Delicious Strawberry Cupcake

Delicious Strawberry Cupcake Recipe

I had to find a really great strawberry cupcake recipe for my best friend’s birthday party for whom her cake of choice is ever only strawberry. She and her husband are both extraordinary chefs and have been working in the business of food for quite sometime. So after I offered my services to the birthday party hostess her wonderful grandmother that I would be in charge of bringing the dessert. I felt a responsibility, a challenge. Every time I do a cake I look for I think what most of us look for, that it absolutely has to be moist, have a distinctive melt in your mouth flavor, not overly sweet, and that it is paired with the best icing to enhance the taste of the cake.

I found this recipe that was easy to make and tasted great. Not one cupcake made it to the end of the party, everyone had one and a few went back for seconds until all where gone, success!
Make sure, when you decide to make these cupcakes you get the best tasting strawberry preserves or jam that you can find it makes a difference. If it tastes wonderful to you before you bake with it, it will taste wonderful after.
Something I also learned that might be helpful when decorating your strawberry cupcakes. When I decided to put fresh cut strawberries on the top, (not cut they were way to large for the top of the cupcake) I loved the way they looked and the sublime burst of flavor in your mouth as you made it to the middle of your tiny cake. The ones I taste tested were out of this world because I waited maybe all of thirty seconds after they were done before I started eating. The ones I made for the party, I baked and frosted in the morning making sure to leave enough time to chill them for thirty minutes so that they would travel easier to the afternoon party. After I pulled them from the fridge I noticed the juice from the fresh quartered strawberries had settled itself into my beautiful swirls of pink buttercream. My daughter wanted to know why there was water on my cupcakes. With no time to redo the frosting I dabbed all the moisture from the buttercream gently with a paper towel. Since having to hand dry my birthday surprises, I’ve done a little more research and found out that cupcake bakeries do quarter their strawberries but then dip the bottom half in chocolate to prevent the soggy buttercream syndrome.

Strawberry Cupcake Recipe

Makes 12 cupcakes

2 tbsp strawberry jam or preserves (You will need to strain or buy seedless for making frosting or you can use seedless for both cupcakes and frosting)
¼ cup finely chopped fresh strawberries, more for garnish
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla pure vanilla extract
4 drops of food coloring (I used pink food coloring paste)
1/3 cup whole milk
Strawberry Buttercream

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Position a rack in the middle of the oven
  2. In a small bowl, stir together jam and chopped fresh strawberries.
  3. In a second bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
  4. Using mixer beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy, 2-3 mins. Add egg whites, vanilla, and food coloring and beat until combined. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with milk in two additions, beating on low speed until just combined; scrape sides of bowl as needed. Fold in strawberry mixture until just combined.
  5. Fill cupcake liners in your cupcake pans ¾ full. Bake about 25 minutes, until centers bounce back when touched or when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for five minutes or the paper will fall away from the sides of your cupcakes. Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack and let cool completely, about one hour.
  6. Frost with Strawberry Buttercream; add 1/3 cup seedless or strained strawberry preserves and 6 drops of red food coloring to 2 cups of your favorite buttercream recipe. (Again I added pink food coloring paste I loved the color.)
  7. Decorate with whole strawberries or strawberries quartered then dipped in white or dark chocolate.