 |
 |
 |
bake sale week: vanilla cupcakes with strawberries and cream frosting
None of the schools my kids go to ever have bake sales, which is too bad, because they would be the fundraisers I would actually enjoy being a part of. I remember the parent-teacher-student open house we used to have every September in my elementary school. The whole school would smell like perfume and freshly polished floors. The bake sale was always set up in front of the stage in the cafeteria on a long table filled with cookies and cakes, and it was always a huge success.
So, this week, to kick off September, I thought I’d dedicate everyday to some sort of bake sale treat — for all of you who are lucky enough to have one at your kids’ schools, and for all of you who just wish you did.
I tweaked this recipe and got a fantastic consistency; the only problem is, it makes 16-18 cupcakes, not 12. Since I have only one regular size muffin pan, I made twelve regular size cupcakes and two extra large cupcakes.
For this recipe, you need to use a jam that does not drip liquid. I use Polaner All-fruit Seedless Strawberry, or better yet, Smucker’s Simply Fruit Seedless Strawberry. Both are really firm and work well with this frosting.
As for room temperature butter, who ever knows when they’re going to want to bake two to five hours in advance? Baking is usually a spontaneous thing for us. I just microwave the butter in 10-15 second intervals, rotating it on each of its sides, until it is soft but not melted.
vanilla cupcakes
2 1/4 cups (340g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons, or 170g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (330g) granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/2 cups (340g) milk
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees * (180 degrees Celsius). Line 12-18 muffin tins with paper liners.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth, about a minute on medium speed. Add in sugar and beat until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes more. With mixer on medium-low, add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in extracts.
4. With mixer on low, add in a third of the flour mixer, followed by half of the milk. Add in the next third of flour, the remaining milk, and finally the remainder of the flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
5. With an ice cream scooper, divide up the batter evenly among the paper liners. (I use a scoop that holds 1/3 cup, which works perfectly.)
6. Bake cupcakes until a toothpick inserted into the center ones comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool in pans for at least ten minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before decorating.
*For all you fellow friends at high altitude, crank the oven temperature up a bit, to about 365 degrees.
strawberries and cream frosting
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
6 ounces seedless strawberry jam
1 cup heavy cream
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter for about a minute. Add in 1 cup of the confectioner’s sugar and the vanilla. Beat until smooth.
2. Transfer mixture to a small bowl and add in jam. Whisk until smooth and all large lumps are gone.
3. Clean out mixer bowl (unless, of course you have more than one mixer bowl — lucky!), and with the whisk attachment, beat the cream on high until stiff peaks form. With the mixer on low, add in 1 tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar and whisk until just combined.
4. Fold the two mixtures together until smooth, being careful not to deflate the whipped cream.
5. Place frosting in a large pastry bag fitted with a large star tip (I used the Wilton 1 M size; I found the tip and the bag at Jo-Ann’s). Pipe frosting onto each cupcake, starting at the edges, and swirling around to the center.
15 Responses to “bake sale week: vanilla cupcakes with strawberries and cream frosting”
Leave a Reply
Those are beautiful. Thanks for the butter tip.
Those look so yummy! Whenever I make cookies with real butter I hand a stick to one of my kids to hold. Their job is to just hold it, not squish it, and after about half an hour the butter is soft without being melted. If my kids aren’t available, I have been known to put a stick in my bra. (Of course, this only works when I’m nursing and I’ve got something to warm it up with.) shh! don’t tell
Wow these look amazingg and the recipe sounds so good. What frosting tip did you use if you don’t mind me asking?
First of all, the cupcakes are BEAUTIFUL and I’m with you, who doesn’t love a good bake sale? I’m doing my mothers birthday cake in a few weeks and I think I might try your icing on a chocolate espresso cake. I’m still undecided.
Julie-I love the way you think!!!
Well, you’ve settled The Question of The Year in our house! My oldest daughter (will be six in early January) *loves* strawberry. I showed her these cupcakes and she said, “THAT is what I want for my birthday.” Yay! We have to get the party planned early since her birthday is just 9 days after Christmas. Thanks!
(and the great thing is that I can do some vanilla bean and some chocolate frosting for those kids who don’t like strawberry)
hello. thank you for posting this recipe. your icing is flawless. i tried TWICE to make it and both times it came out too watery and did not stand up. what am i doing incorrectly?
Thanks for the cupcake recipe. I made it for my daughters BIRTHDAY. It was so moist the cupcakes., BUT i also had trouble with the icing. IT DIDNT GO FLuffy. I try to follow it the best I COULD BUT didn’t do something right. any they liked them. Do you have a recipe for chocolate cupcakes or can you ajust the white cupcakes . Thanks again Sandi
Do
i want to see more rcpices of cupcakes going becuz i want to sell some cupcakes. thank you aprill hernandez
Some people have been commenting that the frosting doesn’t go fluffy for them. It might be the amount of liquid that is in the jam. I use Polaner All-fruit seedless strawberry, or better yet, Smucker’s Simply Fruit Seedless strawberry. Both are really firm and aren’t dripping with liquid. Maybe that’s the difference.
ok i have trouble with cup cakes
they are never the pretty golden brown yours are it might be my oven but i seem to burn the bottoms of them just a bit 
please help LOL btw the top tasted GREAT lol just didnt eat the bottoms 
maybe i need to move my racks up im not sure where they are supposed to be in my oven though 
[...] are moister than the strawberries and cream cupcakes I posted last September, because I added sour cream to the batter. Also, I thought I’d add [...]
[...] Vanilla cupcakes with strawberries and cream [...]
[...] Last year, I started on the first Monday in September, and posted a recipe everyday that week that would be fun for a back to school bake sale (Click here for that post). [...]
Fabulous cupcakes! One question though: In the cupcake recipe, when you say add the cream, I don’t see it in the ingredient list.
@Lulu!
Oops, sorry, I think I was using the word “cream” as a verb, but in the context, it looked like I wanted you to add that.
Just switched the word to “beat.” Hope that clears it up, and thanks!