Cook the Book: Ponchatoula Strawberry Cupcakes
Ever since I first started baking as a child, I've been searching for a recipe for strawberry cupcakes—perfect, pink confections with the sweet flavor of pure sunshine. There are plenty of versions to be found, but most call for frozen strawberries or strawberry jam. I wanted cupcakes that incorporated actual berries—preferably ones I had plucked from a bush myself from the rows behind my local farm stand. After years of searching to no avail, I had all but given up.
Enter Martha Hall Foose, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea. I literally squealed with joy when I turned to page 230 and discovered her recipe for Ponchatoula Strawberry Cupcakes. Not only do the cupcakes call for 1 cup of mashed ripe strawberries but the frosting uses 1/2 cup as well. The results are gorgeous—tender little cakes with a beautiful rosy hue, perfect for any tea or birthday party.
Win ‘Screen Doors and Sweet Tea’
In addition to excerpting a recipe each day this week, we're giving away five copies of Screen Doors and Sweet Tea. Enter to win here.
Ponchatoula Strawberry Cupcakes
- makes 24 cupcakes -
Adapted from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose.
Ingredients
For the cake:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed fresh or frozen strawberries
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
For the frosting:
1/2 cup chopped fresh or frozen strawberries
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
Procedure
1. Make the cupcakes. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or line with foil baking cups.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In another medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, and almond and vanilla extracts; set aside.
4. In an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add the buttermilk mixture. Beat for 1 minute at medium speed.
5. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Stir in the strawberries and the orange zest. Spoon into the prepared muffin tins, filling them two-thirds full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or when cupcakes spring back when touched lightly in the center. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then unmold the cupcakes and cool on racks.
6. Make the frosting. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the strawberries, jam, and lemon juice. Cook and stir for 5 minutes, or until the jam is melted and the strawberries are soft. Press any big pieces with the back of a spoon to mash.
7. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese and butter at medium speed until creamy. At low speed, slowly add the confectioners’ sugar and mix until combined. Add the strawberries and mix at low speed until blended.
8. When the cupcakes are completely cool, spread with the frosting.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
5 Comments:
This sounds heavenly. I think you would find the frosting could tolerate a heavy reduction in butter though. I would reduce it to 1/4 cup and probably use 3 cups of powdered sugar. Love butter but this is serious overkill.
mcmvoices at 8:33PM on 06/22/08
Chocolate is the #1 choice for so many people when it comes to sweets but I'd take one of these strawberry cupcakes over anything chocolate, anytime. Strawberry cream cheese frosting...I have no words to describe the inevitable taste bud joy. Maybe punctuation would do the trick: !!!!!!!!!
holdthemayo at 5:17AM on 06/23/08
Wow that sounds delicious and since a trip to the farm to pick is in my near future I will take full advantage of this recipe! The book sounds amazing!
LoriA at 1:25PM on 06/30/08
I made these last week, much to the delight of my family and co-workers, and they were fantastic! The recipe is way too heavy on the butter, though - following the instructions left us with slightly sweetened butter spread on top of cupcakes. I worked another four cups of powdered sugar in to make the frosting more frosting-y, and it was still a bit too buttery. In the future, I'd use one stick instead of three.
eatingme at 11:47AM on 07/09/08
The recipe here makes way too much frosting. I was able to frost 48 cupcakes with the amount I had.
kathryn at 5:20PM on 07/13/08