Cook with the season
How best to use June’s nest ingredients
in season this month
asparagus aubergines courgettes jersey royal potatoes langoustines mangetout mint peaches scallors
Strawberry cupcakes
Chopping the strawberries into little pieces and folding through the batter ensures these dainty cupcakes stay beautifully moist.
45 MINUTES | MAKES 12 | EASY
salted butter 100g, softened
golden caster sugar 100g
eggs 2, room temperature
self-raising flour 100g vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract ¼ tsp
baking powder ½ tsp
strawberries 100g, hulled and finely chopped, plus six halved to decorate
whole milk a splash (if needed)
ICING
freeze-dried strawberries 3 tbsp butter 150g, softened
icing sugar 250g
whole milk a splash (if needed)
1 Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and line a 12-hole cupcake tin with paper cases. Beat the butter and caster sugar in a large bowl using electric beaters for a couple of minutes or until it turns pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, along with 1 tbsp of the flour with each egg, and beat for 1 minute between each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
2 Tip in half of the remaining flour with the baking powder and a pinch of salt. Use a large metal spoon to gently fold it in, being careful not to knock out any air. Fold in the remaining flour and the chopped strawberries. The mixture should drop off the spoon easily – if not, add 1 tbsp of milk and gently fold again. Divide the mixture equally between the cases and bake for 10-12 minutes or until risen, golden and a skewer poked into the centres comes out clean. Put on a wire rack to cool completely.
3 Put the freeze-dried strawberries in a blender and whizz to a rough powder. Whizz the butter using an electric whisk until light and fluffy, then add the icing sugar, a spoonful at a time, whisking well between each addition. Stir in the strawberry powder and add a splash of milk if it’s a little thick. Spoon onto the cupcakes, or use a piping bag to pipe the icing onto each, then top each cupcake with a strawberry half. Will keep for two days in an airtight container (without the strawberry halves).
PER CUPCAKE 326 kcals | fat 18.3G saturates 11.2G | carbs 37.2G | sugars 30.7G fibre 1G | protein 2.5G | salt 0.5G