Friday, July 11, 2008

Strawberry Cupcakes




For me, really hate summer. Honestly I do. I do not like the heat or the humidity that comes. I'm the fall and winter kind of person. There isn't really anything at all that I like about summer... Well, I mean, except for the sales.

Fruit sales to be exact. Fruits, like strawberry's, blueberries, raspberries and watermelon are usually pretty pricey during other seasons and I tend to stay away from really getting to much fruit during fall or winter being that they are to expensive! We really don't want to have to pay for it (we're pretty cheap). But when summer comes, we go crazy on buying fruit!

There are so many things to do with fruits. What we usually do is we make a fruit salad (which doesn't last long around here), parfaits, smoothies, baked goods (what I usually do with them), there's so much you can do with fruit. Over here, strawberries have been Buy 1, Get 1, so it's what we've been getting the most. Also, it's my mums favorite. Ever since she started new medication for her lupus, she's been needing to eat a lot of fruit, like strawberries and grapes, because the new medication she's taking will make her gain a lot of weight if she's not careful. And she'd rather not gain weight so she's been trying to be really careful as to what she eats.

I thought we had a lot of strawberries in the fridge right now so I decided to put the strawberries to better (sweeter) use. It won't be that big of a deal to use some of them for myself. The cupcakes are very simple. The texture of these cupcakes are moist and light and I really, really liked them with the cream cheese frosting. The added flavor to the cream cheese is delicious. I didn't know if it would do much for the frosting but the addiction to it was amazing! It was so good! It's classic.





Recipe

For the Cupcakes

1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup strawberry sauce
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs


For the Strawberry Sauce

2 cups of fresh strawberries, stem removed
Sugar to taste


For Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
3 1/2 - 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup of strawberry sauce


1. For the Strawberry Sauce, macerate strawberries with about 1-2 tbs sugar for 15 minutes. Put strawberries in a small saucepan and heat under medium heat with lid on. Cook strawberries for approximately 15 minutes till strawberries cook down and become soft and saucy. Adjust sweetness with sugar until you get the desired sweetness. Using a hand blender, puree until you get the desired smoothness or chunkiness. Cool before using in recipe.

2. For the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grab a large bowl and beat the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Measure out milk and strawberry sauce together.

3. Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter mixture and beat to combine. Add about one third the milk mixture and beat until combined. Repeat, alternating flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture. Scoop into cupcake papers about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-22 minutes.

4. For Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting, bring cheese and butter to room temperature. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl. Beat butter and cheese at medium speed until creamy. Add half of the sugar, beat until combined. Add strawberry sauce until you achieve the right color and flavor but making sure not to add too much or the frosting will be too soft. Gradually add any remaining sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.




19 comments:

Anonymous said...

These look absolutely delicious. I'm with you on the summer thing, two years ago I spent most of the summer camped down stairs as it was too hot to sleep in my bed upstairs. The weather is complete crap here though this summer and even I'm wishing for some sunshine.

eatme_delicious said...

Gorgeous cupcakes that look perfectly iced! I love the big strawberry piece on top.

Gigi said...

A fabulous and delicious way to use up strawberries!

Shelby said...

They look like they want me to take a big ole bit, right in the frosting part :-D

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I hate the heat as well - but I love those cupcakes!! :0)

Anonymous said...

I looooove summer! The heat, yeah, I prefer sweating to freezing:)

Your cupcakes looks adorable! Great way to use strawberries.

Anonymous said...

The cupcakes look picture perfect! I can imagine licking the frosting off. Mmmmm....

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Your frosting looks divine!

Emily said...

Strawberry cream cheese frosting? Holy cow! Those look great.

Robin said...

Wow- my mouth is watering right now. What a pretty cupcake. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Adam said...

I really dig that picture. The frosting looks awesome, the strawberry is perfect, even the sun has a nice spot. That's a total summer cupcake.

Sarah R said...

I'd eat all the frosting on these first :D.

test it comm said...

Those strawberry cupcakes look so good! And the strawberry cream cheese frosting...mmm...

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

Great photos!

Anonymous said...

Post these on bakebakebake. Right. Now.

Please.

Dragon said...

I love the colour of the icing. So Pink!

Elle said...

Those are gorgeous! I don't like the heat or humidity, either, ugh.

Anonymous said...

I made these for my book club and they were soooo good. I don't love strawberry but everyone else did, and from a non strawberry fan I'm itching to eat another one.

Anonymous said...

hello i loved this recipe sooo mch!! my only problem is the icing it didnt came out like yours smooth finish.=( i did the instructions u posted what do u think is wrong? do i lack on beating butter and crean cheese?thanku love to hear from u back!!=)

 
 
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