Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

We visited Peggy Porschen Parlour while we were in London and fell totally in-love with the cupcakes on display.  We could not decide what to order, which resulted in us picking up ½ dozen cupcakes of different flavours.  We loved all of them, but if I had to pick a favourite it would have to be the strawberry & champagne cupcake.

Clockwise from the top right: Black Forest, Banoffee, Chocolate Heaven, Gingerbread, Sweet Plum, Strawberry & Champagne

As a Christmas present for myself, I bought her ‘Boutique Baking’ cookbook.  It has all the recipes of the regular items on sale in her shop.  When I returned to Brisbane, I was very eager to try recreating the cupcake memories I had in London.

Therefore, I chose the strawberry cupcakes as my first bake in 2014.  We had a belated Christmas celebration with family and it was the perfect occasion to showcase my favourite cupcake.

I couldn’t find a small bottle of champagne in our local bottle shop so I bought a small bottle of Moscato (bubbly & fruity dessert wine) instead.  I only needed a few drops for flavouring and since we are non-drinkers, I didn’t really want to waste a big bottle of champagne.

There are 4 parts to making these cupcakes.

1.  Bake the cupcakes

I used Peggy’s cake recipe but found it a little too sweet for my liking, even with reduced sugar.   I think the Lemon Cupcakes recipe (replace lemon rind with vanilla essence) is still my favourite.

2.  Sugar Syrup

Ingredients:
100ml water
100ml caster sugar
A few drops of Moscato

a.     Boil water and sugar in saucepan until sugar crystals have dissolved.

b.     Set aside to cool.

c.     Once cool, add a few drops of Moscato (or champagne) to taste.

d.     Brush the sugar syrup on top of the cupcakes.  This will make the cupcakes more moist.

3.  Strawberry Jam Filling

a.  You can make your own jam or buy a bottle of good quality strawberry jam.  I used Bonne Maman strawberry jam I bought from the supermarket.

b.  Scoop out the top of the cupcake using a melon baller.  I do not have a melon baller, so I used an orange juicer (picture below) to make a hole, twist it and the top of the cupcake came up with the tool.

c.  Scoop jam into the holes of the cupcakes.

4.  Frosting

Ingredients:
250g cream cheese
250g unsalted butter
500g icing sugar
A few drops of Moscato
A few drops of pink food colouring

a.  Place cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat till soft and creamy.

b.  In another bowl, place softened butter and icing sugar and beat light and fluffy.

c.  Add cream cheese to the butter mixture bit by bit until well combined.

d.  Add a few drops of Moscato (not too much or it will be runny) and pink food colouring to the mixture and beat on low speed until it the colour is even.

e.  Chill the frosting till it is a bit firmer for piping.

Finally, pipe the icing and top it with half a strawberry.   Enjoy!

*Recipe above is adapted from Peggy Porschen’s Boutique Baking cookbook.