Strawberry & Vanilla Cupcakes

Who's ready to try something new during lockdown?

Fun fact: I love baking, not cooking.. but baking. I find it oddly calming so awhile ago, I decided to bake some delicious strawberry and vanilla cupcakes… and let me say they were *Chef's Kiss*

Perfection.

So..I thought I'd share the recipe I used to make these delicious cupcakes so that all of you at home can join in on the fun!

What's great about this recipe is that you can use it for both a cake and cupcakes ( I did!)

Things to note:

- Batch makes 14-16 Normal Sized cupcakes

- Prep Time: 1 hour

- Cook time: 20 mins

- Total time: 1 hr 20 mins

EQUIPMENT:

• One Large bowl

• One medium sized bowl

• Whisk

• Pipe (for frosting)

• Small sized saucepan

• Different sized measuring cups

• Cooling rack

• Cupcake liners

( honestly just the usual - this recipe doesn’t use an electric mixer for the icing)

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

For the frosting (buttercream):

• Strawberries: You will need 1 ½ cups of fresh chopped strawberries ( measured after chopping)

• Unsalted Butter: Butter should be room temperature

• Powdered Sugar: For volume and thickness

• Vanilla Extract: For Flavour.

• Salt: To taste.

For the Strawberry Cupcakes

•All Purpose Flour ( Personally, I use self-raising)

•Baking powder and Baking Soda: The combination of the two gives this cupcake the ultimate texture.

•Salt: For flavor.

•Butter: Unsalted and melted, since this recipe doesn’t cream the butter.

•Sugar

•Vanilla Extract

•Eggs: Large sized eggs.

•Sour Cream: Not only does sour cream add moisture, it also helps to keep the batter thick enough so that the strawberries don’t all sink to the bottom of your cupcakes.

•Milk

•Chopped Strawberries: One and half cups of chopped strawberries for cupcakes that are loaded with flavour!

MAKING THE STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES

Prepare for Baking: Preheat the oven to 350°F( 177ºC) and prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Combine Dry Ingredients: Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Combine Butter, Sugar and Vanilla: In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter, sugar and vanilla extract together until well combined.
Add Eggs, Sour Cream and Milk: Add the eggs, sour cream and milk one at a time, mixing well after adding each. Adding them one at a time ensures they all incorporate nicely, without giving you a lumpy batter.
Add Dry Ingredients: Add the dry ingredients and whisk together until combined, but do not over mix. You want the batter to be evenly mixed and smooth, but don’t over do it or you could end up with tough cupcakes.
Stir in Strawberries: Fold in the chopped strawberries gently. You don’t want to beat up your strawberries or over mix the batter.
Bake: Fill the cupcake liners a little more than half full and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.