When I was getting ready for the Cambria Cove post, I wanted to make something “cute” for the purpose of showing off my cake stands. I had these cute white paper cup thingys, so I decided to go with cupcakes. I made the batter then realized the papers I had bought were not for baking. My muffin tins are packed away somewhere, so I was left with 1 mini muffin tin and no papers. Needless to say the cupcakes were a pain in the patootey to bake, and by the time I got around to icing and photographing, I was over it! So, my cupcakes aren’t that cute. But they ARE delicious. So I have to share them anyway! (PS…if you don’t have cupcake liners, don’t make cupcakes!)
Have you ever seen the Cupcake Bakeshop blog by Cheryl the software quality engineer, aka Chockylit? It was one of the very first blogs I ever laid eyes on and I’ve loved it from day 1. I used one of her recipes and I loved everything about it – the cake itself came out great, and this strawberry frosting? Be still my beating heart…it is perfect. PER. FECT.
The original post for this recipe is great – Cheryl provides detailed explanations as to why you want to perform each step of the recipe. It’s a very handy post. Thanks, Cheryl! (P.S. You have to read her bio…I love her completely non-cupcake related background!)
- 2 sticks of butter (room temp)
- 2½ cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1¾ C flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 C cocoa powder
- 1 C milk
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- Beat the butter until it's all nice and whipped. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy...as in for a long time, so the butter is completely incorporated into the sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. (Cheryl mentions that whisking will suffice over sifting...but my cocoa was all lumpy, so I wish I had thrown at least the cocoa through the sifter quickly...just keep an eye out for that problem in your cocoa.)
- Mix the milk and vanilla.
- Add the flour mixture and the milk mixture to the butter mixture - alternating and beating between each addition, about 3 cycles.
- Scoop batter into cupcake tins (with liners!!) or those uber-cute cupcake papers that Cheryl uses that I can't wait to get my hands on. ONLY FILL THEM HALF WAY. Bake for 22-25 minutes at 350, or until tester comes out clean. (Obviously my mini cupcakes baked a little shorter than that.)
I made two kinds of icing, halving each recipe. This is exactly what I made – feel free to double these measurements if you decide to just do one flavor.
- 1 stick butter (room temp)
- 1½ - 2 C powdered sugar
- ⅛ C strawberry puree (I had some pretty big strawberries - ⅛ C was a little less than one giant strawberry all smooshed up)
- Beat butter until soft. Sift in the powder sugar and beat. Add strawberry and mix. Add more powdered sugar if you need it. Seriously...this frosting ROCKS.
- This is about enough frosting for one-half standard batch of cupcakes.
- 3 oz white chocolate
- 4 oz cream cheese
- ⅛ C butter (room temp)
- 1 C powdered sugar
- Melt chocolate and set aside to cool. Beat cream cheese and butter together. Add chocolate and beat. Sift in powdered sugar and beat for a long while.
- This makes about enough frosting for one-half standard batch of cupcakes.
Hi! My name is Jane Maynard and you've landed yourself on my blog, This Week for Dinner™. Every Sunday I share a weekly menu...and count on you to share yours! You'll also find other deliciousness that I hope you'll enjoy!
That white chocolate icing just sounds divine!
I can’t help drooling as I think about how I can get an excuse to make them! That strawberry frosting looks sooo yummy.
I need to make these and bring to work!
These are so stinkin cute!
These are so sweet! What a great job you did.
I can just imagine my kids dipping their fingers in that frosting. Looks delicious.
I can vouch for jane here… that strawberry icing is to die for!
I followed the recipe on your blog, and the cupcakes were a DISASTER! They overflowed and ran all over my oven. I checked the original @cupcake bakeshop and it says 1 tsp baking powder, yours says 1 Tablespoon. I will give it another go.
MICHELLE! I’m so sorry!!!!! I had written it down and and then typed it from my notes…and obviously was not paying attention. geesh. thank you so much for pointing it out – I have fixed the post!
I’m so drooling over those cupcakes. Thank you for sharing.
I need one of these RIGHT NOW!
Those look simply yummy! I love chocolate and strawberries together!
I’d love for you to share those on Cupcake Tuesday next wk, (or even this past Tues, I have a giveaway going on)
Actually, lots of giveaways…but especially the What’s New Cupcake book and Wilton Cupcake Products – hey, I have liners in my giveaway! 😉
~Liz
Hey! Wonderful cupcake recipe, even if you half it the cakes turn out delicious, moist and chocolaty! Since I’m kinda lazy, I didn’t frost them, but added some white choc chips for an extra punch, it was perfect! Tks Jane
I want to make these tonight – I’ve printed out the recipe and written the ingredients I need to pick up – just one question, does the recipe for the cupcakes make 12 or 24 regular sized cupcakes?
good question! I should track that info down…
I would guess 24…I think I made 72 mini cupcakes with this batter, so seems to me you’d get 24 regular sized cupcakes…at least.
when you make them, would you mind recommenting and letting us know how many you got out of it? thanks! 🙂
I halved the recipe and got a dozen (overfilled) cupcakes – I probably could have gotten 14-15 if I hadn’t overfilled them. They came out fantastically amazing and I can’t wait to make them again!!
Amazing! What a fabulous treat! Am going to surprise my husband with them! He is an investment banker and works all the time, so he is extra grateful for homemade treats. Thanks for sharing. Looooove the blog! Xo Pam Bradley Preston New York City BofA Merrill Lynch
I wondered in the world of cupcake baking is there a recipe for a mint flavored frosting and if so what is it. My ultimate favorite flavour is chocolate. Has anyone ever made a death by chocolate cupcake?? And if so what is your recipe because unfortunately I have lost mine. I also wanted to comment on the fact that this blog is a really great and informative blog I hope to keep checking in for new recipes every week. Keep me informed if you will on the recipe I asked for. Thank you for all your time, I know it’s not real easy to make the time to bake when you have so many other things in your lives to keep you busy. How do you do it?
I was wondering, can the strawberry icing be used for a cake? (:
yes – most definitely! 🙂
Hi, not a baker but my son’s birthday is coming up & wld lvu to make them. With ur butter you say 1 stick, what wld that be in grams please?
1 stick = 8 tablespoons/4 ounces/113 grams
hope they turn out nicely for you!