Strawberry Cupcakes

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so why not make these strawberry cupcakes? They’ll go down a real treat – I promise!

Just because it’s Valentine’s Day, doesn’t mean everything has to be pink or red and have hearts on it. These strawberry cupcakes are easy and full of strawberry flavour without the use of artificial flavourings!

I use freeze dried strawberries in this recipe as they add a strong strawberry flavour without adding too much moisture, therefore meaning you can add a filling to the baked cupcake, either a strawberry jam or conserve.

There is actually strawberry in every element, freeze dried strawberries are in both the cake and buttercream and strawberry conserve in the centre as a filling.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

 

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

90g Butter.

90g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

90g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

5-7g Freeze dried strawberries, ground finely.

 

Buttercream:

125g Butter.

250g Icing sugar.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

(up to) 10g Freeze dried strawberries

 

Methods:

Before you get into making these cupcakes, you’re best to do some prep. Start by preheating you oven to 180˚c/350˚f, measure up the ingredients and get any equipment you intend on using, like a stand mixer or mixing bowl ready.

Firstly, place the butter, granulated sugar, egg, plain flour, baking powder and salt into your mixing bowl. You can then start the mixer on a low speed, working your way up to a medium high – mix until smooth, try not to over-mix.

Next, add in the vanilla.

Now you can go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bit’s that haven’t been fully incorporated.

You can then go ahead and add in the freeze dried strawberries. Fold them in by hand, using a spatula juts until they are incorporated.

Don’t forget to transfer the cupcake batter into a piping bag, which is simply for convenience.

Fill your cake cases about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way full, this is the perfect amount as the cake rise.

Place into the preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean, when inserted into the centre of the cupcake).

While the cupcakes are in oven baking, it’s the perfect time to make the buttercream.

To start on the buttercream, get yourself a large mixing bowl and place in the butter. Beat the butter on its own for 5-7 minutes or until the butter is both lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Give the bowl a good scraping down and add in around half of the icing sugar and mix on a low speed to start with, working your way up to a medium-high speed. Repeat with the remaining icing sugar and don’t forget to add in the vanilla extract.

Go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down again, then add in the freeze dried strawberries and food colouring and give it all a good mix until it’s fully incorporated.

Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with your choice of nozzle (I went with a star nozzle), set aside until it’s needed later on.

Once you’ve got the cakes baked and cooled along with the buttercream made, you can then start to assemble the cupcakes. Now is the perfect time to get your cupcake corer ready and get the jam ready.

Take the cupcake and core the centre out, you can discard the cored part (or eat, for recipe purpose’s of course), then fill the cavity of the cupcake with the jam, try not to over fill.

Then go ahead and pipe as much or as little buttercream as you’d like. The use of freeze dried strawberries really helps to elevate the flavour!

Anddddd that’s it. A super simple recipe for strawberry cupcakes with only natural flavourings, no artificial strawberry at all!

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.