Saturday, February 12, 2011

VERY Strawberry cupcakes


For a friend's birthday I was asked to make the cake. He actually said he would like cupcakes and his favorite flavor was strawberry. I'm more of a chocolate or caramel kinda of person so I had to look up a strawberry cake recipe. I'm not shy about the fact I use box cake mixes. They are cheap and easy and with a few simple modifications they turn to magic. And cooking this cake made my whole house smell amazing. I hated the frosting. HATE! Too much liquid and they frosting came out runny, but flavorful. So I made some modifications to the frosting.

Gather together:

Cupcakes

  • 1 package (18 1/4-oz.) cake mix, plain white or yellow
  • 1 package (3-oz.) strawberry Jello
  • 1 cup (mashed)Strawberries (I used strawberry pie filling)
  • 1/4 cup(s) vegetable oil
  • 4 large eggs

Frosting

  • 1/2 package cream cheese , at room temperature
  • 4 tablespoon(s) butter, unsalted, at room temperature
  • 3 cup(s) (up to 3 1/2 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • 1/2 cup(s) (fresh ) strawberries, (Used the rest of the strawberry pie filling)

Directions

  1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners.
  2. Combine the cake mix, gelatin, strawberries and juice, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down sides again if needed. Spoon about 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it 3/4 full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove empty liners, if any.) Place pans side by side in the oven.
  3. Bake until cupcakes are lightly golden and spring back when pressed gently with a finger, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven, place pans on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool for another 15 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, prepare frosting: Blend cream cheese and butter in large mixing bowl with electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Stop mixer and add 3 cups confectioners’ sugar and the mashed strawberries. Mix on low speed until incorporated, 1 minute. Increase speed to medium and blend until frosting is fluffy, 30 to 45 seconds longer, adding up to 1/2 cup more sugar if needed to get a spreadable consistency.
  5. Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it out with back of spoon. Refrigerate, uncovered, until frosting sets, 20 minutes. Decorate with sprinkles and strawberry slices, if desired.
Again, the frosting was a little too wet for my taste. The recipe called for a whole package of cream cheese. And I had to use 2lbs of powdered sugar to get it to firm up at all. Weird. So cut that in half.and just use a half of the cream cheese.

1 comment:

  1. If you're still on the hunt for a better strawberry frosting, I really love this strawberry meringue buttercream recipe from Martha Stewart. I know a lot of people don't like messing with cooked frostings, but this one really is yummy! http://thecrumbybaker.blogspot.com/2010/05/bridal-shower-cupcakes.html#more

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