Strawberry Cupcakes by Bellie the Baker

We bought A LOT of strawberries because they were finally at a decent price. It may technically be winter, but it felt like strawberry season when we were able to buy about 6 pounds for $10 (or something like that...). 

I was worried about the strawberries going bad before we eat them all, so I found a quick fruit wash online, and drenched them in it when we brought them home from the store. The wash consists of 1 part white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar) and 10 parts water. For all of these strawberries, we did about 1.25 cups of vinegar and 12.5 cups of water. Don't worry, the strawberries don't taste anything like vinegar afterwards! I'm really starting to believe that I can clean anything with baking soda, vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide. Check out here when I made a soft scrub with hydrogen peroxide & baking soda. Made my grout look brand new!

 Isabel has been asking for "pink cupcakes" for about two weeks now. She has a book of colors and one of the pages has a ton of pink cupcakes. So, I prepped all the ingredients, so that she could help make them.

Bellie the Baker

She was so serious about all of the jobs I gave her! 

So proud of her cupcakes!

You see 18 cupcakes in the picture because I had to make them twice! The first batch (different recipe) didn't turn out right. Isabel fell asleep on the couch once the cupcakes went in the oven....so.....I had to whip up another bath of batter from scratch (using a much tastier and better recipe).  Juju was alseep while we were making the (first batch of) cupcakes. He woke, got on her stool and wanted to make cupcakes too!

"Hey! Where are my cupcakes?"

 The cupcakes were amazing! I used a different recipe for frosting this time. Should have stuck to my normal recipe! It tasted good, but for some reason looked really weird. Here is a better recipe to try. Or, if you like cream cheese frosting, try this recipe that I always use. The cake on the other hand, was AHHH-mazing! Very moist and dense with a light strawberry flavor.

Strawberry Cupcakes 

Printable Recipe

Makes 12 cupcakes. Ingredients: 2/3 cup fresh or frozen strawberries (thawed if frozen) 1.5 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp coarse salt 1/4 cup buttermilk (or whole milk) - room temperature 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 large egg, room temperature 2 large egg, room temperature (you can put the eggs in a bowl of warm water if they are cold) *optional: a tad of pink food coloring gel (I use Wilton) or about 1/2 tsp red food coloring Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12 cupcake holder with paper cups.  Puree strawberries in food processor or blender. Set aside 1/3 cup of pureed strawberries for cake mix. You can save the rest for frosting. In a small bowl, mix together pureed strawberries, buttermilk and vanilla, and set aside. Also add the food coloring gel if you are using it. In a mid-size bowl, whisk together 1.5 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt.  In a large bowl, cream butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Then, slowly add sugar until it's well combined and fluffy. Turn off the mixer, and then in one egg with a whisk. Then add the egg whites one at a time, whisking until just blended. Slowly whisk in the half of the flour mixture. Then whisk in the strawberry/buttermilk mixture. Then add the rest of the flour until just blended.  Divide the batter between all of the muffin cups. Bake 22-25 minutes, until fragrant and just dry to the touch on the touch. Remove cupcakes from tin and cool on a wire rack or counter top. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Recipe adapted from Sprinkle Cupcakes Strawberry Cupcakes.

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