I wanted to make my own!
So I scoured the internet, and found a recipe that suited on cooksunited.co.uk. The whole first batch I made with this recipe I threw out for the birds (see this post), which was a real shame, as that’s a hideous waste of materials. However, second time around, I ended up with some pastel pink, aromatic and incredibly light cupcakes. And the frosting… stuff you Starbucks, I can do better at home!
I had to mess the recipe about a bit, mainly with the cooking times and temps, and it is one I want to mess around with more, but this is what I did for the firstrun. Apologies now, and always, for my hideous food photography.
Strawberry Cupcakes
Makes 12-16, depending on how big you make your cuppies.
For the cakes:
100g fresh local strawberries, hulled and halved
1sp baking powder
180g flour
60ml milk
120g butter (salted or unsalted, depending on your preference)
200g golden granulated or caster sugar
1 large free range egg
2 large free range egg whites
1sp vanilla extract (not essence; you’ll thank me)
Preheat your oven to 170/150 fan assisted. Line your muffin pan with paper cases, or, if you are like me, line a baking tray with silicone cupcake cases.
In a blender, puree the strawberries. Try not to glug the delicious fruity goop down on its own. Be strong. Set it aside.
Combine flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
With an electric mixer (hand or processor) cream the butter until fluffy and pale, then gradually add the sugar and continue to mix.
Add one egg and mix thoroughly.
Separate off your egg whites. Add them to the mix with the vanilla and blend/beat well until the mixture is well aerated and uniform.
Combine the strawberry puree with the milk. Marvel at your milkshake of awesomeness, but do try not to drink it. Add the ’milkshake’ into the wet mixture, mixing well.
Combine the wet mixture into the dry flour mixture about half and a time. Be careful not to beat too hard; you want to preserve the air in the mix from the egg beating. Continue until mixture is even in colour (pale, pretty pink) and texture.
Spoon out your mixture into your prepared cupcake baking receptacle(s). I made mine quite small, so it worked out to be enough batter for 16. The recipe is meant for 12 good sized cupcakes.
Bake for 15-18 minutes. Mine were a little more well done than I would have liked (I baked for 18), despite taking 7 minutes off the original baking time. If you are baking 12 large cupcakes rather than my 16, 18-20 minutes should be plenty. When done, the outsides will be prettily golden (darker if like me you use unrefined sugars), the insides fluffy and pink.
Allow to cool in pan/on tray for about 5 minutes, before removing to a cooling rack. Mine fell out of their silicone cases with ease at this stage.
For the butter cream and decoration:
Strawberry Buttercream
50g fresh local strawberries, hulled and halved
250g butter
400g icing sugar
50g golden caster sugar (can replaced with icing sugar)
1 sp vanilla extract
Optional: decorations like sugar pearls, dragees, confectioner’s glitter, glitter sugar etc etc
While the cakes are cooling, make your butter cream. Puree 50g of fresh hulled and halved strawberries in a blender. Alternatively, blend them when you do the 100g for the cakes, and remove a third and set to one side.
In an electric mixer, or by hand if you are tough and awesome, cream 250g butter until fluffy.
Add the sugar(s) and blend well.
When the butter cream is beginning to come together, add the vanilla and strawberry puree, and watch the buttery mix turn into pure pink paradise.
When the cakes are cool, ice as you like with the butter cream (I *attempted* to pipe mine) and decorate as you will. I made mine as blousy and ridiculous as possible, and I think they looked soooo cute.
Due to the fresh fruit content, these will keep for longer and keep better in the fridge. They taste best within 1-2 days of baking.
This little cutie, decorated with white chocolate stars, is probably one of my two favourites out of the batch. If you can remember this recipe by any of the images here today, make it this one. Or perhaps the one of Looby in her darling hat. Though you may end up baking a darling hat. If so, send it to me, I want one.When it came to decorating, my main issue is a) the butter cream was too cold because we’d had to refrigerate it when the first batch of cake failed. When I do this again (possibly later this week!) I will make the butter cream only when I am ready to use it. Also, I have a nasty neck injury from a car accident earlier in the year. I have numbness and muscle weakness in my arms, particularly the left, and I found it very difficult to pipe the not warm icing, and really quite painful. I‘d lost most of the sensation in the arm by the time I was done! I look forward to trying again with fresh, malleable icing. Also, I hate to blame my tools, but my piping bags are certainly not a grade, and I really do lack experience. This is probably my first time piping buttercream. Ah well, I can’t get worse!