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Strawberry Cupcakes ~ ' Malaysian Monday No.11'


When I saw the post of Strawberry Cupcakes from Biren's blog @   'Roti n Rice',   I was so impressed with the pictures, especially the cross-section of the cupcake exposing the red, juicy strawberry.  It was so pretty and without much hesitation bookmarked it.



For this recipe, I used our local Cameron Highlands strawberries which can be found almost everywhere in the cool highlands.  However, they are not as big and as sweet as those grown overseas.  A visit to some of these farms is an eye-opener to see how they're being grown, more so if they're grown hydroponically.  Growing them in this way is to grow them without soil, on raised trays fed by water containing essential nutrients to ensure healthy growth.
To make it even more interesting for tourists, some of these farms have come up with the idea of 'self-picking' the strawberries.  All you need to do is to pick up a bag, pick and choose whatever size and amount of strawberries you fancy, then it's weighed to determine the cost of your harvest.
Now coming back to this recipe ...... as directed by Biren,  I  proceeded to  Food Network  to catch a glimpse of the recipe, tweaked it a bit and here is my version of 'Strawberry Cupcakes'!



This one has a fresh strawberry stuffed in it.  I just cut a hole from the top of the cake big enough to stuff in a whole strawberry, patch it up with some cake, then dust icing sugar to cover up the 'surgery'.  I used our local Cameron Highlands strawberries as they were of the right size for my purpose. 



This one has a strawberry in it and it was baked together with the cake.  There's a small depression in the centre, so I sprinkled in some lemon zest to cover it up after dusting with icing sugar...... a 'facelift'!



This is it how it looked, with the baked strawberry ........ yummy  with icing sugar and it's a bit lemony!



This is the one with the fresh strawberry.  Arent' they pretty?


Ingredients     (Makes 12 cupcakes)
  • 6 oz plain flour
  • 1.1/2 level tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 level tsp salt   (reduced from 1/4 tsp as I've also reduced the sugar)
  • 2 eggs
  • 3oz caster sugar  (reduced from 2/3 cup)
  • 120 gm butter/margarine - melted   (reduced from  3/4 cup)
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1.1/2 tsp lemon zest
Method
  1. Melt the butter and let it cool.
  2. Sift flour with the baking powder and salt, set aside
  3. Prepare a patty tin and line them with paper cups, set aside
  4. Beat eggs and sugar till creamy and light.
  5. Gradually add in the melted butter, beat and mix till well incorporated.
  6. Add in the vanilla and lemon zest, mix well.
  7. Fold in the sifted flour alternating with the milk, in 3 batches, starting and ending with flour.  Mix well, scraping from the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl.  Take care not to overmix.
  8. Put 1.1/2 dessertspoons of batter into 6 cups, put in a whole strawberry, straight down and cover up with enough batter to 3/4 cup full.
  9. Fill up batter to 3/4 cup full for the remaining 6 cups.
  10. Bake in preheated oven @ 180 deg C for about 30 to 35 mins.  Test with a skewer till it comes out clean.
  11. Cool cupcakes on a rack in the tin for 10 mins., then remove.  Cool on rack completely.
To assemble the cupcakes without strawberry
  1. Remove cupcakes from the paper liners, cut and remove a strawberry (coned) shaped portion of cupcake from the top of the cake, leaving 1/2  inch of cake at the bottom.
  2. Stuff the cake with a whole strawberry, cover with a little bit of cake.  Dust with icing sugar to cover up the whole top of the cake.


If you like gardening and have green fingers, perhaps you can try growing your favourite herbs, fruits using the hydroponic method.  Perhaps this video can be of some help.  Click on it and watch!







Do find out more from this  'site'.

Comments

  1. pretty cupcakes and I love it with the strawberry inside.

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  2. Cheah..that is so refreshing...a strawberry in the centre. You mean when the cupcake is baked then only insert the strawberry into the cake. Not baked together ?

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  3. Makes the cupcake look so pretty and it looks like it has a heart!

