I’ve consumed an average of 1 cupcake/day over the past week. That’s quite the number of cupcakes when you think about it! In my defense, there have been a number of events to commemorate over this past week—Valentine’s Day, my birthday, Chinese New Year… so I think I’ll give myself a pass.
But in what may be my last attempt at a “pink post” streak, I am featuring the slightly tweaked recipe of one of my favorite Sprinkles desserts: the strawberry cupcake.
I’ve gone by the book and followed Candice’s recipe to a tee, but have found it to be more muffin-y than how they usually turn out in stores. So while I don’t even nearly claim to have “perfected” it, I gave it a few minor tweaks to bring out more of the strawberry flavor!
I disliked strawberries the first time I tried them. But being a popular fruit, I was forced to try my hand at it again at some point in adolescence and was evermore transformed. It’s an amazing fruit, an amazing flavor, and an amazing ingredient! Refreshing, sweet and tart, and a wonderful winter-to-summer fruit.
I choose to compliment the strawberry cake with a simple and classic vanilla icing, garnished with freshly sliced strawberry pieces to make both a pretty and tasty treat!
I do apologize also for (a) the poor picture quality, and (b) the poor icing job. These are very dated pictures I took using my now-retired Samsung Galaxy S3, and before I ever learned how to properly frost a cupcake. I promise I have since learned!
- 3/4 cup fresh strawberries + 1 or 2 strawberries for garnish
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , sifted (opt)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp coarse salt
- 1/4 cup soy milk*, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 eggs: 1 yolk, 3 egg whites, room temp
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp soy milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
- Line a cupake baking tin with paper liners (or grease the botton and sides if liners aren’t available) and preheat oven to 350°F.
- Blend the strawberries in a food processor until pureed. For context, the featured picture depicts my by-hand method of chopping strawberries into pureed form before I had a food processor at my disposal; if you choose to go this method, I promise you a great arm workout!
- In a medium sized bowl, measure and mix together dry cake ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt). In another small bowl (or add to food processor), mix together puree, soy milk*, and vanilla.
- With an electric mixer, cream the softened butter until fluffy on medium-high speed in a large bowl. It may be wise to start on a slower setting initially to make sure butter chunks don’t fly out of the bowl! Add in sugar in thirds and mix until combined.
- Add in the egg ingredients and continue mixing until combined.
- In thirds, slowly mix in dry ingredients, and strawberry puree ingredients until blended.
- Pour or spoon batter evenly into cupcake liners. Be careful not to overfill!
- Place in heated oven for 23-25 minutes until cooked. Tops should be springy and not sticky to the touch, and an inserted toothpick should come out clean.
- Remove and let cook completely before frosting! Frosting too soon will cause the buttercream icing to melt.
- While waiting for the cupcakes to bake and cool, prepare the buttercream icing as follows!
- In a large or medium sized bowl, use an electric mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment to beat together sugar, salt, and softened butter. Mix until well incorporated.
- Add in soy milk and vanilla and beat for another few minutes (Sprinkles recommends 3-5 minutes, but I don’t think it requires that much time) until creamy.
- Frost completely cooled strawberry cupcakes with vanilla icing. Using an angled spatula, a spoon, or a pastry pipe to top cakes with a dome of icing. Optionally use angled spatula to smooth tops first (small circular motions), and then the sides.
- Slice 1 or 2 fresh strawberries into thin strips, lengthwise (to give a slight heart-shaped appearance). Top each cupcake with a fresh strawberry slice for decoration and garnish.
- Enjoy!
- * I used vanilla soymilk, but any type of milk (almond, coconut, dairy, etc) will work fine.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you’ll like these freshly baked strawberry cupcakes! Stop by again soon–there is a good chance I’ll be revisiting the savory side soon, most likely with a recipe to honor the new lunar calendar year!
-E
So this picture here also includes the batch of dark chocolate cupcakes with vanilla champagne icing that I made that same day–I had trouble bringing out the champagne flavor in the icing without diluting the consistency… something to work on, :)
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