There is beauty in the rain.
Or in fallen cupcakes. Gravity laughed as my Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake toppled over. Ok only one fell over and I still got my pictures of the finished product, but I thought it was beautiful the way it fell. Kinda like all the layers slid apart so you could see the individual components. Sometimes you just need to take a step back and appreciate that everything doesn’t go as planned. And sometimes, the outcome is better than what you could imagine.
The only adjusting I did was moved it from where it fell to the little plate for pictures, but I was careful not to mess up the placement. But seriously, after I added the strawberry on top, it toppled over just like that.
Of course with fresh strawberries, you just have to make a shortcake. Biscuits or sponge cake? Personally, I’m a cake girl (shocker). I thought about those little round sponge cakes you always see in the produce aisle. And of course I couldn’t go through strawberry season without making a cupcake.
These are sponge cakes layered with strawberry curd and whipped cream. Feel free to use strawberry jam instead. If you have neither, it’s easy to make your own (strawberry curd recipe and strawberry jam recipe), or just load the layers with sliced strawberries.
Since you’ll be removing the cupcake wrappers, either use cheap white ones or a silicone pan. If you use a silicone pan, let it cool completely in the pan before removing because I broke a few for being too warm.
Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes
Yield: 6
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (2 ounces or 4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup milk, room temperature
- 1/3 cup strawberry curd (homemade or store bought) or strawberry jam (homemade or store bought)
Whipped Cream
- 1/3 cup cold heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with 6 paper liners. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, butter, egg and vanilla until smooth. Alternately whisk in the flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour and two additions of milk. Beat until smooth.
- Scoop batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.
- For the whipped cream: In a medium bowl, beat the heavy cream until thickened. Gradually add in the sugar and vanilla. Beat until stiff peaks form (when you pull the beaters straight up, peaks will form without falling over).
- Cut each cupcake in half horizontally. For each cupcake, spoon and spread some of the curd/jam onto one half. Spoon and spread some of the whipped cream. Top with the remaining cupcake half. Spoon and spread some more curd/jam on the top half then top with some more whipped cream. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes. Garnish with a strawberry. Chill until ready to serve.
Source: Adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson
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Renee says
Seriously Carla, YUM! These cupcakes look heavenly.
Laura Janssen says
Oh my, these look absolutely adorable and delicious! Such cute cupcakes and I agree with you that the photograph of the “fallen over” cupcake looks very good! Shows it off nicely. :)
Jen @ Juanita's Cocina says
I’m a new fan of tumbled food pics, thanks to you.
Also, I’m making strawberry curd in a few minutes. I’ll let you know how it goes.
You’re my new food muse!
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says
I love that you shared the fallen cupcake picture!
Pt626 says
I love this recipe idea! I can’t wait to try it. Though, I bet when I do my cupcake with tumble even more!
cynthia says
Oh my gosh, what a funny coincidence — I’m posting something similar to this in a few days and had SUCH PROBLEMS with making my cakes stand up too! I was so frustrated. But hey, they’re delicious no matter how they fall, right? And yours look beautiful :) Love your blog!
Eileen Derosa says
I loved this cupcake, and it is so yummy! Thank you, Carla
Carla says
Wonderful! Glad you enjoyed it.