I made these cupcakes for a friend’s birthday this week. He’s crazy for strawberries so I decided to go all the way and make the strawberry-est cupcakes I could 😀

The cake is a simple vanilla batter with a dollop of strawberry jam; the filling is diced fresh strawberries and the frosting is a swirl of chantilly topped with a fresh strawberry. Do you need any more strawberries? 😉

TRIPLE STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES

INGREDIENTS
375g flour
350g sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
225g butter, room temperature, cut into cubes
4 eggs
250ml milk
4 tbsp strawberry jam, no added sugar, no added pectin
2 punnets of strawberries (500g or thereabouts)
1 quantity Crème Chantilly (stabilised whipped cream)

METHOD
Wash and dry the strawberries, setting aside the 24 most beautiful ones for decoration. Dice the rest really small.
Preheat oven to 180°C and line 2 x 12-hole muffin tin with paper cups.
In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the dry ingredients using a rubber spatula.
With the mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and on low speed, drop in butter, a few cubes at a time, continuing until all butter is in and mixture resembles coarse sand.
Add eggs one at a time on low speed.
With mixer still on low, slowly pour in milk. Turn mixer to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes until batter is smooth, scraping sides of bowl as needed.
Fill paper cups 2/3 full, drop 1/2 tsp of jam in each cup and stir gently with a skewer to marble the batter. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow them to cool completely whilst you prepare the whipped cream.
Once cooled, core the cupcakes, fill them with the diced strawberries and put the lid back on. Make a swirl with the whipped cream and top it with a strawberry.

I’m entering these cupcakes in the Tea Time Treats Challenge of this month, hosted by Karen, of Lavender and Lovage  (our host this month), and Kate, of What Kate Baked (co-host).

I’m also entering the Calendar Cake Challenge this month, hosted by Laura Loves Cakes and co-hosted by Dolly Bakes.