Strawberry Cupcakes

Strawberry season is coming so I'm very excited to finally bake something with strawberries! I chose to start with some cupcakes. I hadn't made cupcakes in a while and wanted the satisfying three bites of a little piece of cake. The strawberry cake recipe is from Sprinkles Cupcakes. I've never been there (since I don't live in the US), but I've heard wonderful things about Sprinkles. Maybe this summer I'll pay a visit when I'm in New York ;) The strawberry buttercream is recipe of my own. Most strawberry frostings are meringue toppings, but I really wanted to use a buttercream for the cupcakes, so I threw some ingredients together and it all worked out! I rate the strawberry cupcakes 3 out of 5, and the strawberry icing 4 out of 5.

Strawberry Cupcakes recipe: Sprinkles Cupcakes

Ingredients: Makes 1 dozen
- 2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon coarse salt
- ¼ cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 3 drops red food coloring (optional, I added this because I wanted the cupcake to be pink)

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
- Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended. Add the red food coloring, mix until light pink.
- Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Strawberry Icing recipe: my own

Ingredients:
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons strawberry jam or jelly
- 3 or more tablespoons milk
- 2 drops red food coloring

Instructions:
- Sift the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl.
- Add the butter, strawberry jam or jelly and milk. Mix until wel blended. Add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, if needed.
- Add the red food coloring and mix until the frosting is pink. Use immediately.


Strawberry puree, yum!

This is how the cupcake batter looked like without any food coloring. But I really really wanted the cupcakes to be pink-ish so...

... I added 3 drops of red food coloring.

Right out of the oven.

Topped with strawberry frosting. The cupcakes did sink a little bit so that's why they look so flat.

Looks like summer to me!

Three cupcakes later ...


Update: One of my favorite cupcake blogs Zen Cupcake wrote such a sweet post about these strawberry cupcakes and other fabulous pink cuppies!

"Making her home in Holland, Danielle's version of the U.S. based Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcake is influenced by her love for Parisian pastry. That's a true international cupcake!" :D

Check out ZenCupcake.com here.