Good gobble!: Strawberry Cupcakes

Last month at school we were told that we were going to be taking part in British Red Cross Week and were asked did we have any ideas for fundraising activities? Well of course whenever me and my colleague Hayley hear the the words 'fundraising', there is only one thing that pops into our minds: any excuse to bake.

We therefore decided to organise a cake sale for one break time, seeing as we've discovered there is no better way to make a load of cash quickly than by selling cakes to kids.

For my contribution I predictably turned to my Primrose Bakery Cupcakes book. I don't care what anyone says about cupcakes being passé, kids still go mad for them. Seeing as I already had several punnets of strawberries in the fridge, I decided to do some Strawberry Cupcakes topped with nice big, juicy, fresh strawberries.

I was super impressed with these cupcakes and got lots of compliments on them from everyone who ate one. They were very popular with the staff. People liked the hidden strawberry jam surprise in the middle.

However, the other thing I learned about kids is that a lot of them dislike strawberries and therefore refuse to touch cupcakes with a strawberry on top with a barge pole. Therefore, next time I will remember to stick to chocolate...

Recipe

For the cupcakes:
125g strawberries
225g butter
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
210g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
25g cornflour

For the filling / topping:
Strawberry jam
A punnet of strawberries

For the buttercream icing:
110g butter
60ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
500g icing sugar
Red food colouring

To begin, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C / gas mark 4. Next, take the 125g of strawberries and place in a mixing bowl. Mash the strawberries using a potato masher.

Cream the butter and sugar together with the mashed strawberries before gradually adding the eggs one at a time and mixing well.

Then add the flour, baking powder and cornflour to the cake mix and beat well until fully combined.

Using a couple of teaspoons, spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases until just over half full.

Place in the oven for around 30 minutes or until the cakes are risen and golden. Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for around 10 minutes before removing from the tin and cooling on a wire rack.

Meanwile, whip up the icing by beating the butter, milk, vanilla and half of the icing sugar together until smooth. Gradually add the rest of the icing sugar until you have a smooth buttercream.

Add drops of red food colouring until you have the colour you'd like - I went for a nice light pink. Put your icing to one side.

Once the cupcakes are fully cooled, use a teaspoon to dig out a chunk out of the top of the cupcakes - like you would if you were making fairy cakes. I gave the cake bits to a grateful Bailey to eat but you could chuck yours or even better leave them out for the birds.