As I mentioned on Monday, in exchange for her pacing services I agreed to make my friend AJ cupcakes for her birthday get-together this past weekend. I asked her what kind she wanted and before she said “I don’t care, whatever” I told her to tell me what she liked… or else! She said she liked strawberry and cream cheese icing. Okay, good starting point. So I started looking for strawberry cupcakes recipes and strawberry cream cheese icing recipes. I found the recipes I needed (or so I thought), bought what I needed, and set to baking first thing Saturday morning.
The first cupcake recipe I tried turned out HORRIBLE. The batter looked great, smelled great, and tasted great. The cupcakes looked beautiful out of the oven. Then I turned around to do something and when I looked back all the cupcakes had fallen. WTF? I decided to taste them just in case… oh no, they tasted gross too. Well damn. I can honestly say this is the very first time I’ve had a cupcake recipe just all out fail. It sucked. I quickly did a search for another strawberry cupcake recipe and found one that I happened to have all the ingredients for. The recipe only make 12, but I wasn’t going to double the recipe until I knew that it would turn out.
Attempt #2 went MUCH better. They came out of the over and looked, smelled, and TASTED great. I ran to the store to get more supplies and made another batch. I used the strawberry cream cheese icing recipe I had found and TA-DA! Perfect strawberry cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese icing.
Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes from How Sweet Eats
makes 12 cupcakes
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped strawberries
1-2 tablespoons milk, if needed (I did not need/use this)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add flour, baking powder and salt with the mixer on low speed, then gradually increase speed. Add in chopped strawberries and beat on medium speed until the strawberries break down – about 1-2 minutes. At this point, the strawberries most likely have enough liquid that you don’t need to add any milk to the batter. If you batter seems dry and is not like typical cake batter (see 1st picture above), then add milk 1-2 tablespoons at a time, beating until incorporated.
Pour into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 of the way full, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until cake is set. Let cool, then frost.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting from Delish.com
Makes enough for 24+ cupcakes
1 package(s) (8-oz.) cream cheese, reduced-fat, at room temperature
4 tablespoon(s) (1/2 stick) butter, unsalted, at room temperature
3 cup(s) (up to 3 1/2 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 cup(s) (fresh ) strawberries, mashed and drained (3/4 cup hulled berries)
Blend cream cheese and butter in large mixing bowl with electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Stop mixer and add 3 cups confectioners’ sugar and the mashed strawberries. Mix on low speed until incorporated, 1 minute. Increase speed to medium and blend until frosting is fluffy, 30 to 45 seconds longer, adding up to 1/2 cup more sugar if needed to get a spreadable consistency.
