Cup cakes < 3

In July we are always bombarded with Birthday's. One of thoses Birthday's is my Mum's, and I always like to do something different for her each year. So this year I made cupcakes. I found an amazing recipe for strawberry cupcakes...

I can't remember where I found the recipe but here it is...

Strawberry Cupcakes
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

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.
Will keep in an airtight container in a cool part of your kitchen for three days. Do not refridgerate.

I halved the amount of Icing sugar and added dried strawberries in the sponge.
THEY WERE DELICIOUS!!! The recipe made about 30 cupcakes and they were all gone in 3 days!
Also this recipe could be used with other fruits; mango, banana, cherries! Just swap all the strawberry ingredients for other things.

Here are some photos...

My make-shift piping bag made from baking paper !

I also had a go at making some sugar paste flowers and hearts, which looked really nice but tasted awful ! I will definately try home made sugar paste next time...

My little sister gave me these cup cake earrings, which I thought I would show you as they are relevant to this post ...

I am about 90% sure that these were made by little pixies, as they are SO small and detailed that I don't think a human could of possibly made them!

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