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  4. Your strawberry cupcakes look so cute and yummy with those little strawberries. The strawberries here are huge and so I had to cut them down to size. Dusting them with powdered sugar is a great idea!

    It is fun and rewarding to grow your own strawberries. As they can be invasive, I grew them in a huge barrel. They are very sweet and the birds and rabbits love them too ;)

    Thanks for linking to me.

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  5. What a beautiful little cupcake. They look so tempting! Thanks for sharing and have a great day.
    Kristy

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  6. Beautiful cupcakes. Love the strawberry surprise when biting into it :)

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  7. Love the peeping strawberry from the cute little cup cakes.

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  8. I love the look of the cut cupcake especially with the strawberry peek out of it. Beautiful!!

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  9. By the way I too used all this type of containers to grow my herbs and tomatoes.

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  10. I love strawberry especially those imported from Korea. Your strawberry cupcakes look so pretty especially with some lemon zest on top.

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  11. Chow and Chatter
    Oh, Thanks!

    Chocolate
    Oh yes, that's why I bookmarked it straightaway!

    Jess
    Yes, a bit sweet and sourish flavour.

    Elin
    I tried both ways, one is to insert the strawberry after baking, the other is to bake together with the strawberry inside.

    Biren
    Thanks. Can't grow strawberries in this climate except up in the highlands. Wow, your barrel of strawberries will look so beautiful when they're in full bloom!

    Kristy
    Most welcome and you have a great day too!

    Busygran
    Yes, looks like it's got a heart,ha! ha!

    MaryMoh
    Yes, it'll be a surprise!

    Sanjeeta kk
    Thanks for visiting, yes they do look cute.

    ICook4Fun
    Thanks. Oh growing them hydroponically is so healthy and so much fun when reaping your harvest!

    Anncoo
    Thanks for compliments. Covered up the dent with lemon zest to give more colour!

    Ananda
    They're cute!

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  12. Wow, the strawberry inside the cupcake, look so beautiful, immediate bookmark!

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  13. I like the freshness of these cupcakes.

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  14. That lone strawberry takes centerstage! my dear.

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  15. Hi, Thanks for following my blog. I would like to know how to address you in my future comments... not too sure use "No Frills Recipes"...

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  16. penny
    Yes, it's cute and pretty.

    Sonia
    Yes, that was what attracted my attention when I saw it in Biren's blog!

    Angie
    Yummy with the fresh strawberry!

    tigerfish
    Can't agree with you more!

    Zoe
    You are more than welcome! Just address me as Cheah. That will do!

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  17. I love the cross section, it's beautiful, also very good "face-lift". LOL. I remember I tasted my first strawberries when I was about 6, in a cafe in Cameron Highlands. Been hooked ever since :) Thanks for some nostalgia.

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  18. Shaz
    Thanks for compliments. Brings back sweet memories of your childhood.

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  19. Actually I would at anytime prefer Cameron's strawberries. They ripen on the plant which is why the are red to the core, unlike those imported ones which are only red on the skin, but whitish at the core. And due to the matured ripening, Cameronian strawberries do not keep as long, but fragrance wise, they simply win over Driscollis anytime hands down.

    BTW, I definately prefer the fresh strawberry version of this cupcake :)

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  20. Wendy
    Thanks for dropping by. Yes our Cameron strawberries are more fragrant but the downside is that they're sour!

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  21. Sometimes they can be sweet.
    When the weather is sunny, u can get sweet ones, but if it's always cloudy up there, then it'll be sourish. I've been lucky a few times to get sweetish ones. The best will be when it's sunny but cool, then they'll be big and sweet :)

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  22. Gorgeous cupcakes! And I love strawberries. Will have to try making them. This is a great blog. I'm not the most savvy when it comes to cooking, so I like recipes without the frills!

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  23. Sharon Moh
    How nice of you to drop by! And thanks for the compliments re my blog, you sound so much like your mum!

    ReplyDelete

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