frosting that the guava paste and butter don't fully combine, but once the powdered sugar was added it all smoothed out into a wonderfully workable frosting.
This recipe is AMAZING! I almost don't even want to put it on a cake!
What did you use to apply the frosting the way shown in your photos? is that a certain tip?
It's the Ateco 808 and it's one of my favorites! It's just a big open tip. The key is to squeeze steadily with the tip close to the surface of the cupcake while slowly pulling up. Then swirl off the top and use a finger dipped in water to smooth out the top just a bit. 🙂 I need to make a video showing how because it's such a fun and simple technique once you figure out how to do it, but a little confusing the first time I tried.
I bought guava puree...can I use that instead of paste? thank you!
Yes, I definitely think it would work, but puree will have more moisture than paste. I would either simmer the puree for a little while on the stove (maybe 15 minutes?) to reduce out some of the additional liquid, or cut back on the amount you add at first until you see how the frosting is looking because it might be much softer because of the additional liquid than using paste.
Outstanding recipe. I decorated some cupcakes with this and everyone wanted to eat more than one and take some home. They were so delicious!!!
Can you use guava jelly as a substitute gor the paste?
Yes, you could do this with guava jelly. You might just need to cut back on the cream because the jelly will have more liquid.
The flavor is great, but mine never got to that fluffy consistency. It was a little runny.
Hello! I really want to try this for my niece’s bday cake! Is it with unsalted or salted butter?
Thanks!
Salted butter!
Made this as the frosting for a cake I did! Vanilla cake, strawberry jam filling and the guava frosting! So yummy.
Hi if you're using salted butter why do you still have to add in a pinch of salt?
I feel like between the sweet guava and powdered sugar, an extra pinch of salt balances things better. You can skip it if you prefer.
Lovely flavor but the first stage takes a lot of time. I would recommend breaking down the guava paste with a potato mashed or small batches in the food processor to speed ip the process and help it all incorporate better/easier. I also find it has a bit more of a jelly sticky consistency. Going to try beating in more powdered sugar.