14 Feb 2012

Strawberry cupcakes ... A Valentine Special..:)



A Happy Valentines Day to everyone..

It is one of those special days when love is acknowledged .... I guess !!!!

I don't know what to write to fill up the first 2 to 3 paragraphs..... I don't want to go into some mushy love sentiment or blabber how great love is and blah blah blah...

Let us keep it simple... As humans we are bound to like another human..


Some relationships come as birth right - mom, dad, sister, brother, cousins etc... When a relationship happens spontaneously and unconditionally, then the special magic unfolds...

I didn't want to scribble any mushy sentiment but here I go again.... I wish everyone this celebration mood continues throughout everyday of your life..

Appreciate the good things in your life and look foward to all the positive happenings and keep smiling, always..:))


Valentines day celebration has come into practice in the recent past ... I have not seen my mom or dad celebrate this day nor have their counterparts or colleagues. I would say this is more of our generation enjoyment which as grown immensely.

In my home state of Tamil Nadu, special menu is prepared for the newly weds keeping in mind their new life together..;))

It was aimed to keep them physically, emotionally and mentally fit and to help them be stress free in all ways. Menu is filled with fresh fruits, milk, vegetable stir fries, simple dal curries, desserts made out of rock candy sugar, palm sugar and dry nuts.


There is no rocket science involved in this practice... eat foods full of nutrients and energy, lifts your mood [serotonin rich foods] and foods that doesn't make you sick...

So for this recipe, the star ingredient has to be and is an aphrodisiac. I am sure everybody is familiar with strawberries. A very photogenic little cutie which promises to steal anyone's heart by the look of it.


This recipe is from "The Hummingbird Bakery" cookbook. This is a very simple cake made with fresh strawberries and milk, topped with very light and airy cream to give you the pleasure of luscious flavour and feel in every bite.

The original recipe had cream cheese icing which I substituted for a light double cream cloud...:)

For the recipe: Makes 10-12 cupcakes
Plain flour: 120 gms.
Caster sugar: 100 gms.
Baking powder: 1-1/2 tsp.
Butter [melted]: 40 gms,
Whole milk: 110 ml.
Vanilla extract: 1/2 tsp.
Egg [medium]: 1.
Fresh strawberries [chopped]: 10 -12


For the icing:
Double cream:200ml.
Rose water: 1 tsp.
Icing sugar: 2-3 tsp.
Pink food colour: 1-2 drops

Beat the double cream until it is light and fluffy which would take around 6-8 minutes. Mix the icing sugar, rose water and pink food colour. Reserve until the cakes are ready are decorate.

Fill the piping bag with this light cream and pipe onto the cakes. Use any type of nozzle to create designs.


Garnish:
Fresh strawberries: a handful - chopped lengthwise.

1.Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C/ 325 F/ Gas mark 3. Line the cupcake tray with paper cases.
2.In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter. Mix until you get a sandy consistency and everything is well combined. You can use a free standing electric mixer or use a handheld electric whisk or just plain wooden spoon as I did.
3. Add the milk, egg and vanilla extract and mix everything together until well combined.
4.Divide the chopped strawberries equally among the paper cases.
5.Spoon the cake mix into the paper cases until 3/4 full. Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool and decorate with light airy icing and garnish with fresh strawberries.


Note: As the cupcakes are made with fresh fruit it is best eaten on the day of making it. Do try this recipe with different fruits like pineapple, peaches, plums, mangoes etc. The icing will not be sweet but you can add more icing sugar if your heart desires.

You can use regular butter cream icing but I feel it is quite heavy in sugar and completely dominates the flavour.

You can omit the rose water and add vanilla extract along with some chocolate scrapping for added flavour.

Sending this to "Love Lock with Sweets" by Killer on the plate and Vidhya , Decorating Challenge 3 - Valentines Day by Amy, "Berries -Strawberries" by Anu ,  guest hosted by Vardhini , "Sweet Luv" by Vardhini , "Bon Vivant" by Sumee , Dish for Loved Ones by Sravs, Valentines Day Special by Anzz, Valentine Day Special by Teena Mary, Cakes Cookies and Desserts by Anjali.






Enjoy...

Scribbled by Reva

67 comments:

Unknown said...

The cupcake steal my heart. lovely.
Love Ash.

Teena said...

wow..what a pretty cake! Loved your sweet decoration!! I'll be happy if you can link this with my ongoing-''Valentine's Day Event''(till Feb 20th)

radha said...

Lovely presentation

Prabha Mani said...

Cake looks Awesome..tempting me a lot :) Lovely pics!!

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Reva that is absolutely perfect valentine treat ..looks gorgeous. Wish U Happy valentine treat !!! Enjoy the cute little cupcakes with ur Valentine.

Reshmi Mahesh said...

Tempting cake with cute decoration..

hotpotcooking said...

Pretty and cute cake.

Rathai's recipe said...

The muffins look really delicious! I love the icing and I love, love, love the heart-shaped strawberries on top! :)

Anjali Shukla said...

Gosh, the decoration is superb!!
The strawberries and the pink lime-light, can't describe them in words...utter maddening! :)
I'll be glad if you link these pink delights to my event: Cakes, Cookies and Desserts
http://anjali-cooklog.blogspot.com/2012/02/announcing-my-first-event-cakes-cookies.html

Roshu said...

Awesome presentation.....mouthwatering cake...

Sangeetha M said...

wow...cupcakes looks so gorgeous...lovely pictures Reva!
Happy Valentines Day!
Spicy Treats
OnGoing Event:Show Me Your HITS~Healthy Delights

Sobha Shyam said...

so pretty and perfect for the occasion..Happy Valentines Day !!

Join the Just "4" Fun event :)

Nisha said...

