Favorite Thing #2 – Strawberry Cupcakes

Today’s favorite thing is my absolute favorite cupcake in the world, and just in time for strawberry season. These fresh strawberry cupcakes start with a white cake cupcake, add a strawberry filling and strawberry icing, and you have a little piece of happiness, right there in your hand.

To make these beauties, you can start with any white cupcake recipe. My favorite white cupcake recipe, after a lot of testing, is this one from Recipe Girl. When you get started on your cupcakes, go ahead and get out 4 sticks of butter for your icing so they can start softening.

In addition to the ingredients for the cupcakes, you’ll also need:

1 3/4 lb. of strawberries
1/4 cup of sugar
1 lb. unsalted butter
7 cups of powdered sugar

While your cupcakes are baking, make the filing. Take 1 lb. of cut up strawberries and 1/4 cup of sugar and cook these down in a small saucepan over medium heat. This takes maybe 10 minutes. As you cook them down you can use a spatula to start breaking them up a little too. Stir frequently. What you should have at the end is a chunky syrup-like consistency. Let this cool.

After you make the cupcakes, either cut a small circle in the center of the cupcake to put in the filing or you can use one of these nifty little tools.

Once the cupcakes and filing are cooled, you can add the filing. They’ll end up looking something like this.

Next, we get to make the icing. It is so incredibly delicious, I get excited just thinking about it. Take those 4 sticks of butter, put them in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and go ahead and let that beat on medium speed for a few minutes. Then add 6 cups of powdered sugar. I recommend adding the powdered sugar in two separate batches so that you do not find yourself and your kitchen covered in a powdery mess. Once the powdered sugar and butter are all whipped together, add 1 cup of strawberry puree (you can make this in your blender, it requires about 3/4 lb. of strawberries– simply hull the strawberries and place in the blender, press puree). Once the strawberry puree is mixed well with the butter and powdered sugar, add the last cup of powdered sugar. I sometimes add extra puree to try to get the icing to have a stronger strawberry flavor. You can do this but it will tend to make your icing runny and you may need to refrigerate it. Pipe on your icing and you end up with these delicious beauties. Enjoy!