Celebrating the Platinum Jubilee - Strawberry Cupcakes

 

To commemorate the Queen's 70th Platinum Jubilee I made Strawberry cupcakes which I have given as gifts to our French friends and family.

The part that took the longest was assembling the boxes to put them in.

Here is the recipe, should you feel like making some yummy Strawberry Cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS

For the sponge

125g butter, very soft

200g caster sugar

3 eggs (about 168g)

1/2 teaspoon salt

300g self-raising flour 

(or 300g/2 cups plain or all-purpose flour + 2 teaspoons baking powder)

20ml lemon juice

140ml milk

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 160°C, fan/350°F, convection.

Cream the very soft butter and sugar until almost white and fluffy.

Add the eggs and salt and mix until fully incorporated.

Add half the flour until just combined.

Add the juice and milk and mix until combined.

Add the remaining flour.

Scoop an ice-cream scoop of batter into paper baking cup-lined cupcake tins.

Bake for about 22-25 minutes.

Remove from the tin and set on a wire rack to cool completely. Meanwhile, make the icing.

Strawberry Buttercream

100ml unstrained strawberry puree 

(about 150g of unhulled fruit)

185g very soft butter

1000g - 1500g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon juice

¼ teaspoon rose water

Rinse any sandy earth off of your strawberries. Hull them with a spoon or paring knife and puree them in a food processor.

Cream the butter with 200 g of icing sugar on a low speed of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Gradually add the vanilla, lemon juice, rose water and strawberry puree.

Then add up to 1000 g of the sugar. The speed must be kept slow so as not to incorporate too much air into the buttercream. Let the mixture go for about 3 minutes to get to the proper texture and to allow the sugar to dissolve. Three minutes is longer than you might think, so I always set a timer. At this point you can add more sugar if the icing seems too soft. This varies with the temperature of the air and with the acidity of the fruit you use.

Spread onto cooled cupcakes and serve.

These will keep in an airtight container in a cool part of your kitchen for three days. Do not refrigerate.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

Congratulations and thankyou to our lovely Queen for 70 wonderful years of hard work and dedication to the UK and the Commonwealth.

God bless our queen♥♥

Leeann x