Best Ever Mini Choc Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

These little cupcakes are a beauty! Chocolate + Strawberry is a classic combination that everybody loves, not to mention these mini babies are fill with strawberry puree as well! Double strawberry goodness! They are seriously tasty!! Firstly, the cupcakes : soft, moist, light and cocoa-ty! You really wont get a better cupcake than this! Secondly, the frosting : strawberry puree mix in with cream cheese = taste just like frozen yoghurt, it is delightful! Thirdly, the strawberry puree, this really is the hero ingredient in this cupcakes! I had quite a lot of the puree left over after making the frosting so i used them to fill up the cupcakes. And that was the best move i have ever made! The puree makes the cupcakes extra moist and really helps to blend the strawberry flavour into the chocolate cupcakes! oh myyy, making me hungry just talking about it!!! This really is the BEST cupcakes i have made so far!!! The combination of the cupcake, frosting and puree just melt in your mouth, they are so soft, fluffy and moist! You can eat the whole batch and not feel sick because the texture is just so light.

Chocolate Cupcakes (I halved below recipe to make 30 mini cupcakes)

(see my chocolate cupcakes post to see how moist and fluffy this cupcakes are!)

• 2 cups plus 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup plus 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp. baking powder
• 1½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Method:

1. Preheat Oven 180C. Line 2 mini muffin trays with paper liners.
2. Sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract; whisk together.
4. Add to the dry ingredients and mix with wooden spoon until mixture is combine.
5. Add the boiling water and stir just to combine (batter will be thin).
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing (Recipe from My Baking Addiction)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup whole strawberries
• 120g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 240g of cream cheese, slightly cold
• 1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 31/2 cup of icing sugar

Method

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter on medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. Add in the cream cheese and beat until combined. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined.
4. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree to fill cupcakes); mix until just blended.

Note: The frosting is able to be piped, but is on the soft side and definitely needs to be refrigerated!

Strawberry Puree Filling

• 1/2 cup whole strawberries

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed

Note:

1. If your strawberries are slightly on the sour side, add some icing sugar to the puree to sweeten it.

2. I used the total of 250g of strawberries for these cupcakes + frosting.

Assemble Cupcakes

1. Cut a small hole in the cupcake
2. Fill strawberry puree in the hole
3. Put the cap back on
4. Pipe strawberry frosting on mini cupcake! 🙂

Creamy Lemon Tart with Strawberries

I made this tart back in February, summer was coming to the end, but I was trying to hold onto the last bit of this warm weather where ever I can. So I decided to make this lemon cream pie with strawberries. The refreshing taste of the lemon cream goes really well with the strawberries, it makes this tart into quite a light tasting dessert, perfect for those summer days.

This tart is a quick and easy dessert, and as usual I cheated…and got a tart case from the frozen aisle! It just saved so much time and it still turned out really well!

Creamy Lemon Tart with Strawberries (Serve 6-8)

(recipe from Technicolour Kitchen)

• 1 x tart case (shortcrust pastry)

Filling

• ½ cup (120ml) heavy cream
• ¾ cup lemon curd* (or you can buy a jar of lemon spread if you are pressing time!)
• 450g fresh strawberries, hulled, large strawberries halved

Lemon Curd Receip

• 1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice
• zest of the juiced lemons
• 63g unsalted butter, chopped
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 1 and a half eggs, beaten

Method:

Start with the curd: place the lemon juice, zest, butter, sugar and eggs in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan if rapidly simmering water. Cook, stirring continuously, for 20 minutes or until mixture has thickened slightly. Pass through a sieve into a glass/ceramic bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool and thick.

Make Tart:

1.  Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

2.  Bake the tart case for 15-20mins.

3.  Meanwhile prepare lemon curd.

4.  In a medium mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream until firm peaks form. Fold about half of the cream into the lemon curd, then fold in the rest of the cream. Pour the filling into the tart shell and spread it out evenly.

5.  Lightly cover the tart with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until cold, about 1 hour, or up to 4 hours. Remove the outer ring of the pan before serving.

