Valentine's Day Strawberry Cupcakes

If you like things with a fresh strawberry flavor, you will love this recipe. I bought some wonderfully flavored strawberries at the store the other day and made these for my daughter who was home this weekend. They would be perfect for Valentine's Day. The recipe calls for the addition of red food coloring which I left out. If you want the frosting and cake to be a deep red, add it.


Line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners. In the bowl of your mixer, add 1 C. softened butter and 2 1/2 C. sugar. Beat this until fluffy. Add 4 egg yolks. Reserve the egg whites.


Add 1 1/4 C. pureed fresh strawberries. Beat until well blended. Beat in 1 tsp. of baking powder and 1 tsp. of baking soda. Beat in 1 cup of buttermilk.


Add 3 C. cake flour beating in one cup at a time.


Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.


Gently fold them into the batter.



I use a pancake funnel to put the batter in the cups. Fill them 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.


Cool on racks while you make the frosting.

Frosting:

Beat 8 oz. of softened cream cheese with 1/2 C. of softened butter and 1/4 C. pureed fresh strawberries. Add 1/3 C. heavy cream and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract. Beat in enough confectioners sugar to get a good spreading consistency. Mine took about 3 1/2 cups.




frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with some decorating sugar if you like.


This recipe makes about 24 cupcakes.