Valentines Day and Strawberry Cupcakes!

Happy Valentines Day!  I hope you all have spent the day treating yourself to something nice and perhaps spending time with a special someone (or some chocolate and a great book.)  Today, I didn't do anything special except go to school so obviously I don't put a lot of emphasis on the holiday except for one thing - baking!  I was able to make these delicious cupcakes for my classmates today and they were a fantastic hit!  Everyone loved them and the cupcakes were gone within an hour of my arrival at school.  

This recipe is courtesy of the lovely Christina of Oven Adventures (with a few edits of my own) and you can view her original recipe here.  Just so you know, this recipe takes a little while so just make sure you have a fair amount of time to make these!  Personally, I made the batter and frosting one night and baked/frosted them the next.  If you think you're up for the challenge - read on for the recipe! 

Strawberry Cupcakes:

Prep time - about 3 hours total.  Cook time - 18-20 minutes

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Strawberry Puree: 

• 2 cups fresh strawberries (sliced)
• 2 tbs granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup of water

Cupcake batter:

• 1/4 heavy cream
• 3/4 cup of strawberry puree (from above)
• 6 egg whites
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter - cubed and at room temp
• Red food coloring - optional :)

Frosting: (my version)

• 1 cup butter
• 6 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbs milk
• 1/4 cup of strawberry puree

Instructions:

• Start with the strawberry puree.  Chop up the strawberries and place them in a medium-size bowl with the sugar.  Let the strawberries and sugar sit for an hour, allowing the strawberries to release their juices.
• Place the strawberries and sugar in a small pot and add the water.  Put the pot on the stove and heat the mixture at medium-low until the strawberries are cooked down.  They should be mushy and the mixture should have reduced in size by 1/2

They gave off the most delicious aroma!

• Preheat the oven to 350° and line 24 muffin tins.  Set this aside for later.
• As the strawberries are cooking, start on the batter.  In a medium bowl, mix together the egg whites, vanilla, and cream.  Mix this together with a fork.  Set this aside
• In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Mix on low with a hand-mixer for about a minute.  Add the butter and mix until the batter is crumbly.
• Once the strawberry puree is cooked down, pour it through a thin strainer to get the seeds and excess water out.  Then, add 3/4 cups of the strawberry puree to the wet mix (with the egg, cream, etc.)  Mix this well.
• Slowly pour the wet mixture into the dry, going a bit at a time.  Mix well with a hand-mixer for a few minutes until the batter has a smooth consistency with no clumps.  
• At this point, if you want your cupcakes to be extra pink, add about two drops of food coloring.
• Pour a bit of the batter into every cupcake slot.  Make sure it doesn't fill more than 3/4 of the  cup, because they expand a lot.

• To make the frosting, take a large bowl and mix the butter until it's light and fluffy.  
• Slowly mix in the confectioners sugar until it's well-combined with the butter
• Combine the vanilla, milk, and the remainder of the strawberry sauce.  Mix this with a mixer until it's well combined
• Pipe onto the cupcakes until all the frosting is done.  I didn't get fancy with this, so I used a ziploc bag to pipe on the frosting.  If there's left over, grab a spoon and dig in!  It's super yummy.  

And ta-da!  Strawberry cupcakes!  I leave you all with this, and a happy valentines day!