STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES

“One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 
As Helena last week requested another strawberry recipe, I am happy to oblige by giving this Strawberry Cupcake recipe that produces deliciously sweet and moist cupcakes, all the more delightful if you use ripe and juicy home-grown strawberries.
 
Strawberry Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 ½ cups fresh strawberries
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ tbsp baking powder
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp cream
Icing
400 g mascarpone cheese
2 cups icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp cream
White chocolate, grated (optional)
 
Method
Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line some muffin tins with paper cupcake liners. Rinse and hull strawberries, drying them with paper towel. Mash strawberries until lightly macerated.
In a bowl sift flour and baking powder.
Beat the butter and sugar in the mixer bowl and add the vanilla extract, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until combined (don’t overmix). Scrape down the mixture from the sides of the bowl and mix in half the flour, turning in well. Add the milk and the rest of the flour and mix.
Add the strawberries and cream, folding in by hand.
Pour the batter into the cupcake liners, about ¼ of a cup into each one. Bake for 25 minutes.
Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, take cupcakes out of pan and cool completely.
Using a mixer, combine all of the icing ingredients except for the chocolate. Pipe the icing on each cupcake and top each cupcake with a strawberry and the grated white chocolate, if desired.
 
This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.