I stupidly asked my son what he wanted for his birthday cupcakes. Strawberry he declared, I want strawberry cupcakes. That will teach me for asking - whatever happened to just plain vanilla! I took a great recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction and messed around with them to make the allergy friendly. So, this is my take on the strawberry cupcake, which has the benefit of using aquafaba, the brine around chickpeas, so if you cannot get your hands on commercial egg replacer you can use this instead.
Ingredients
For the cakes
- 5-6 Large Strawberries
- 125g Gluten Free Plain Flour (if you do not have a gluten allergy you can use normal plain flour)
- ¼ tsp Xantham Gum (omit if you are using normal flour)
- 2 tbsp Cornflour
- 1¼ tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 90g Margarine (suitable for your allergies)
- 150g Caster Sugar
- 1½ tsp Vanilla Essence
- ½ cup (125ml) Milk suitable for your allergy (I used oat)
- 4 tbsp Aquafaba
For the Frosting
Utensils
- Chopping Board
- Sharp Knife
- Small Blender
- Sieve
- 2 x Large Bowl
- 2 x Medium Bowl
- Electric Whisk
- Spatula
- Large Spoon
- 12 hole Muffin Tray, with cupcake cases lined in
- Cooling rack
Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C)
- Slice up 3 strawberries and place them in the blender. Whizz them up until they form a chunky puree, you should have 3tbsp of puree. Finely chop the remaining strawberries.
- In the medium bowl, sieve the flour, xantham gum (if you are using), cornflour, baking powder and salt, mix together
- In the large bowl place the margarine and caster sugar. Mix, on a high speed, until creamy with the electric whisk, until it is light and cream (about 3-4minutes). Add in the vanilla essence and mix until fully combined. Scrape down the sides, with the spatula, to ensure everything is combined.
- Add the flour combination in three parts, alternating with the milk, and mixing in until just combined. Add in 3tbsp of strawberry puree and the chopped strawberries, mix until just combined.
- In the second medium bowl put in the Aquafaba, with clean beaters, set the whisk to high and whisk the aquafaba until it is white and has formed soft peaks. This will take about 5-6 minutes. Add the aquafaba to the cake mixture and fold in carefully with the large spoon (you want to be as careful as possible to keep the air in)
- Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases, filling it halfway, place in the oven and bake for 20-25minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tray, before transferring to the cooling rack and allowing to fully cool.
- Make the Frosting; In the second large bowl, combine the strawberry powder, margarine, icing sugar and vanilla essence. Whisk together with clean beaters, for 3 minutes. If it is too soft add in some more icing sugar, if it is too sweet add in a pinch of salt. Frost cupcakes as desired and place a slice of strawberry on top.
