I've actually baked these cupcakes a few weeks back but I haven't gotten down to blogging them, and just when I saw the theme for Bake Along today is cupcakes, I decided to blog about them first. :p
I re-baked a previous favourite of mine - Strawberry Cupcakes as I had leftover Korean strawberries that were on the verge of growing mould (yikes I know!) and I felt that these cupcakes deserved a lot more attention. What I love about these cupcakes is that the cake portion is made using real strawberries. If you Google "strawberry cake", most recipes that claimed are "Strawberry Cakes" are made with white cake box mix and strawberry jello - and that's definitely not the strawberry cake that I'm looking for. So when I found this one, I knew it's a keeper, and I highly recommend it to be yours too!
Apologies for the grainy shot... :/
For the frosting, strawberry cream cheese frosting would have worked very well but I decided to try out the dried strawberry powder that I've acquired during my trip in Taiwan last year. I've originally bought them to bake strawberry macarons but I don't have the motivation to bake macarons... yet. :p I've included both versions of frosting at the end, so use whichever one you like!
Here are the step-by-step photos!
Step-by-step Photos
1) Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. 2) Beat in the egg. 
3) Beat in the milk / buttermilk / yogurt. 4) Chop up some strawberries! 
5) Add them into the batter. 6) Sift and fold in the flour. 
7) I added a little red food colouring to intensify the colour. 8) Bake away and then frost!
Om nom nom!
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This is the strawberry powder that I used for the frosting - I've gotten it from Taiwan! It's dried strawberries processed into a fine powder. 50 grams of this intense powder cost NT$200 (US$6.78). They also sell other quality powders such as matcha, lemon, pumpkin (have yet to try this). They stock up a lot of hard-to-find ingredients such as special flours for making bread (those really expensive Japanese / French flours), and are also well equipped with baking equipments. Do head over there and check it out if you have a chance!
Edit 12 May 2013: I've tried searching for strawberry powder here in Singapore, but to no avail. Sunlik stocks up strawberry paste, which the owner was really nice and let me have a whiff of it, but unfortunately the smell is no where near real strawberries. I've found a recipe on making strawberry powder from scratch, I'll give it a try when I ran out of mine, but meanwhile if you're interested, do head here to read more!
Aiga Food (艾佳西點原料行)
| Taipei Branch (台北): 02-8660-8895 (phone number) | No. 14, Lane 118, Yiān Rd, Zhonghe District New Taipei City, Taiwan 235 (新北市中和區宜安路118巷14號1) Mon - Sat 10am - 9pm Sun 10am - 6pm |
| Taoyuan Branch (桃園): (03)3320178 (phone number) | No. 281, Yǒng'ān Rd, Taoyuan City Taoyuan County, Taiwan 330 (桃園市永安路281號) Mon - Sat 9am - 9pm Sun 9am - 6pm |
| Other branches: | Please see here (in Chinese) |
I'm submitting this to Bake Along hosted by these 3 awesome ladies: Lena (Her Frozen Wings), Joyce (Kitchen Flavours) and Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids). Do click on the froggie above to see what other celebratory cupcakes other fellow foodies have came up with!
Happy 2nd birthday to Bake-Along!
Time really flies isn't it, it's already been 2 years! Though I joined the bake halfway, but it's definitely been more than a year since I've joined Bake Along, and I love how it's growing so fast! It's really fun seeing everyone's bake and getting to know more bloggers, do join us if you can! 🙂
Re-Bake: Real Fruits Strawberry Cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
Cake
- 95 grams all-purpose flour, ¾ cup
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 55 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature (¼ cup)
- 55 grams caster sugar, ¼ cup
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- 2 tablespoons milk / buttermilk / yogurt, at room temperature
- 150 grams strawberries, mashed (not puree)
- Red food colouring, optional
Frosting 1 - Cooked Flour Frosting
- 80 ml full-fat milk, ⅓ cup
- 1 ½ tablespoons corn flour, or 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 75 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature (⅓ cup)
- 75 grams superfine sugar, at room temperature (⅓ cup)
- 2 teaspoons dried strawberry powder
Frosting 2 - Cream Cheese Frosting
- 115 grams cream cheese, at room temperature (½ cup)
- 55 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature (¼ cup)
- ~250 grams icing sugar, sifted (~2 cups)
- 80 grams strawberries, mashed and drained
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line 12 6 cupcake moulds with cupcake liners. Set aside. Combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
- Place the unsalted butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed for 1 minute until incorporated. Add in the mashed strawberries and beat on low speed to incorporate them. Drizzle in the milk slowly, beating well on low speed.
- Sift in the flour mixture in two parts and fold it in gently. Add in red food colouring if desired.
- Divide the cake batter (¼-cup batter per cupcake) and bake the cupcakes for 12-15 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.
