If I can promise anything with a 100% guarantee, it is that you will love these cupcakes (if you like strawberries). This is another flavor of cupcakes I made for Ben's graduation party and his cupcake tower. And, this is actually going to be the last cupcake recipe from his party that I'll post because I wasn't extremely fond of the others... lemon poppyseed and carrot cake. I'll have to find better recipes for those.
But...THESE...oooohhh...these cupcakes! Y-U-M! At the party, one of my friends LOVED these and said she wanted to have the recipe and make them for her daugther's 1st birthday party. She was having a strawberry theme. I ended up volunteering to make them for her instead. This worked out very well because I forgot to take pictures of them the first time. She was expecting at least 30 kids and then some parents, so, I doubled the recipe which ended up making two shy of five dozen! And, that also worked out well because she only wanted four dozen which meant Ben and I get to eat the rest. 🙂
Thanks to Annie and Katie for the recipe. I used Annie's frosting alterations with the strawberry puree. The frosting was pretty soft and runny both times making it (thick enough, though, to pipe on in a swirl). But, I had several comments from the party that they loved the frosting, so I'll keep it the way it is.
Also, it might depend on the size of the cupcake pan, but I used the standard sized cupcake pans and realized I only need to fill each cup half full. The original recipe says ¾ full, but then they overflow and have the mushroom look. And, when I didn't double the recipe, it made two dozen, not only 18 cupcakes as the original recipe states. As I mentioned earlier, when I doubled the recipe, it made close to five dozen.
Enjoy these! They'll make you crave more!
Strawberry Cupcakes
Yield: 2 dozen cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
⅓ cup buttermilk
¼ cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups diced strawberries
For the frosting:
½ cup strawberries (more or less, to taste)
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¾ cups powdered sugar, sifted (more or less to achieve desired consistency)
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
Sift flour, salt and baking soda into a medium bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand/electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until full incorporated. Beat in buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in diced strawberries. Fill cupcake wells half full with batter. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
For the frosting, puree strawberries in food processor. Strain through a mesh sieve to remove seeds, and set aside. Beat the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Mix in lemon juice, vanilla and strawberry puree. Adjust the amount of puree and powdered sugar to achieve your desired taste and consistency. Frost cupcakes when completely cool.
Source: Annie's Eats
*Updated 2/8/11
