Sweet! It's Strawberry Cake with Chocolate Frosting. Click to take a closer look at the platter at Entertaining Vintage
Okay, this is going to be a “warts and all” post in which I reveal that my best laid plans sometimes fail spectacularly. Oh, you can relate? Then I hope you'll agree that with a can-do spirit and a little creativity there’s always a recovery within reach.
It’s fun to whip up homemade Valentine’s Day desserts for your sweetie pie – or for the kids’ school, or the book group, or your co-workers – so I thought I’d share a recipe for strawberry cupcakes (courtesy of Martha Stewart – thanks, M. Diddy!)
It’s fun to whip up homemade Valentine’s Day desserts for your sweetie pie – or for the kids’ school, or the book group, or your co-workers – so I thought I’d share a recipe for strawberry cupcakes (courtesy of Martha Stewart – thanks, M. Diddy!)
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And then I planned to fancy them up by inserting a whole strawberry into the center of each baked cupcake – when sliced down the middle it looks like a heart – so cute! This idea comes from the Food Network cookbook titled Sweet.
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Friends, I screwed it up. Too much batter in the muffin tins caused the cupcakes to overflow onto the pan itself and stuck there like epoxy. I tried and tried but could not remove the cupcakes from the pan without slicing the tops off. As our new president would say, SAD. I managed to “glue” the cupcake tops back on with a dollop of chocolate frosting. They tasted great, but these treats were not destined to win any beauty pageants. Click on the photos to enlarge them and read the captions.
But all was not lost. Martha’s recipe makes a LOT so I poured the remaining batter into an 8-inch cake pan and voila! A super-yummy strawberry cake with hubba-hubba chocolate frosting equals dessert you’ll be proud to serve. Yes, we had to forego the slick strawberry/heart inserts, and no, cake is not quite as much fun as cupcakes. But on the plus side, we ended up with a mighty tasty cake version of chocolate covered strawberries, and what could possibly be wrong with that?! Not. One. Thing.
Click on the photos to enlarge them and read the captions.
Click on the photos to enlarge them and read the captions.
| Printable Recipe- Strawberry Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting |
Strawberry Cupcakes (or Cake) with Chocolate Frosting
Recipe source: Martha Stewart
Yield: Makes 34 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS:
DIRECTIONS:
Note: If you’d like to make a layer cake instead, swap two 8-inch cake pans for the muffin tins. Otherwise follow the recipe as written. The timing in the oven will be about the same.
Chocolate Ganache
Recipe source: Martha Stewart
Yield: Makes 34 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cake flour, (not self-rising)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large egg white
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups finely chopped strawberries, plus small strawberries for garnish
- Frosting of your choice – we like chocolate ganache (recipe below)
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, and salt.
- With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and fluffy.
- Add whole eggs and the white, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low.
- Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk, and beating until well combined.
- Fold in chopped strawberries by hand.
- Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
- Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto rack and let cool completely.
- Cupcakes can be stored up to 1 day at room temperature in airtight containers.
- Frost the cupcakes as desired.
- Frosted cupcakes will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 days. Top with a strawberry just before serving.
Note: If you’d like to make a layer cake instead, swap two 8-inch cake pans for the muffin tins. Otherwise follow the recipe as written. The timing in the oven will be about the same.
Chocolate Ganache
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 18 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
- Heat the heavy cream and the butter in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil. Place the semisweet chocolate in a large bowl.
- Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes.
- Stir until smooth and bring the ganache to room temperature (about 1 hour).
- With a spatula, spread the ganache over the cake top and sides, covering evenly.
Click the photo to see the pretty platter at Entertaining Vintage. We promise it's been well-washed, in case you'd like to make it your own.
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