cuppycakes!
Jun. 12th, 2013 12:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veronica_rich(Icon because it's the closest thing I have to a food theme right now - the lemons are momentarily banished to Paid Extra Userpics Land.)
Last weekend was my sister's birthday. Last year I made cupcakes from a mix and made homemade buttercream icing and did a little decorating on top of them in an Avengers theme. This year I didn't feel like decorating, but still had a tough time coming up with an idea for the cupcakes. So after scouting the Interwebz and thinking of what she likes, I came up with a mish-mash of recipes condensed into one.
And so, I present, with accompanying photos for the interested, my Strawberry Oreo Pecan Cupcakes.
It really isn't that hard to make these cupcakes. My main worry was that they would be too moist to bake properly since they would incorporate chunks of real strawberries (as opposed to flavoring or dried fruit). So I had to allow for that in the final product.
Ingredients to make 24-28 regular-sized cupcakes:
Vanilla cake mix (with attendant ingredients you'll need to make it)
Package of Double-Stuff Oreos (I used the limited edition Strawberry Oreos)
Half a quart of strawberries
1 container of chocolate fudge frosting
Small bag of pecan halves
The good thing about this recipe is you can make substitutions in various areas. Prefer blueberries or some other small or choppable non-stone fruit over strawberries? Do you like vanilla frosting? Would you rather use red velvet or cherry-chip cake mix? Walnuts instead of pecans? Whatever combinations make you happy - but this is the basic template.
Directions:
1. Wash and dice the strawberries. I went fairly small, but not microscopic. I did this by hand - if you have a chopper of some sort that won't reduce it to mush, go for it. (Note: You will get some juice out of this; that's just unavoidable. For this reason, I recommend doing this a few hours ahead of time, or the night before, then refrigerating, so the juice can sort of drain toward the bottom of the bowl.) This is a small, cereal-sized bowl, by the way - it's just a large photo.
2. When you're ready to make the cupcakes, combine your cake mix ingredients and beat as the box directs. Since nearly any mix requires water, here's how you solve your strawberry drainage problem: Pour the juice off the bowl of chopped berries and incorporate it into how much water you have to add (as in, use that much less water, substituting strawberry juice instead).
Extra baking tip: I always increase the amount of vegetable oil I put in my cake to make it more moist. If the box calls for 1/3 cup oil, I put in 1/2; you don't have to increase it by much, and it does make a difference between tasty and dry.
3. Scoop the strawberries onto the top of the beaten cake mix and fold gently into the mix; don't beat. You want chunks of berries in the cupcakes, remember, not a puree. (FYI: I did not use that entire bowl of chopped strawberries that you see. I cut up about 3/4 of a quart and it was a little too much, so I just used what equaled 1/2 a quart and turned the rest into the cook's treat with a spoon. Mmmmm ...)
4. Line your cupcake pan with paper cups. Unscrew the same number of Oreos so that you end up with all the filling on one side of each, and none on the other sides; place 1 filling-laden side cookie side-down in the bottom of each paper cup.
5. Take half to three-quarters of the leftover non-filling cookie tops and crumble them over the cake mix/strawberry batter. Chunks are okay, too; just think of them as similar to chocolate chips. Again, fold gently into the batter.
6. Spoon enough batter into each paper cup, over the half-Oreo, almost to the top of the cup's edge. (Some people will tell you to only fill it 2/3 full, but I'd go a little over 3/4 or so. It will rise a little, but not a whole lot.) Bake as the box directs, at the highest time - i.e., if it says 18-21 minutes, pick 21 minutes. Test when the time is up - you know the drill: a knife inserted to come out clean, the top should be springy when touched, etc.:
And here's how they look in a cross-section when cooled enough to cut. Yum!
7. Cool the cupcakes, then frost however you wish. I loaded the frosting into a decorator bag and piped it through a star tip in circular fashion, starting at the center. I wish I'd had a larger star aperture, but I'm cheap and we work with what we have in the house at the time. Place a half-pecan in the center to make it pretty, and voila!
8. Eat - but soon! I made these five days ago and while they're still pretty good, unrefrigerated, we're trying to finish them up because the bits of strawberry are starting to age a little bit - that is, they're getting just a bit soft and moist. You can extend their life by refrigerating the cupcakes if you have room, though.