You must be having a LOT of patience to do that kinda of frosting instead of a quick swirl! :)
Pretty cupcakes.

divya said...

Happy Valentine's day..these cupcake look gorgeous..

saffronstreaks said...

these are real cuties...nothing expressed love better than this
have a happy V Day

Sravs said...

Happy Valentine Day dear !! Great work those cupcakes looks so beautiful !! well presented too !! Thanks for linking to the event !!

Ongoing event CC-Dish For Loved Ones

Sumee said...

Lovely pics Reva!... Love that piping style of urs. Very cute. Happy V Day. Thanks for linking up to my event.

FewMinute Wonders said...

Very colorful indeed. Happy Valentines day!

Torviewtoronto said...

coluorufl delicious looking cupcakes lovely decoration and presentation

Amina Creations said...

cake looks delicious.... fabulous frosting and presentation...

Rekha shoban said...

~cute cupcake and topping looks very beautiful and as usual lovely click revs!

Roshu said...

Cutieee cakesss

Sangeetha Nambi said...

Tempting ! Need it right now :(

Deep Krishna Dubai said...

Loving your Pink concept on this great day..Cup cakes looks fab..Perfect Decor

Shabitha Karthikeyan said...

Lovely cupcakes to celebrate the occasion !! Looks gorgeous !!

Anonymous said...

OMG Reva!! They almost took my breath away. Looks absolutely perfect and lusiciously delicious. And amazing clicks.

Do stop by at Tadka Masala also sometime.
Cheers!

Anjali Shukla said...

Thanks for linking these pink delights to my event. I'm so happy. :)

Vimitha Durai said...

They look so cute and beautiful.. Yummy cupcakes
My Culinary Trial Room
Ongoing event - Love n Chocolate Fest

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Lovely and Cute cupe cakes....looks gorgeous. Happy V day.

Charu Srivastava said...

beautiful cupcakes...perfect for valentines day

Rosh said...

Absolutely delicious!! Love the presentation...very tempting!

Do drop by my space sometime. Would love to hear from you :)

Happy Cooking!

Cheers,
Rosh

Ganga Sreekanth said...

Wow.....the cake looks gorgeous dear..

The Pumpkin Farm said...

Reva, these look lovely, can see your efforts in making the strawberry hearts

Saraswathi Iyer said...

Cake is superb and ur clicks are so fantastic.

Faseela said...

wow.....wonderfully prepared cake......a lovely valentine special cake...

Anzz said...

I love what you said, as human we are all bound together.... Happy V day.!

Priyanka said...

Cute cupcakes, perfect for valentine's day and any day

Aarthi said...

Really YUMMY Recipe..I am loving it

Aarthi
http://www.yummytummyaarthi.com/

Rathai's recipe said...

Hi Reva,

Let me have the honour the pass on an award to you :)

http://rathaisrecipes.blogspot.com/2012/02/zucchini-curry.html

Sensible Vegetarian said...

Looks so good and very beautiful clicks.

Asiya Omar said...

Amazing clicks,Awesome cake.

Suganya said...

Lovely looking cupcakes. So cute. Perfect clicks. Nice recipe. YUM!

Vidhya said...

Wow this looks so awesome...

Kanchana Radhakrishnan said...

lovely presentation.

Kalyani said...

what a treat Reva !


Sizzling Tastebuds
Event : Valentine Fest – Served with Love
Event : Cook with Spices - Coriander

Mélange said...

My God,the cuties have some out perfect..What super clicks there Reva! I adore each of them..Cheers!

Vardhini said...

Cute cupcakes and I love the frosting too. Thx for linking to the events. When you posted the roundup for the biriyani event, I realized that I had linked up my post but forgot to mail you :(.

Vardhini
Event: Sweet Luv
Event: Strawberries

Amila said...

wow!!gorgeous cupcakes!!You have done them neatly...Thanks for sharing with 'Decorating Challenge'

simran said...

hi .thank you for your lovely comment on my blog...look forward to seeing you there.....love your space..joined up through the gfc....love the cupcakes ,they are gorgeous!

Unknown said...

These look darling, Reva - The frosting is too cute :) Hope you had a great V day :)

Rookie Qookie said...

Nice colorful pics :)

tasteofbeirut said...

This would have been a wonderful treat on Valentine's; well, any time really!

Ramya said...

ur cupcakes are so very cute..cant take my eyes off the pics

Christy Gerald said...

Wow!,Delicious Bake and Yumm presentation Dear.U kept me wondering!. This is fabulously done - Only Reva Can!.

KParthasarathi said...

First visit to your blog.
I liked your take on Valentine's day.
The pictures of the cakes and the strawberry fruits are exceptionally good

Unknown said...

wow very pretty looking cake,awesome presentation....Pics are so tempting that I cannot take my sight off....Lovely post...

chow and chatter said...

lovely cakes my hubby is Tamil and now celebrates valentines too ;-)

Pushpa said...

Delicious cupcakes,lovely treats.

Reeni said...

Your cupcakes stole my heart! So pretty and so delicious!

Mangala Prabhu said...

Amazing cup cakes. Awesome job on the icing they look great!

Kurryleaves said...

super cute cupcakes..well presented and lovely clicks

Shylaja said...

Wonderful clicks. Too tempting

Raks said...

Strawberry sliced by itself looks like a heart :) So pretty the cup cakes are and lovely post and clicks!

Unknown said...

Ultra yummy looking cupcake..nice presentation too !

Unknown said...

Rava...these cup cakes look awesomley yummy and inviting....as always am a fan of ur pics and presentation!

Binys Recipes said...

perfect way to say ilu to ur valentines....gr8 clicks

Hema said...

Very cute cakes, love your decoration..

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