Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes
There are some food combinations that are so quintessentially English that they conjure up an image the minute they are uttered. Strawberries and cream is one such combination. For me, strawberries and cream are synonymous with a perfect English summer’s day.
Strawberries and Cream cupcakes
Last year I discovered a fantastic book called Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache, by a very talented English Rose called Harry Eastwood. She is very much a girl after my own heart. Loves cake, not so keen on an expanding waistline which is often the unfortunate by-product of eating cake!
If you get the chance to have a read of her book, I would urge you to do so. It has beautiful photography, and the prose is a delight to read. And on top of that, the recipes are fantastic too. For those of you that wish to bake without guilt, this book is for you. It also contains many recipes that are gluten free, so worth a look if you are baking for someone that needs a special diet.
When I was making these cakes, I was not convinced that they would be as light and fluffy as a traditional sponge. I was proved well and truly wrong, and the delighted murmers from my girlfriends as they helped with check them for ‘quality control’ purposes, was a testament to just how good they are. The result is a delicious light and fluffy vanilla cupcake, with an oozing pocket of strawberry jam in the middle, topped with a marscpone butter icing, and a strawberry. The bonus is, they are around 300 calories a pop, and with the Jam and Strawberries on top, the the courgette in the cake, must surely count as one of the recommended 5 fruit and veg a day?
The recipe can be found on Page 5 of her book.
INGREDIENTS
* 2 medium free range eggs
* 160g caster sugar
* 200g topped, tailed and peeled (careful, I almost forgot this step)
* 1 tsbp vanilla extract
* 100g white rice flour
* 100g almonds
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp salt
FILLING
Strawberry jam or conserve
ICING
* 50 g unsalted butter, softened
* 150g icing sugar
* 50g mascarpone
As the recipe will be protected by copyright, I have not reproduced it here. However, another chef, Gizzi Erskine, who collaborated with Harry Eastwood on a previous book, Cook Yourself Thin, has published a very similar recipe, on the Channel 4 website. Follow the cake methodology, and make the icing by hand, so as not to over-mix. Or better still buy the book. Well worth the money. (I should just point out that I do not know the author, and have no incentive, other than wishing to share the joy, to mention this book).
Natalie Locherer
Yuuuummmm – those look really good! Love strawberry and cream stuff!
Comment by Andrea — August 23, 2010 @ 2:31 pm
Strawberries and Cream, nothing better!! They look fab.
Comment by feather14 — August 23, 2010 @ 7:25 pm
Drooling.
Comment by If I Could Escape — August 23, 2010 @ 11:12 pm
When it comes to strawberries and cream in any form, I am more than happy to be a “quality control” tester!
Comment by Jean at The Delightful Repast — September 1, 2010 @ 2:37 pm