Strawberry Cupcakes
Golden vanilla cupcakes with a ruffled swirl of real strawberry buttercream and a whole fresh strawberry on top.
Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.
Strawberry season in Central Florida runs through the winter and spring, and this is a sweet way to use a basket of berries. A golden vanilla cupcake gets a ruffled swirl of pink strawberry buttercream, flecked with real fruit, and a whole fresh strawberry on top. They are as pretty on a brunch table as at a birthday party.
The secret is a strawberry reduction: the Thermomix® TM7™ chops the berries and cooks them down until they are thick like jam. That concentrated fruit flavors and colors the buttercream without making it runny. Make the reduction first, so it has time to chill while the cupcakes bake and cool.
Made in the Thermomix® TM7™
Strawberry Cupcakes
Makes: 12 cupcakes
- Prep40 min
- Cook40 min
- Total2 h 20 min
- Serves12
Ingredients
Strawberry reduction
Vanilla cupcakes
Strawberry buttercream
To decorate
Instructions
- Place the strawberries and sugar in the mixing bowl and chop 5 sec/speed 6. Place the simmering basket on the mixing bowl lid instead of the measuring cup and cook 20 min/Varoma/speed 2, until thick and reduced to about 1/2 cup. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate until cold, at least 45 minutes.
- Rinse and dry the mixing bowl. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 12-cup muffin pan with white paper liners.
- Place the butter and sugar in the mixing bowl and mix 1 min/speed 4. Scrape down the sides, add the eggs and vanilla and mix 30 sec/speed 4.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt and milk and mix 10 sec/speed 4. Scrape down the sides and mix 5 sec/speed 4, just until no dry flour remains.
- Divide the batter among the liners, about two thirds full, and bake in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then on a rack until completely cool.
- Wash and dry the mixing bowl. Place the butter in it and mix 1 min/speed 4. Add the powdered sugar and salt and mix 20 sec/speed 3. Add the cold strawberry reduction, vanilla and coloring, if using, and mix 1 min/speed 4, scraping down the sides halfway.
- Pipe a ruffled swirl of buttercream on each cupcake with a large French star tip and set a whole strawberry on top.
Tips
- The reduction must be thick and cold. If it is still runny after cooking, cook it 5 minutes more the same way; warm or thin fruit makes the buttercream soft and grainy.
- If the buttercream is too soft to pipe, add 30 g (1/4 cup) more powdered sugar or chill it for 15 minutes.
- Dry the strawberries for the top very well, or the juice will run into the frosting.
- Keep the cupcakes covered in the refrigerator up to 2 days and take them out 30 minutes before serving. Add the fresh strawberries the day you serve them.