6.  Arrange Strawberries on the tart.

NOTES: My cream turned out a bit more runny than I like, the original recipe call for soft peak whipped cream, but I would whip my cream to very firm peak next time to give the lemon cream a firmer consistency.

Easy Sponge Cake

This is a easy easy sponge cake recipe! If I am press with time, this is definitely my go to recipe to whip up a quick basic sponge cake. No needs to separate the eggs, no need multiple bowls for the cake batter, a easy, no mess recipe! You can clean up in no time! Fill it with some whipped cream and jam, you got yourself a beautiful looking cake!

Easy Sponge Cake (Serve 6-8)

(from cookbook ‘In the Kitchen’)

• 4 eggs
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 2/3 cup of plain flour

Assemble with:

• strawberry jam
• 500 ml thicken cream, whipped
• icing sugar, to dust on top of the cake

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180C

2.  Butter a 20cm springform cake tin and line the sides and bottom with baking paper. Butter the paper and sprinkle it with a little plain flour to ensure that the batter won’t stick.

3.  Beat the eggs and caster sugar together until very thick and light. Carefully fold in the flour, then spoon the mix into the prepared cake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

4.  Allow cake to cool completely on a cooling rack. Peel away baking paper.

5.  Cut cake in half and spread a layer of jam and whipped cream on the bottom half of the cake. Then spread another layer of jam of the top half of the cake. Place top layer cake on top of the bottom layer. Sprinkle with icing sugar, serve!

NOTES:

1. The cake is best serve on the day. Store left overs in the fridge in a air tight container.

Mini Cheesecake

Cheesecake is one of my favourite desserts, I love that they are so rich, creamy and satisfying, always hit the spot when I have them! I don’t make a whole cheesecake a lot, but I love making these mini individual cheesecakes, they are just so cute! They are also a winner to bring to a dinner party or afternoon tea, they taste fantastic and look gorgeous and only takes a little effort to make them! Trust me, this mini cheesecake will make you seem like a cheesecake making pro!
Cheesecake mixture is very forgiving, you cant really stuff it up, the most important thing when it comes down to baking cheesecake is -NOT to over bake it!  If you over baked your cheesecake, it will come out dry and not creamy. So when you take out your cheesecake from the oven, the edge of the cheesecake should be set but when you gently shake the muffin tray, the center of the cheesecake should be a bit wobbly – that will set after chilling in the fridge for 2-4 hours or overnight. And there, you will have one rich, creamy, tasty cheesecake!

Mini Baked Cheesecake – Make 10
(Recipe from Exclusively Food)
Base

• 150g Nice biscuits (we use Arnott’s brand)
• 70g butter, melted

Filling

• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 75g (1/3 cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 1 large egg (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
• 20ml (1 tablespoon) lemon juice
• 100ml (5 tablespoons) thickened cream (about 35 percent fat)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Celsius fan-forced).Line 10 holes of a muffin pan muffin cases.
2. Finely crush biscuits in a food processor or blender. Then mix crushed biscuits with melted butter.
3. Divide biscuit mixture evenly among cases (about one firmly packed tablespoon of biscuit mixture per case). Firmly press mixture down with the back of a teaspoon until smooth. Set bases aside while making the filling.
4. Beat cream cheese and caster sugar in an electric mixer or food processor. Stop the machine a couple of times to scrape down the sides and base of the bowl. When the mixture is completely smooth and creamy, add egg and beat until combined. Add lemon juice and cream and beat until well combined. Divide mixture evenly among cases.
5. Bake cheesecakes for 17-20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 30 minutes.
6. Remove cheesecakes from pan, place in an airtight container and refrigerate for 2-4 hours or overnight. Cheesecakes are ready to serve when they are cold and set. Remove cases before serving.

NOTES:
1. Serve with your choice of fruits. I like mine with strawberries or rapsberries or blueberries and also mango or kiwi fruits! Or sometimes, just good old plain cheesecake! Classic!