Strawberry Cupcakes

Note: written March 4, 2010

The other day I found a few stray strawberries in my refrigerator. They were just bruised enough to be unappealing for eating without adornment. I flipped through my brand new recipe book and quickly found a strawberry cupcake that looked perfect for the handful of beaten up berries I have.
I quickly wash and chop up the berries, immediately they look more apetizing.  Anticipation and excitement bubbles in my stomach as I grab my mixing bowls and measuring spoons.  I carefully read the directions and begin tossing ingredients into the bowl.

This recipe is very simple and straightforward, even the most unskilled baker could pull this off.  The cupcake itself was delightful.  Not as light and airy as most cupcakes, but very light on flavor, and the strawberries added a certain freshness you can only get from fruit.  The batter for these was somewhat dense, and definately not the sweetest cake batter I've tasted.  However, I think this adds to its charm, and you can't deny that it was wonderful.  I used a very simple vanilla icing I found online.  As I began preparing the ingredients for my cupcakes, I realized I didn't have any confectioners sugar.  Panicking a little, I headed to google and was able to find a recipe for cooked icing that included flour and granulated sugar.  From what I can tell, this recipe is a very basic, traditional icing recipe.  It was posted on several websites, varying slightly but basically the same, and seemed like the best bet for me to use.


Strawberry Cupcakes:
Ingredients -
2 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
6 tbs vegetable oil (recipe calls for 6 tbs unsalted, melted butter, but I prefer to use oil)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh strawberries, cleaned and cut into small pieces (I had slightly less than 1 cup)

Directions -
Preheat oven to 350°F.  In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.
In another b owl, mix buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and beat well with a wooden spoon.  Fold in strawberries.
Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool completely before icing.



Cooked Vanilla Icing:  edit- I've used this recipe several times since I made these cupcakes
Ingredients -
2 tbs ap flour
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup butter - soft
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
food coloring (optional)

Directions -
In a saucepan add a small amount of milk to the flour, stir until a smoothe paste.  Add remaining milk.  Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens.  Cool completely.
Cream butter with an electric mmixer, gradually add sugar and salt, beat well.  Add cooled milk mixture, beat until light and fluffy, add vanilla.  Mix in food coloring, if desired.
For the top of these cupcakes, I mixed together 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/4 cup butter.  Mixed together with hands until forms nice crumbs.  Spread on a baking sheet in the oven at 250°F for ten minutes.  Once cool, crumbled up again and sprinkled on top of the cupcakes.