Friday, June 14, 2013

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

CAUTION: FOOD PORN AHEAD

Okay, so I actually only have a couple pictures. This past week, I obtained a large bucket of strawberries from a sweet co-worker who grows them on her farm. 

And yes, they tasted as amazing as they look!

Anyway, I was determined not to let a single one go to waste so we've had a sort of strawberry themed week. The kids took care of the majority of the bucket. (I'm thankful every day for Clorox 2), we pureed some and made fresh strawberry lemonade and, of course, strawberry shortcakes. My favorite of our strawberry creations though, were the cupcakes that the kids happily finished off after lunch today. 


What do you need?

For the cupcakes:
  • 2 cups of flour
  • 1 1/2 cups of sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 cup of sliced strawberries
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup of your favorite champagne (Please remember that, when cooking with alcohol, you can absolutely taste the quality. I recommend purchasing something that doesn't taste like battery acid)
  • 1 cup of vegetable oil
For the frosting:
  • 1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) of salted butter
  • 4 cups of powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract (none of that imitation garbage)
  • 4 tablespoons of strawberry puree

How do you bake them?
  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
  • Get your muffin pans ready...paper liners, grease, whatever makes you happy
  • Go ahead and puree all of your strawberries. I just used a hand mixer and a bowl. A smarter person would have used a blender. Measure out 1/2 a cup to use in the batter. Set the rest aside. You'll need it for your frosting later
  • In a bowl, whisk together your flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 
  • In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, oil, champagne and strawberry puree at medium high speed until blended and smooth. 
  • While mixing, slowly pour your liquid ingredients into your flour combination and continue mixing just until ingredients are thoroughly combined. 
  • Fill your liners 3/4 full with batter and bake about 18-22 minutes
  • *Remember, with cupcakes, under-cooking is always a better mistake than over cooking. Nobody ever had anything nice to say about a crispy cupcake.
  • Let them cool completely

Now for the frosting...
  • With your mixer, beat the butter until completely smooth
  • Add two cups of the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of the strawberry puree, and your vanilla and mix until smooth.
  • Add the other two cups of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of strawberry puree and mix some more. 
This frosting is the perfect consistency for piping so grab a bag and frost away.


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