When strawberries are in season, I love incorporating them into a decadent frosting, atop fresh lemon cupcakes. These cupcakes are moist, and are adapted from the French lemon yogurt cake recipe which I rely on often. They're great as a hostess gift, to take to celebrations. This flavor combination is inspired by 'pink lemonade' and are designed to have a good balance of sweet and tart. The lemon flavor is enhanced by zest, but also a lemon glaze.
Ingredients
For 12 cupcakes:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Lemon zest from 1 American lemon size lemon, or 3 Indian lemons
1/2 cup of regular cooking oil (flavorless / tasteless)
For glaze: 1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 cup lemon juice, boil together till combined to make a syrup
For the frosting:
1 cup fresh strawberries (pick the reddest ones you can find so they are sweet)
1 cup butter (227 grams)
3.5 cups confectioner's (icing) sugar, sifted (sift icing BEFORE you measure).
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Place your cupcake liners in muffin / cupcake pan and keep ready.
In a bowl, combine yogurt, sugar, eggs, and oil and stir until smooth.
In a second bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest until combined.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold in to combine, do not over mix. Just until flour disappears and there are no lumps.
Pour into cupcake pan and bake for 15-17 minutes until toothpick comes out smooth when inserted in center of cupcake.
Cool cupcakes completely, then start glazing them with the lemon syrup. I glazed about 3-4 times before the glaze was fully absorbed. Make sure your glaze is syrupy and not too thin. If so, then keep boiling on low heat until it thickens.
You can start your frosting while your cupcakes are cooling. Start by removing the stems of the strawberries, and then place them into a blender or food processor until they turn into a smooth puree.
Place the puree into a saucepan and boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Keep watching, but depending on the size of your pan and the level of heat, the puree should change into a deeper red color and reduce by at least half. This should take about 15 minutes, give or take.
Cool the red puree completely. I sometimes do this step the day before, or whenever strawberries are ripe and at their sweetest.
In an electric hand / stand mixer, beat your butter until it is light and fluffy, with some peaks. It should become a lighter color too.
Keep your sifted sugar ready, and measure out 1 cup, pour it into the butter, and beat again until just incorporated.
Add two tablespoons of your red strawberry puree, along with the vanilla extract into your whipped butter until just combined. The color should change to a light pink.
Repeat with 1 cup more of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Repeat the above step again until you have used up all your sugar and puree.
In the end, your frosting should look like this.
This is also a good time to taste the frosting, and adjust for more sweetness, and throw in a pinch of salt to balance it out. You can make the frosting ahead of time and store in an airtight container for a week in the freezer, or 3 days in the fridge.
Use a piping bag, or a spatula to top your cupcakes with the strawberry frosting as you wish. Be creative! You can garnish with cupcake toppers, or some lemon zest. Use as much or as little frosting per cupcake as you see fit. Some like cupcakes sweet, while others don't.
If you make the cupcakes in advance of your celebration or service, feel free to store in an airtight container in the fridge, but do not forget to bring them to room temperature by keeping them out for at least an hour before you plan to enjoy them.
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