Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes (Entry for Wimbledon Bake Off)

Readers, I’ve been experimenting with cupcakes again.  For a family get together a few weeks ago, I wanted to share a taste of summer with everyone and support our local farmers who are busy growing great tasting strawberries.

For this recipe I paired my cupcake recipe with a strawberry jam filling, cream cheese style frosting and made my own strawberry syrup to coat the strawberries on top of the cake.

The result: a delicious and summery cupcake perfect for garden parties and afternoon tea!

This recipe could also be adapted for raspberries or even a mix of Summer berries.

Oh and I'm also entering this recipe into the Wimbledon Bake Off 2015, held in conjunction with Ralph Lauren. 

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes for the Wimbledon Bake Off

Ingredients

175g self raising flour

175g slightly softened butter

175g caster sugar

3 medium eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Filling

4 heaped teaspoons strawberry jam (pulsed in blender for 10 secs to get through a piping bag with thin nozzle)

Cream Cheese Frosting

60g butter

100g full fat cream cheese

400g icing sugar

12 small whole strawberries

Strawberry Sauce

½ cup caster sugar

½ cup water

1 cup chopped strawberries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190c/ Fan 170c/ Gas 5.  Fill a muffin tin with 12 large cupcake cases.
2. Firstly set aside 12 whole berries for the topping. 
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add in the vanilla essence and mix together with an electric mixer.
4. Next add two eggs and sift in the flour. Mix with an electric mixer until combined.  If your mix is fairly wet, you won’t need the third egg. (I did!)
5. Then add in the final egg and mix until your cake batter comes together.
6. Spoon the mix into the 12 muffin cases and bake in the oven for 17-18 minutes until golden on top and a metal skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven, remove from the tray and cool on a wire rack.

   

   Straight out of the oven

Filling

1. Transfer 4 heaped teaspoons of quality strawberry jam to a blender and pulse until smooth but not runny. Next take a disposable piping bag fitted with a cupcake filler long nozzle (I got one in The Range) and check cakes are fully cooled.

   

   Smooth out the jam in the processor

2. Insert the nozzle into the top of each cake and with a small, light squeeze, fill the cake with a little jam.  Remove the nozzle and ensure that the filling doesn’t come out of the top of the cake.

Sauce Topping

1. Firstly, make your strawberry sauce by adding the sugar and water to a medium, heavy based pan.  Setting the hob to a medium heat, stir until sugar is dissolved.
2. Next, add in the strawberries and bring to a boil, for around 10 minutes.  Then, reduce heat and simmer until the sauce is thick and mushy.  Remove from pan and set aside to cool.  If you want a smooth sauce, use a hand blender to break down any remaining fruit.

Decorating

1. Chop your butter and add to a clean bowl, using an electric mixer beat the butter until light and fluffy.
2. Slowly add the icing sugar until a buttercream is formed, mixing as you go. 
3. Keep the cream cheese in the fridge until ready to use.  Then, scoop out 100g and add to your buttercream mix.  Whisk into the mix to combine but be careful not to over-mix as cream cheese goes runny very quickly.  If too soft, set aside in the fridge to firm up slightly before transferring to a piping bag.
4. When ready to ice, use a disposable piping bag with open star nozzle to pipe swirls on top of each cake.  Decorate with a whole strawberry and drizzle with the now cool sauce.