Strawberry Cupcakes

Every month at work we get together and celebrate with people having their birthday and work anniversary.  This enables us to take a few moments away from the daily grind and spend some down time together.  I bake either a whole cake or cupcakes for this, and I usually have one of the honorees decide the flavor of the month.  This month, I was asked that the cake have strawberries.  Since it's almost the end of the strawberry season and since we already had a Very Berry Cake for the month of June, I decided to go with something different.  I found a recipe for Strawberry Cake at allrecipes.com and decided to try it.  Instead of the 9" round cakes, I thought I would go with cupcakes instead, frost with whipped cream and decorate with white chocolate curls.

The end result was a huge hit.  This recipe is definitely a keeper!  Upon reading the reviews for this recipe, I made a few tweaks to the ingredients and the process.  I cut down slightly on the cake flour and increased the strawberry puree just a little.  My version of the recipe follows.  It will yield about 30 cupcakes.  I chose to make 24 cupcakes and a 6" single layer cake. 


It's a good idea to have everything ready before you actually start working on the cakes.  Ensure that the butter, eggs, milk and strawberry puree are at room temperature.  Prepare a pastry bag for the Whipped Cream Frosting.  Insert a cupcake decorating nozzle into a disposable pastry bag.  Snip off the tip so that the nozzle goes through but still fits snugly into the tip of the pastry bag.  While waiting for the cupcakes to cool, put a mixing bowl, beaters and heavy whipping cream into the freezer for at least 20 minutes.  Also have a larger bowl and ice cubes ready.  When you are ready to prepare the Whipped Cream Frosting, fill the large bowl with ice cubes and sit the mixing bowl in it.  This is necessary to ensure that the frosting light and airy, and holds its shape when piped. 


Enjoy!

 

Ingredients




Ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar

1 package ( 3 oz) strawberry gelatin

2 sticks unsalted butter
4 large eggs

2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cups strawberry puree made from fresh or frozen strawberries

 



Cake batter

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 standard cupcake pans with paper cups.

Sift together cake flour and baking powder.

In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar, dry gelatin and butter until fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture in 5 batches, alternating with milk and starting and ending with    flour.  Beat well after adding each batch.

Blend in strawberry puree and vanilla extract.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill each of the cupcake cavities about 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes on the middle shelf of the oven for about 20 minutes, rotating the pans after the first 10 minutes.  Insert a toothpick to check if cupcakes are done.

Cool cupcakes in pan for 10 minutes, then on a wire rack for 1-2 hours before frosting.





Frosted and decorated Strawberry Cupcakes

Whipped Cream Frosting 



1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 1/2 tbs granulated sugar

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Pour the whipping cream into the mixing bowl and begin beating at low speed.  Add granulated sugar and vanilla and continue beating, slowly increasing the speed.  Take care not to overbeat.

 Fill the pastry bag about 2/3 of the way with whipped cream frosting.  

Frost cupcakes with swirls of frosting.  Top with white chocolate curls.

White Chocolate curls dress up these cupcakes





White Chocolate Curls 



A large bar of good quality white chocolate is recommended.  Use a vegetable peeler and shave the chocolate bar along the edge.  The chocolate needs to be at room temperature to get a perfect chocolate curl.