Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

This is my IronCupcake:Earth entry for June's Summer Berries challenge! These turned out to be one of my FAVORITES!!! This was also the first recipe I completely made up and just gave it a try...although I have become pretty knowledgeable about what/how much goes in a cake recipe, so it wasn't too daring! What I loved about the recipe is I tried it by just combining ingredients and not really paying attention to any steps...if you are like me, you don't like having to pay too much attention to recipes! The dense, coconut-y cupcake went perfectly with whipped cream and strawberry glaze! I was SO excited with the results. I am just loving how cupcakes turn out when you add coconut milk.

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Dry ingredients

2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar

Whisk!

Wet ingredients

1 14 fl. oz. can full fat coconut milk (or 1 2/3 c.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg whites

Whisk!

Combine and beat the mixture. Put in cupcake liners or grease pan. Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean. Easy, huh?!

Whipped Cream

I'm pretty sure everyone knows how to make whipped cream! Just beat heavy whipping cream until it forms soft peaks, add sugar to taste, beating after each addition!

Strawberry Glaze

I used a package of Junket Danish Dessert Strawberry Pudding/Pie filling/Glaze. (Anything similar would work great!) Then I put strawberries in a food processor and added them to the glaze. I made cuts in the top of the cupcakes so the glaze would soak into the cupcake. (The cupcakes are so dense that just poking holes with a toothpick wasn't enough!



The final touch was my favorite: strawberry pocky sticks!!! I am now addicted to them! They are Japanese biscuit sticks with strawberry cream on them. (See top picture.)

One last thing...any idea what I tried adding to some of the cupcakes?

I thought I was SO clever when I thought of adding gum to a cupcake...yeah, not so much. They sunk to the bottom while baking, and of COURSE they melted. What was I thinking? (Well, I was thinking strawberry gum might be a creative addition to my entry...)

Red Creme Soda Cupcakes for the Iron Cupcake: Earth April Challenge

I have been so excited to create these cupcakes since I first heard the Iron Cupcake: Earth cupcake challenge was soda pop! (They challenge bakers each month with a new ingredient. Check out their site at http://www.ironcupcakeearth.com/)

To decorate the cupcake, I put Barq's Red Creme Soda in the bottom of a glass, and cherries for added decor. I dropped the cupcake in the mug, letting the creme soda soak the very bottom of the cupcake. Next, I piped the frosting to look like ice cream using a 1A decorating tip. Finally, I wolfed it down with a fork! I LOVE anything cherry. I also added a straw so I could sip some of the red creme soda from the bottom. It's my favorite soda pop, after all, which is where I got the inspiration for my cupcakes. In our house, we love to make red creme soda floats, hence the decorating idea.

As for the contest, I thought I had until the end of the month to make and submit my cupcake...turns out it was due today at noon CENTRAL time! Yikes, I'm in mountain time, which means 11 AM! This morning I went as fast as I could (I even had to use a cake mix in the recipe-probably a huge blunder for iron cupcake!) and finished my creation on time-BARELY! I love how light and moist they turned out. Next time, I'd definitely make my own white cake, which was the original plan. Next time I need to pay more attention to the deadlines...but that's typical of me-I'm such a procrastinator!

Red Creme Soda Cupcakes

1 white cake mix (or a white cake from scratch and skip the water, oil and whole eggs)
1 c water
1/3 c oil
3 whole eggs
1/4 c Barq's Red Creme Soda
1 T Stasero cherry syrup

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare cupcake (muffin) pans by spraying cooking spray (I use Baker's Joy) or lining with baking liners. Stir cake mix, water, oil, and eggs until moistened. Add red creme soda and cherry syrup. Beat with a mixer on low speed for 2 minutes. Fill each part of the cupcake pan/liners 2/3 full. Bake about 16 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few crumbs attached to it. This time is for 12 cupcakes.

Red Creme Soda Frosting - Adapted from America's Test Kitchen's Quick and Rich Vanilla Frosting

2 tablespoons whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 T Stasero cherry syrup
1 T Barq's Red Creme Soda
15 maraschino cherries (you could just do 2/3 cup)

Stir the cream, vanilla, and salt together in a small bowl. Beat the butter on med-high speed until smooth. Reduce speed to med-low. Add the confectioners' sugar slowly and beat until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.

Beat in the cream mixture. Add cherry syrup, red creme soda, and cherries. Beat on high to puree the cherries. Beat until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

I'm competing to win the following prizes!

Our April ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
A creation by FRUITFLYPIE, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=16748
a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com/, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com/, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com/; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com/; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com/ .