Frosting 1 - Cooked Flour Frosting
- Whisk the flour and milk together in a small pot. Heat the milk mixture over medium heat and whisk consistently until it has thickened into a glue-like consistency. Remove from heat and let cool completely. To speed up the process, place the pot over a ice water bath to let it cool faster.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and superfine sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add in the cooled milk mixture and the dried strawberry powder. Beat with the electric mixer until thoroughly combined. Use as desired.
See the step-by-step photos on how to make the frosting here.
Frosting 2 - Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place the cream cheese and the unsalted butter in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until creamy, for 1 minute. Add in 125 grams of icing sugar (1 cup) and beat until fully incorporated.
- Add in the mashed and drained strawberries and lemon juice and beat on low speed to incorporate. Beat in the remaining icing sugar until you've obtained your desired sweetness and consistency.
NOTES
Super Naggy - Cupcakes:
- Do not puree the strawberries. This will yield too much liquid and the batter will be too watery.
- If doubling or increasing the recipe, add in the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.
- If doubling or increasing the recipe, add in the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk in 2 parts. This is to prevent getting a grainy batter.
- The top of the cake will brown if you bake for too long, so start testing the cupcake after 12 minutes in the oven. If it's still not done after 15 minutes, tent the top with aluminum foil to prevent the top from getting too brown. Alternatively, add more red food colouring in the batter the next time.
Super Naggy - Cooked Flour Frosting:
- Superfine sugar is not confectioner's / icing sugar. To make superfine sugar - measure 75 grams of caster / granulated sugar in a food processor. Process until the sugar is powdery.
- So far I've not seen dried strawberry powder being sold here in Singapore, but I've found a recipe that looks really great here.
Super Naggy - Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Do not use strawberry puree. Strawberry puree contains too much liquid, and you'll have a hard time getting the frosting right - you'll probably end up using way too much icing sugar. Drain the strawberries after mashing them to get rid of the excess liquid.
- This is a sweeter frosting than Frosting 1, so if you like a not-so-sweet frosting, do try out the recipe above.
- You can also use a combination of mashed strawberries and dried strawberry powder for this frosting.
spidermanbaby says
A quick question ...I only ended up with 6 cupcakestead of 12 ...they are sitting in the oven as we "speak" ;-D ... Am I doing anything wrong??I followed yr recipe to a T !
Jasline N. says
Hi Spidermanbaby! Oh dear, my mkstake!! I used smaller cupcake liners hence I got 12 cupcakes. If using the standard cupcake size (1/4-cup batter per cupcake), it will only yield 6 cupcakes. I'm so sorry for my mistake, will correct the recipe!
spidermanbaby says
Hi hi thanxs for yr reply ...was away for holiday hence didn't manage to pop by till now. :-). ...no worries about the minor mistake ..your strawberry cupcake recipe is simply awesome!! Thank you for sharing!! Have bookmarked yr blog & am so glad I found you!! 🙂
Jasline N. says
You're welcome! I'm sure you had lots of fun during your holiday! Thank you for visiting my blog and I'm so happy you like it! 🙂
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Edith C says
Nothing beats the real stuff!
anne says
Jasline , what a delicious and delectable cupcakes ! All those strawberries in there just makes me swoon 😀 I've got some strawberry paste here but want to get my hands on that powdered one . That cream cheese frosting looks yummy on its own 😉
Baby Sumo says
Hi Jasline, strawberry indulgence indeed! I've never seen strawberry powder before, would be great if we could getr it here.
Jasline says
Thank you 🙂 Haha I agree it'll be quite hard to make the detour to the baking supply shops when the whole group is with you! I went there alone when I was on a business trip last year 🙂
Jasline says
Hi Jo! Thank you for the compliments! I haven't been able to find it, will take a look when I head to Sunlik tomorrow! I found a recipe for strawberry powder that I plan to try when I run out of the powders, maybe you can take a look first: http://www.1morespoon.com/2010/strawberry-powder/
jothetartqueen says
Beautiful cupcakes!
I love strawberries. I can imagine these tasting great esp when you are using real strawberries and freeze dried powder for the frosting.. Wonder if you can find the freeze dried powders in Sg? I have not seen it around.
MiMi Bakery House says
Jas, great looking sberry cupcakes u had. I had been to Taiwan twice jus recently, but i had failed to go to their baking supply shops.. prob cos my whole platoon is with me.. i shld go w hb alone next time to venture out my baking supply search in taiwan.. 😛
Ang says
Perfect - thanks for the link. I think it would work well with raspberries too.
Jasline says
Thank you! I really love the store, I wanted to buy so many things back (especially the flours) but unfortunately my luggage doesn't have the space!
Hundred Eighty Degrees says
Hi Jasline, wow, lovely looking! Thanks for sharing the baking store in Taipei, it helps as I might be visiting Taipei later in the year. Hope you have a great time in Taiwan.
