Vanilla Cupcakes with a Strawberry Icing

Vanilla Cupcakes with a Strawberry Icing:

I have been going a little bit “piping” crazy on my posts lately so i decided to just do a simple drizzle icing which is still just as delicious, IF you want to pipe the Strawberry icing just replace the Fresh Strawberries with two level teaspoons of Strawberry Jam or just ADD an extra 150g of Icing Sugar.

Here’s what you will need for the cupcakes:

Ingredients:

• 200g Caster Sugar
• 200g Butter (at Room Temperature)
• 200g Self-Raising Flour
• 2 Large Eggs (Beaten)
• 50ml Milk
• 6 Strawberries  (With the head chopped off) (OPTIONAL- See step 5)
•  Teaspoon Vanilla Extract (if you are using essence then use double)
• 1/2 tspn Baking Powder

 Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 170ºC / 340ºF and fill a Muffin Tray with 12 Muffin Case.

2. Cream the butter into the mixing bowl until smooth, then add the sugar and cream together until well combined and fluffy.

3. Add the milk, eggs and vanilla extract until a smooth runny mixture is produced.

4. Mix the self raising flour and baking powder then add it to the rest of the ingredients and mix one final time to produce a smooth batter.

5. This part is entirely optional, I did it with AND without this step and they were both gorgeous. Chop the strawberries in half. Fill each muffin case 1/4 of the way and place the half strawberry and then top with more mixture until the muffin case is 3/4 full.

6. If you skipped step 5 then fill each muffin case to the 1/2-3/4 mark.

7. Place in the oven on the middle shelf for 20-25 minutes until nice and golden brown on top, there might be a slight dip in the centre .

8. Take the cupcake out of the oven and cool on a cooling rack.

9. Now for the Icing, there are other icing options in the intro. Here is what you will need:

Ingredients:

• 125g Butter (until room temperature)
• 250g Icing Sugar
• 10 medium strawberries (to be pureed).

Method:

1. Beat the butter into the bowl until smooth and then slowly add the icing sugar until it is all combined and smooth.

2. Put the strawberries into a blender (or use a hand blender) to create a Puree.

 

3. Add to the other ingredients and mix until smooth.

4. Pour a sensible amount onto the center of each cupcake allowing space for the icing to naturally spread, decorate with sprinkles and such and place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, remove from the fridge and store at room temperature. YUM!!!!