- November 23, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
March is a big birthday month. This year, however, I have been off the hook as far as baking goes, except for my younger sister’s birthday.
She made a request for cream cheese frosting and strawberry cupcakes. Being the overachieving sister that I am, I took this to mean that the cupcakes should be filled with strawberries rather than the boring old strawberry-flavored box mix. And since we are in the peak of Florida strawberry season, it was the only proper thing to do.
Accomplishing this seemingly complicated task ended up being rather easy once I found out how to make the filling. Using a simple vanilla cupcake and cream cheese frosting recipe, and a filling recipe from online, I created a product that could be sold in a bakery. In fact, the cupcakes looked so delicious, that when I pulled them out at our family birthday celebration, my grandfather followed me through the kitchen until I set them down, when he eagerly scooped one up before we could even sing “Happy Birthday.”
Strawberry filled cupcakes
Strawberry filling
What you need:
2 cups of fresh diced strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of corn starch
What to do:
Over medium heat, toss diced strawberries into a saucepan. Stirring constantly, you’ll notice the strawberries getting softer and forming their own sauce at the bottom of the pan. Then add the sugar and corn starch, this will immediately cause the sauce to thicken. Stir until everything is blended completely, remove from heat and place into a heat safe bowl. Set aside to cool.
Cupcakes
What you need:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
What to do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add one egg at a time to the mixture, and then add the vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the cream mixture. Beat ingredients together. Add milk and mix until smooth.
Spoon batter into cupcake liners, about 3/4 full. Bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool, about 20-30 minutes.
Once the cupcakes are cool, it’s time to stuff them full of strawberry goodness. I have a fancy cupcake gutter that I got for Christmas last year, but fi you don’t have one, then cut X’s in the middle of each cupcake top and scoop the strawberry mixture into a piping tool. Gently place the end of the piping tool into the X of each cupcake and allow the strawberries to fill to the top of the cupcake.
Cream cheese frosting
What you need:
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
What to do:
Cream together the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl until smooth, then mix in the vanilla extract. Slowly add the sugar into the mixture until everything is creamy and mixed together nicely.
(Note: I made 15 cupcakes and had a ton of frosting left over.)
Recipe adapted from www.theovenmitt.com
