By: Valerie
Cakes and Cupcakes, , , ,

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes
Recipe: 156/200
“Back to Baking”, pp. 138

    Continuing my baking roll, so to speak, I next decided to make these lovely strawberry shortcake cupcakes to finish off the sour cream that I had left after I did the strawberry cream cheese coffee cake last week. These cupcakes were considerably less involved to make. The cupcake itself is a traditional cupcake recipe, pretty straightforward, while the frosting is a bit different than your typical buttercream frosting. It is sort of a three-step process, the first being to whip the cream into a soft peak, the second is to beat the butter and cream cheese together and add the rest of the ingredients, and the third consists in gently folding the soft-peak whipped cream into the butter mixture. This is where I went wrong.

Ingredients for cupcakes:

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ⅔ cup sugar
  • 3 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ⅓ cup sour cream

Ingredients for frosting:

  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • ½ package (4 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ⅔ cup icing sugar, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

    I left my cream cheese at room temperature for a couple of hours to soften it, and this is where the problem lies. When I performed the third step and folded the cream into the butter mixture, the consistency was not right at all. Much too soft and I could tell that I would not be able to pipe it properly, if at all. In hindsight, I think that it was perhaps not wise to do this frosting on a day that it was 35°C (95°F) out. My cream cheese was indeed at room temperature, but this temperature was much warmer than usual and thus it was a bit too soft. As a result, the butter mixture was not as thick as it should have been, and when I folded in the soft-peak whipped cream it did not hold its shape at all. Very unfortunate indeed. I didn’t think that in this state it would help much to keep beating the frosting to give it more shape, so I put it in the fridge for a while to make it a bit firmer and then pipped that. Not ideal, but it did the trick. I also did not have a large star tip to pipe the frosting so I used the next best thing I had: a 22 tip. Close enough I guess.

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with large paper liners.
  2. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on high speed for one minute.
  3. Add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Blend well after each addition to combine.
  4. In a separate bowl, soft together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Add half of this to the butter mixture, then add the sour cream and finally the second half of the flour mixture. Mix well until the mixture is homogenous.
  5. Spoon this batter into the prepared muffin tin. Bake the cupcakes for about 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool for 15 minutes before removing them from the pan and cooling them completely before frosting.
  6. To prepare the frosting, use a hand or stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment to whip the cream until it holds a soft peak, then set it aside.
  7. In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the icing sugar and vanilla, mixing well until combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream in two additions.
  8. Using a piping bag fitted with a large star tip, pipe the frosting onto each cupcake. Insert the strawberry slices into the cream, arranged to look like flower petals. Once the frosting chills, it holds the slices securely. Chill until ready to serve. The cupcakes are best eaten the day they are assembled, but you can make the cupcakes a day ahead and store them at room temperature.

    These cupcakes were fun to make and look really lovely. I wish my frosting was thicker so that it could hold its shape, and the slices of strawberry, better, but it didn’t change the taste at all, which was delightful! These cupcakes truly taste like a strawberry shortcake. The cupcake has a vanilla flavour and is moist and fluffy, while the frosting doesn’t feel too heavy or sweet either, which I always appreciate. The strawberries and the whipped cream together really reminded me of my childhood, when my mom used to make us strawberry shortcake at home. Definitely give these a try!

Happy baking!
Valerie