Jubilee Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

Yes it's another Jubilee bake - I can't help it! My street had a street party today so I got up early to bake these little treats for my neighbours. It's my first street party and I've never seen anything quite like it. There's a lovely community atmosphere. It looks extremely festive with all the bunting and fancy dress. There's food, drinks, games, raffles, prizes... a really fun day! My cupcakes went down a treat and they disappeared within the first 15 minutes!! 

The cupcakes have fresh strawberries in the batter which give them a lovely juicy, moist flavour. It has a strawberry jam centre, finished with a vanilla buttercream and a fresh strawberry slice. I especially liked the Lakeland 'It's British' cupcake set which a colleague bought for me as a gift - thank you J!! :)

I'm sending these to the Tea Time Treats table hosted this month by Kate from What Kate Baked and co-hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme for June is summer fruits so I'm sure these strawberries and cream cupcakes count! 

 My Sweet Party hosted by Johanna from Me and My Sweets has also chosen summer fruits as the theme for June so I'm adding them to her party too! 

As these are cupcakes, I'm also sending them to Cupcake Tuesday hosted by Liz from Hoosier Homemade

I'm also entering them to the #oneingredient challenge hosted by Nazima from Working London Mummy and co-hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food

 Cupcake set from Lakeland - contains 24 cupcake cases and 24 flag toppers. Perfect for the occasion. 

 Adding fresh strawberries to the batter 

 Decided to try out my new cupcake plunger. I couldn't quite get the hang of it so I used a melon baller for most of the cakes. Has anyone else used this before? I followed the instructions but I couldn't seem to get the core of the cake out and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Any advice would be much appreciated :) 

 Fresh cupcakes ready to fill and frost

 Make a hole with a cupcake corer (or melon baller)

 Fill with strawberry jam 

 Replace the cake 

 Pipe frosting on top 

 Add a slice of fresh strawberry on top

I couldn't resist getting out my new cupcake stand which I found in Camden market yesterday. It has strawberry charms which are perfect. I have the exact same stand with cupcake charms but this is so cute and perfect for summer! I'm sure you'll be seeing more of this in the coming months :)

 Big ben 

 London Taxi 

 Soldier

 Red bus 

Which topper is your favourite? 

Strawberries and cream cupcakes - makes 22 of the size shown (I made 1.5 recipes - the recipe below is for 1 recipe ie 22 cupcakes) 

For the cupcakes

225g butter

225g caster sugar

4 eggs
210g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g cornflour
180g fresh, ripe strawberries, hulled and chopped

For the filling

Strawberry jam - approximately 1 teaspoon per cupcake

For the vanilla buttercream frosting (enough to frost ~25 cupcakes)

250g butter

500g icing sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons milk

• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• Cream the butter and sugar then beat in the eggs, one by one. 
• Add the flours and baking powder and beat well together. 
• Finally stir in the chopped fresh strawberries. 
• Scoop the cake batter into the cases using an ice cream scoop (or just use a spoon), filling them to about 2/3 full. 
• Bake in the oven for about 20 -25  minutes.
• The cakes will be fairly moist even when cooked. 
• Remove from the oven and leave in their tins for about 10 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool. 
• Once completely cool, carefully make a small hole in the centre of each cupcake using a cupcake corer or melon baller. 
• Fill the hole with 1 teaspoon of strawberry jam then replace the sponge.
• To make the vanilla buttercream - beat all the ingredients together in an electric mixer until smooth. 
• Pipe the vanilla buttercream on top of the cupcakes.
• Decorate with a slice of fresh strawberry and cupcake toppers. Alternatively, you can use sprinkles. 

Hi Hat Marshmallow Cupcakes

This month's letter for AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and co-hosted by myself on alternate months is.... "H". H really is Hard and initially all I could think of was honey, honeycomb and hazelnuts, all of which I like. However, I wanted to push the boat out this month as that's part of the fun of these challenges. So far I've entered Hamburger cupcakes and Hummingbird cupcakes and now I present to you.... Hi Hat Marshmallow Cupcakes!! I was really pleased when I came across these in my new book Amazing Cupcakes with Lola. I've seen these mostly on American blogs previously and have always wanted to try making them as they look so cute. The recipe is easy to follow and the cupcakes taste great! The chocolate cupcake is moist and not too sweet (I did reduce the sugar amount) and the soft, light marshmallow frosting complements the chocolate cake. The chocolate coating on top is of course the icing on the cake :) 

I'm also entering these beauties to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes.

And to Cupcake Tuesday hosted by Liz from Hoosier Homemade

And to My Sweet Party hosted by Johanna from Me and My Sweets.  The theme for this month is Chocolate so these are perfect as they are extremely chocolatey. 

 Make chocolate cupcake batter 

 whip egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and water until foamy... 

 ...then whisk over a pan of simmering water until you get stiff peaks like this. 

 ready to frost? 

 start with one outer circle 

 add another layer on top 

 if you can, add yet another layer - you want to frost as high as possible! 

 not too bad

 don't look too closely especially the back row!! 

 I used a tall, deep glass to dip the cupcakes in

 bit messy but yummy! 

 some disasters along the way...the frosting fell off into the chocolate coating! :( 

 cross section 

Recipe from Making Cupcakes with Lola by Victoria Jossel & Romy Lewis, photography by Kate Whitaker. Published by Ryland Peters & Small - reproduced with kind permission from the publisher (I've edited the method section slightly in my own words)

Makes 12 cupcakes 

For the cake

100g dark chocolate

175g butter 

225g  caster sugar (I used 180g)

4 eggs

100g self raising flour

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

pinch of salt

For the easy marshmallow frosting

180g caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3 egg whites

60ml water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate coating

350g milk chocolate (I used dark as I didn't have enough milk)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar.
• Allow to cool for 10 minutes. 
• Beat the mixture with an electric hand mixer. 
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. 
• Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into the bowl and beat until blended. 
• Divide the mixture into the cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen and cooked. 

• To make the frosting, whisk the egg whites, cream of tartar, sugar and 60ml water in a large heat proof bowl until foamy as shown in the picture above. 
• Bring a small saucepan of water to a gentle simmer and set the bowl on the pan.
• Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes.
• Remove from the heat, beat in the vanilla extract and continue beating until the frosting is nice and thick. 
• Transfer to a piping bag with a plain round nozzle.
• Pipe the frosting on the cupcakes as shown.
• I put my cupcakes in the freezer at this point to help the frosting set.

• Make the chocolate coating by melting the chocolate and vegetable oil in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
• Transfer to a small, deep bowl or tall, wide glass and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
• Holding each cupcake by the base, dip the marshmallow spiral into the cooled, melted chocolate to entirely coat the spiral.
• (Note: if the chocolate is too hot, it melts the marshmallow frosting and I personally think chilling the cupcakes for 10-15 minutes helped!)
• Allow the cupcakes to set at room temperature before serving.