In New York, we’re being invaded by Juno, a potentially historic blizzard bringing parts of the East Coast up to tw0 feet of snow. In an effort to put us all in a warm and fuzzy mood, I am going to hit you with a double dose of sweetness today.
First, I promised you photos of Maddie’s ballet class.
Look at these little ballerinas. I mean, I’m dying. From an overdose of cuteness. There is no cure.
Second, these.
Strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting.
These seemed like the perfect project after a morning at the ballet. I decided to just go-all out pink. And, with Valentine’s Day approaching, these cupcakes seemed like something you might want to make for the sweeties in your life. Calories don’t count on holidays, right? Actually, I don’t think calories should count on pink food at all. It just doesn’t seem fair.
The cupcakes and buttercream frosting are made with pureed strawberries, which gives these treats an amazingly fresh flavor boost. The cupcake batter is made from a recipe out of the cookbook Desserts from the Famous Loveless Cafe (via Blissfully Delicious). The frosting was altered to include more confectioners sugar and slightly less butter to achieve a buttercream that would taste great and also hold up well atop the cupcakes.
I frosted these cupcakes with a Wilton 1M tip inside a pastry bag. This tip is pretty foolproof and is my go-to for frosting cupcakes. (I promise you that you can make beautiful cupcakes with no experience!) I also added a teeny drop of pink food coloring gel.
I hope that this post took your mind off of the cold and snowy winter weather in the U.S.! Spring is right around the corner, promise.
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, washed and destemmed
- 2⅓ cups cake flour
- 1¾ cups sugar
- 3½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups confectioners sugar (about 1 lb box)
- ¼ cup fresh strawberry puree (reserved from earlier)
- 1½ tsp vanilla
- 1 drop food coloring gel (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place standard sized cupcake liner in pan.
- Puree the strawberries in a food processor or blender. Measure ¾ cup for the cupcake batter and reserve ¼ cup for the buttercream frosting.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whisk together the cake flour, sugar and baking powder. With the mixer on low, add the butter and strawberry puree and mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg whites and vanilla. Add this to the flour mixture and mix on low, scraping bowl as needed, until smooth and well combined.
- Scoop batter into standard sized cupcake liners until about ⅔ full.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. When cool to touch, remove to cooling rack.
- Cream together butter and 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar at a time. Add strawberry puree and vanilla. Beat on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add food coloring, if desired.
- Frosting should be able to hold up on its own when decorating. If it melts on cupcake, more confectioners sugar may be needed.
- A jumbo decorating tip placed inside a pastry bag allows for easy decorating.
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