Strawberry Cupcakes

After weeks of my mom begging me to make her these strawberry cupcakes, I finally cracked last week over vacation.  She had somehow found the recipe on Martha Stewart, and was all excited because it's from some bakery named Sprinkles.  My mom loves cupcakes, and loves strawberries, and I was intrigued by the recipe because both the cupcakes and the frosting call for strawberry puree.  I figured they would be very berry-ish!  And, as is often the case, we had tons of strawberries in the fridge.

The batter was pretty standard, but had some interesting ingredients (like the puree I already mentioned, as well as egg whites).  With the 1/3 cup of strawberry puree in it, I had really expected the batter to be pinker than it was!

Then the frosting.... here things got a little weird. The recipe called for two sticks of butter.... cold.  How you are supposed to make frosting out of cold butter is beyond me.  Even my fabulous KitchenAid mixer was having a tough time of it trying to blend cold butter into a "light and fluffy" consistency.  It never actually got all that light or fluffy, and as I (attempted to) pipe it onto the cupcakes, I could see there were still little chunks of butter intact.  Next time I will definitely use room temperature butter.  Weird.  Anyway maybe it was the butter problem or something else, but it never looked that great either; it almost looked curdled, and certainly not "dense and creamy like ice cream" like the recipe claimed!

I didn't actually try them, since I don't like frosting, never mind cake, but Mom said that they were good.  They tasted like strawberries - which is no surprise with all the puree in there!


Recipe:
from Martha Stewart, originally from Sprinkles Bakery


Ingredients:

2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature

Sprinkles' Strawberry Frosting (recipe below)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
• Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary.  Save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
• With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
• Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Strawberry frosting:
1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
Pinch of coarse salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Directions:

Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.