Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

That’s right, my treats and I are back and ready to bake! It’s been a few weeks now since I last posted a recipe, during which time I’ve fully settled into the new house, driven about a million miles on my way to and from work, battled through flood waters and also trotted off to Florida and the Caribbean for 2 weeks – that part was my favourite.

Now though I’m back and am bringing some joy into your lives in the form of Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes. They don’t taste like strawberry cheesecake, I’m going to say that from the start. They do however combine all the elements of a cheesecake into cupcakey goodness which I’m fairly sure is more than acceptable; strawberries in the cake, a cream cheese frost and digestive biscuit decoration – delicious! Despite this, they’re also fairly simple to make, using only basic ingredients that most people will have in their cupboards. There’s little that annoys me more than finding a recipe that looks great but has ingredients that I’ve never even heard of before...or will cost me a fortune.  

I suppose in a way, this recipe is my goodbye to summer, using up the last of the local strawberries before winter comes and ruins it all. Although saying that, there are a lot of great recipes which I think are more suited to winter....crumble pudding...gingerbread....and don’t even get me started on Christmas baking.

Yesterday though, we had some sunshine with a little warmth still left in it and it inspired me to write one last summery recipe. Enjoy!

Some final tips before you get started:

• When adding the egg, the mixture will get very wet and quite horrible looking. No need to worry however, once you add the flour it will all come together.
• Keep the cream cheese cold before you add it to the icing. I know some bakers recommend using room temperature cheese however I find this makes it too runny.
• I piped my icing onto the cakes, just because I find it a lot quicker. However feel free to spread it on with a spoon.
• Make sure your cupcakes are fully cooled before icing or else the icing will run and basically just make a mess.
• Finally, I tend to keep these cakes in the fridge due to the cream cheese frosting – keep it fresh!

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes Makes 12

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

200g Unsalted Butter (softened)

200g Golden Caster Sugar

4 Eggs

¼ tsp. Vanilla Extract

¼ tsp. Ground Cinnamon

200g Self Raising Flour

175g Strawberries (hulled and chopped)

For the Frosting:

50g Unsalted Butter (softened)

100g Cream Cheese (full fat)

350g Icing Sugar (sifted)

Digestive Biscuits to decorate

12 hole muffin tin

1)      Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases. Preheat the oven to 180◦C. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar for the cupcakes until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs, a stirring after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.

2)      Sift the flour and cinnamon into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined and smooth. Finally gently stir in the chopped strawberries, making sure they’re evenly distributed throughout the batter.

3)      Divide the mixture equally into the prepared muffin tin and back in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.  When cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

4)      When the cakes have cooled, make the frosting by whisking together the softened butter and cream cheese for the frosting. When smooth, sift the icing sugar and beat again until combined. Spread this frosting onto the cupcakes and decorate with some crushed up digestive biscuits. Enjoy!