Strawberry Stars Cupcake

Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I love the 4th of July.  From the barbeques, to the beach, to the glow bracelets, to the fireworks, I love it all.  So in an effort to commemorate my favorite holiday I have created the Strawberry Stars Cupcake!  Simply put it is a vanilla cake with a fresh strawberry butter cream and a candy star decoration.

 

 

The vanilla cake recipe I found n Addapinch.com located here.

You will need:
1 cup- Butter
1/2 cup - Vegetable Shorting
3 cups - Granulated Sugar
5 - Eggs at Room Temperature
3 cups - All Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons - Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon - Salt
1/2 cup - Whole Milk at Room Temperature
1/2 cups - Buttermilk at Room Temperature
2 teaspoons - Vanilla Extract

Start by creaming together the butter and the shorting with a mixer until they are fluffy and the color begins to lighten. 

Gradually add in the sugar one cup at a time to the butter mixture.  Make sure to fully incorporate the sugar before adding the next cup. 

After all of the sugar is fully incorporated, add in the eggs in the same fashion.  Make sure that each egg is fully mixed in before adding the next  You can stop and scrape the sides of the mixing bowl as needed to ensure that the batter is mixing well. 

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate container.  Combine the whole milk, the butter milk, and the vanilla in another separate container.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternating the dry ingredients with the milk mixture.  Be sure to start and end with dry ingredients.

 

 

Due to creating a holiday cupcake, I stirred in a packet of blue Wilton Color Burst Batter Bits. 

Your batter is now ready to be poured into a cupcake pan lined with cupcake papers.  You can lightly spray your cupcake liners with Pam if you desire as it will prevent the cupcake from sticking too much to the paper.

Bake the cupcakes at the 350 degree oven for about 14 minutes.  Test the cupcakes with a toothpick and remove when only a few crumbs stick to the tooth pick. 

To be honest, I was unsatisfied with the way the batter did not rise to form a puffy top to the cupcake.  I have never used the Wilton Batter Bits before, so this could be the problem. 

I did attempt a couple different methods to get the cakes to rise more in each of my baking batches, however they all had the same problem.  Therefore, if you are going to make this recipe, I would use it for a project where you need flat top cupcakes or a layer cake where you need flat halves!

 
While your cupcakes are cooling, you can begin preparing your strawberries for the buttercream.  You will need about a cup and a half of strawberry puree.  For the puree, I cut about 3/4 pound of fresh strawberries in half and placed them in a small food processer. 

In two batches, I pulsed the strawberries until they were runny.  I then transferred them to a small saucepan where I cooked all of the puree together in order to release the moisture. 

Cook the strawberries until they are at least half the size of the original puree.  I wanted a deeper flavor so I reduced my strawberries until they were about 1/3 the size of the original puree.  The puree will be more of a paste consistency.  Transfer the strawberry paste to a small container and chill in the refrigerator.  The strawberries need to be completely cool in order to make the buttercream.

The strawberry buttercream recipe I located on Allrecipes.com found here.

You will need:
1 cup - Butter, Softened
3 cups - Powdered Sugar
1 teaspoon - Vanilla Extract
Your Strawberry Paste

Begin by beating the butter for a couple of minutes until it is creamy and the color begins to lighten.  Add in 1 cup of powdered sugar and mix until just combined.  Add in the strawberry paste and the remaining powdered sugar alternating a couple of scoops of strawberries and 1 cup of powdered sugar. 

Mix until fully combined.     

For the candy decorations, melt Wilton Candy Melts in Red, White, and Blue as directed on the package. 

Create small stars on parchment paper.  I purchased small squeeze bottles for the candy but you could use a Ziplock bag and snip a small corner off the bag as well. 

Place the candy in the refrigerator for a few minutes.  Once the candy hardens, it will release from the parchment paper and can be used to decorate the cupcakes.

Frost your cupcakes and decorate as desired.  For this cupcake I piped the frosting on using Wilton tip 199. 

Due to the length of this post, I will cover piping frosting in a future entry!

Enjoy!  Now I have to go find people to eat the mountain of cupcakes in my kitchen!!