Bake #12: Tina bakes Strawberry Cupcakes

When I found out Jenny picked strawberry cupcakes for last week's bake, I was delighted. I love strawberries in jam, ice-cream, yogurt and such. And strawberry cupcakes? Must be yummy.

Here in Malaysia where I live, we get our strawberries all year round from Cameron Highlands, a favorite retreat for locals in search of a cooler climate. If I may digress, I love Cameron Highlands for its quaint little English-inspired cottages, a legacy left by the British during their occupation.

This picture below is of a pretty little chalet we stayed in during out last visit almost 3 years ago. (now I feel like going back!)


And this picture below is of my daughter and her fresh strawberries-topped ice-cream during our last visit.

Now back to the real reason for this post :) Except for the chopped strawberries, this recipe is very basic - no extra ingredients like sourcream or creamcheese in the batter which always make cakes extra special (for me, that is). And so I did not expect anything spectacular, so to speak.

And if Jenny confessed that SHE HATES MAKING MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM, I would like to confess that I HATE MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM!! I do. I really do. And so I had my cupcake without the frosting :) I actually had a small piece of cupcake right after it got out of the oven and was dissapointed that it tasted... like Jenny put it - bland.

However, I had another unfrosted one for breakfast the next day and was delightfully suprised that the cake was very very moist and somehow not so bland anymore. Yes, yes... cake always taste better on the second day!!

On another note, I enjoyed frosting these cupcakes. They look so pretty in pink!! I was also pleased that friends and family whom I shared these cupcakes with liked them and did not have any issues with the swiss meringue buttercream like I did :)

IF I ever make these again, I will top them with whipped cream instead!!

Bake #12: Jenny Bakes Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Vanilla and chocolate aside, this Strawberry Cupcake is probably the best epitomy of the early Cupcake Era back in the 50s. Reminiscent of many a childhood here, I’m sure. Sweet or tangy - depending on which part of the world you’re in and whether they are in season - little bits of fruit amassed in a cloud of light, moist and crumbly soft cake. The cake is rather bland, if you ask me. But together with the strawberries and surprisingly, the strawberry buttercream, it suddenly takes on more depths in flavor. Either that or I’ve over-spiked my buttercream just a tad! I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Now why would I ever want to do that to such a lovely all-time favorite? I did, however, add some chocolate ganache leftover from another bake. It definitely spiked up the light fruity flavors in a good, non-alcoholic way!

I also have to say this officially: I HATE MAKING MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM. PERIOD! Any toppings that require cooked sugar, precise temperature and worst of all, humongous recipe proportions that are mathematically troublesome to scale back - yeah, like this recipe! Even halving the recipe would yield too much buttercream than I need so just me being me, I winged it and needless to say, the buttercream was somewhat a disaster. Too liquidy and not pipe-able - not that I intended to pipe the frosting in the first place. So to cover the mistake according to the grand plan I conceived ages ago, I went gourmet on it. Et voila......petits gâteaux aux fraises. Bon appetit!

Bake #12: Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Ah strawberries.....a sign of warmer weather and blue skies, picnics on the beaches or at the parks,  melodic chirpings of the little birds that visit our backyard to feast on the nectars from blossoming blooms.....Spring. My favorite season! It's still a little early for strawberries; here in Northern California, strawberries are at its peak mid May through end June but you can already get rather sweet strawberries now, albeit more expensive relative to summer prices. I can't wait until the fruit is in abundance, when it's so cheap that you can just buy them by the boxes, eat them for b'fast, lunch, dinner and in-between!
If you don't have (or don't want to use) strawberries, feel free to substitute with other berries or try it with some tropical fruits . After all, you can't go wrong with mangoes or pineapples.
I trust most of you have the book by now so I won't be posting any photos until I've baked mine. The link to this week's recipe has been posted on the Recipe bake list. Enjoy!