Last weekend was my sister's birthday. Last year I made cupcakes from a mix and made homemade buttercream icing and did a little decorating on top of them in an Avengers theme. This year I didn't feel like decorating, but still had a tough time coming up with an idea for the cupcakes. So after scouting the Interwebz and thinking of what she likes, I came up with a mish-mash of recipes condensed into one.
And so, I present, with accompanying photos for the interested, my Strawberry Oreo Pecan Cupcakes.
It really isn't that hard to make these cupcakes. My main worry was that they would be too moist to bake properly since they would incorporate chunks of real strawberries (as opposed to flavoring or dried fruit). So I had to allow for that in the final product.
Ingredients to make 24-28 regular-sized cupcakes:
Vanilla cake mix (with attendant ingredients you'll need to make it)
Package of Double-Stuff Oreos (I used the limited edition Strawberry Oreos)
Half a quart of strawberries
1 container of chocolate fudge frosting
Small bag of pecan halves
The good thing about this recipe is you can make substitutions in various areas. Prefer blueberries or some other small or choppable non-stone fruit over strawberries? Do you like vanilla frosting? Would you rather use red velvet or cherry-chip cake mix? Walnuts instead of pecans? Whatever combinations make you happy - but this is the basic template.
Directions:
1. Wash and dice the strawberries. I went fairly small, but not microscopic. I did this by hand - if you have a chopper of some sort that won't reduce it to mush, go for it. (Note: You will get some juice out of this; that's just unavoidable. For this reason, I recommend doing this a few hours ahead of time, or the night before, then refrigerating, so the juice can sort of drain toward the bottom of the bowl.) This is a small, cereal-sized bowl, by the way - it's just a large photo.
2. When you're ready to make the cupcakes, combine your cake mix ingredients and beat as the box directs. Since nearly any mix requires water, here's how you solve your strawberry drainage problem: Pour the juice off the bowl of chopped berries and incorporate it into how much water you have to add (as in, use that much less water, substituting strawberry juice instead).
Extra baking tip: I always increase the amount of vegetable oil I put in my cake to make it more moist. If the box calls for 1/3 cup oil, I put in 1/2; you don't have to increase it by much, and it does make a difference between tasty and dry.
3. Scoop the strawberries onto the top of the beaten cake mix and fold gently into the mix; don't beat. You want chunks of berries in the cupcakes, remember, not a puree. (FYI: I did not use that entire bowl of chopped strawberries that you see. I cut up about 3/4 of a quart and it was a little too much, so I just used what equaled 1/2 a quart and turned the rest into the cook's treat with a spoon. Mmmmm ...)
4. Line your cupcake pan with paper cups. Unscrew the same number of Oreos so that you end up with all the filling on one side of each, and none on the other sides; place 1 filling-laden side cookie side-down in the bottom of each paper cup.
5. Take half to three-quarters of the leftover non-filling cookie tops and crumble them over the cake mix/strawberry batter. Chunks are okay, too; just think of them as similar to chocolate chips. Again, fold gently into the batter.
6. Spoon enough batter into each paper cup, over the half-Oreo, almost to the top of the cup's edge. (Some people will tell you to only fill it 2/3 full, but I'd go a little over 3/4 or so. It will rise a little, but not a whole lot.) Bake as the box directs, at the highest time - i.e., if it says 18-21 minutes, pick 21 minutes. Test when the time is up - you know the drill: a knife inserted to come out clean, the top should be springy when touched, etc.:
And here's how they look in a cross-section when cooled enough to cut. Yum!
7. Cool the cupcakes, then frost however you wish. I loaded the frosting into a decorator bag and piped it through a star tip in circular fashion, starting at the center. I wish I'd had a larger star aperture, but I'm cheap and we work with what we have in the house at the time. Place a half-pecan in the center to make it pretty, and voila!
8. Eat - but soon! I made these five days ago and while they're still pretty good, unrefrigerated, we're trying to finish them up because the bits of strawberry are starting to age a little bit - that is, they're getting just a bit soft and moist. You can extend their life by refrigerating the cupcakes if you have room, though.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-06-12 08:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-12 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-12 05:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-23 11:32 pm (UTC)