Strawberry Cupcakes
Growing up, I would always ask my mom to make me a strawberry cake for my birthday. I’m not sure why I didn’t request chocolate or vanilla, like most kids probably do. Perhaps I just wanted a pink cake, and my mom thought, Strawberry! Anyway, I have been a strawberry cake lover ever since I can remember. I have a deep nostalgia for it. So I knew I had to create my own version of my favorite cake. These strawberry cupcakes are super moist, with strawberries in the batter and in my delightfully tangy Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting. Don’t wait until your birthday to make this treat, though. Pink cakes should always be celebrated!
Ingredients
1 lb. strawberries, chopped
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
4 egg whites, room temp.
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup neutral oil (vegetable or canola)
1 cup whole milk, room temp.
2 ¼ cups cake flour
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rinse off all of the strawberries and slice them. Add them to a food processor and pulse until strawberries are finely chopped. Remove strawberries from the processor and place them in a mesh strainer over a mixing bowl.
With a silicone spatula, stir/push strawberries so that the strawberry juice collects in the bowl. You should end up with about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of juice.
Set both the strawberry pulp and juice to the side. You will use both in separate parts of this recipe.
Cream together butter and sugar on medium speed for about 5 minutes.
Stir together egg whites, vanilla extract, and oil.
Add in egg white mixture in quarters with mixer on low. Once all of it is added, turn mixer speed up to medium to fully incorporate.
In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients until combined.
With mixer on low speed, alternate between adding dry mixture and dyed milk, starting and ending with dry mixture. Mix until just combined.
Add batter to lined muffin pans, only filling halfway up each liner.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Once cupcakes are done, cool them in pans for 10 minutes, then pop out of pans and continue cooling on baking racks for an additional hour until completely cool to the touch.
Frost with strawberry cream cheese frosting.
Enjoy!