Jasline says
Thank you Winnie! I hope you'll bake it soon and try it! 🙂
Jasline says
Hi Zoe, hope you have a great trip in Taiwan, the weather would be very nice and cooling right now if I'm not wrong! It will be a real pity if you can't bring it back, I know how strict the regulations are in Australia. But I found a recipe that looks like it'd work! Here you go: http://www.1morespoon.com/2010/strawberry-powder/ If you do try it out and it works, do let me know 🙂
Jasline says
Hi Angela! Thank you for the compliments. I haven't seen it before as well in my local baking supplies store, but I found a recipe that looks like it would work: http://www.1morespoon.com/2010/strawberry-powder/
Angela Darroch says
These cupcakes are such a beautiful colour and I am very intrigued by the strawberry powder. Not sure if we can get it here though.
Zoe says
Hi Jasline,
I can see lots of strawberries at your picture 4 and they are all fully packed into your strawberry cupcakes... They must be very delicious! I'm going to Taipei soon and nice to know that I do lots of baking shopping there. However, I might have trouble bringing in these freeze dried ingredients back to Australia. Sad but better to be safe than sorry...
Zoe
Winnie says
These are very beautiful and delicious looking cupcakes!
I really like the recipe
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[...] Re-Bake: Real Fruits Strawberry Cupcakes (foodismylife.wordpress.com) [...]
Michelle says
You are so right about strawberry cake recipes. Hard to find one that uses real strawberries.
The color of the cake along wth the frosting looks so pretty! Thank you for linking this week!
Michelle @Ms. enPlace
lena says
hi jasline, i can imagine how ' strawberry' these real strawberry cupcakes are! They are lovely ! want to say a big thank you for baking along with us all these while, you hv given us a lot of support and always appreciate your sharing , thank you! Cheers!
yummychunklet says
So lovely, pink, and strawberry!
ChgoJohn says
These look fantastic, Jasline, and once again your photography is exceptional. There's something really special about a berry-topped cupcake and you really captured it here.
FYI here's page I found in Pinterest about soaking berries in a vinegar solution to ward off mold -- and it works!! 🙂
http://thefrugalgirls.com/2012/04/how-to-keep-strawberries-fresh.html
Jasline says
Hi Emily! Glad you like it!
Mich Piece of Cake says
These look really pretty, love the use of strawberries in cupcakes!
Emily says
Oh my! this is a wonderful recipe for strawberries! Thanks for sharing!
Jasline says
Hope you'll like it Johnny! I used those muffin cups that can stand on its own without a muffin tin, so maybe you can look for them! But I'm sure it'll taste great as a whole cake!
Jasline says
Thank you Suzanne! Thanks for agreeing with me! If you can't find strawberry powder, maybe you can try making it from scratch! I found a recipe but haven't got the change to try it: http://www.1morespoon.com/2010/strawberry-powder/
Jasline says
Thank you my friend! Hope you'll like it! 🙂
Jasline says
Hello! I use a hand-held mixer and unsalted butter, found in the dairy section in the supermarket. Hand-held mixer and kitchenaid are relatively similar, just that you don't have to hold the kitchenaid and there are more speed options for kitchenaid.
The butter must be at room temperature - I will cut the butter into pieces, let it rest on the tablecounter for 30 minutes before beating it with the sugar. I usually beat for about 3 minutes on medium speed, scrape down the sides, then beat for another 2 minutes on high speed. If using a kitchenaid, I reckon a medium-high speed for 3-5 minutes will suffice for this small amount of butter in the recipe. I will beat longer if I'm baking a bigger batch of cupcakes (i.e., more butter and sugar are used in the recipe). The key is to see that the butter-sugar mixture has turned pale in colour and when you scrape the mixture, it is light and not heavy.
I have found an excellent post that describes how creaming should be done: http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2010/02/how-to-cream-butter-and-sugar-baking-techniques-slideshow-slideshow.html
Hope this helps and happy baking!
faithfu7 says
Hi how long do you beat the sugar n butter till they become so light b fluffy ? I am using kitchen aid, pretty new to baking . What kind of butter are you using ?
johnnysenough hepburn says
Now you've got me with these! Shall have to try them...well, as a cake as I don't have a muffin tin or tray 🙂
apuginthekitchen says
This is the way strawberry cake should be made. None of that strawberry jello, the real deal is the only way to make them. They look moist and delicious and I can just imagine the intense strawberry flavor. Delicious! I have never seen the dried strawberry powder before and wanted to make a strawberry buttercream, I have to find it!!
Choc Chip Uru says
These look fantastic, I have been looking for a real strawberry recipe! Bookmarked 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Jasline says
Hi Joyce, thank you! Happy 2nd birthday to Bake Along! It's been really fun baking with you wonderful ladies, can't wait to bake more along with you all! I've not seen it being sold here in Singapore either, so maybe when I ran out of the one I have, I'll try making it myself! 🙂
kitchen flavours says
Hi Jasline,
WOW! Lovely cupcakes! Looks so good with the strawberries! I can imagine the full strawberry yumminess in each bite, especially if the strawberries are the tangy ones!
I have not seen strawberry powder selling over here before, must keep a lookout for them!
Thank you for linking! Have a great weekend!