Red Hot Strawberry Cupcakes

Adult disclaimer...the cupcakes, although enticing to people of all ages, they do contain alcohol, and my version, 100 proof alchol at that. I'd strongly suggest replacing the alcohol if you are making these for children.

Now onto the good stuff!  I got the inspiration for these cupcakes after seeing this technique on Cupcakes Take the Cake. I've always wanted to use a torch in the kitchen, and not because I don't like the way it's decorated! I have always felt a sense of excitement from the chared top of a Creme Brulee' and although most of the time S'mores aren't done over a flame in the kitchen I have been known to do it that way!  Stop back by on March 3 to see about that!

The cupcakes mentioned on the Cupcakes Take The Cake post lead me to here. Although these cupcakes were chocolate, I felt I had to incorporate the strawberry into the cupcakes after seeing them as the tops.

I decided to try doing a strawberry shortcake cupcake, and trust me I wasn't sure what I was even going to frost them with until after they came out of the oven. I decided to go with a simple homemade strawberry whipped cream frosting. Perfect!

The cupcakes not only contain fresh chopped strawberries, but I had to go with 100 proof Absolute Vodka for good measure. When I was reading about the flaming strawberries the blogger mentioned to use an alcohol with a proof of 90 or higher to get a good blue flame. To the alcohol cabinet I went! After inspecting a few bottles, I remembered that I had some Absolute put away for special occassions. That has to be higher than Pama! (wanna see those cupcakes? Go here.)

Here's the recipe I used for these cupcakes. We'll get to the flaming technique shortly!

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vodka
• 2 cups fresh, chopped strawberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a measuring cup, combine the milk and vodka. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and add vanilla extract.
5. Begin adding in the flour mixture, alternating with the milk/vodka mixture. Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Mix just until all ingredients are combined.
6. Stir in strawberries by hand.
7. Using and ice cream scooper, divide the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pans.
8. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
9. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack before frosting.

Strawberry Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup Strawberry daquiri mix

Instructions

1. Pour heavy cream into a medium mixing bowl.
2. Using whisk attachment beat cream on high speed until it begins to stiffen.
3. Slowly drizzle daquiri mix down the side of the mixing bowl. Be sure not to pour it in too fast or it will break down the heavy cream.
4. Continue mixing on high until stiff peaks form.
5. Frost cupcakes.

Now, for the flaming part!! And yet another disclaimer... please do not attempt to eat the flaming strawberries. I know, that has to be put on there because someone obviously has or would try that!

Flaming Strawberries

Ingredients

• Fresh Strawberries.
• 90 proof or higher alcohol of your liking. I used 100 proof Absolute vodka.

Instructions

1. Trim tops off of strawberries and core them (be careful not to cut through the sides of the strawberry)
2. Set strawberries cut side up on top of cupcakes.
3. Pour about a teaspoon of alcohol into each strawberry "cup".
4. Now comes the tricky part, alcohol evaporates quickly so if you're going to display your cupcakes with flames a'glowin do it just before the presentation. The flame doesn't last long!
5. Light the top of the cupcakes with either a lighter, a torch, or even a lit birthday candle.

WATCH 'EM BURN!!

I love these cupcakes! After I got over the initial amazement of the flame I ate the strawberry (left over vodka and all) and then bit into the cupcakes. It was the perfect balance of strawberries with a vanilla pound cake-esk cake. I think I have just found my new favorite cupcake (it doesn't hurt that it involves flame either)!

If you do want to make these without the liquor you could just replace it with more milk. You would definitly get the same texture of cake, but you'd miss out on the party on top!!

Homemade Strawberry Oreos...Or Something Like That.

It's almost Valentine's Day. I know I've said it a few times, but I'm not really a Valentine's Day type of girl. Don't get me wrong, any excuse to receive flowers or chocolates I'll take, but I just don't obsess about the Hallmark holiday too much.

As I was doing some research this week for the blog, I came across this post  on ThirtyHandmadeDays for Strawberry Heart Oreo Cookies. What! Strawberry Oreos! Anything that has the word O-R-E-O in it I like! (With the exception of Double Stuff-I know, kind of weird huh?!)
So anyways, I looked past the title and the picture and noticed how simple the recipe was. I knew I had everything in my pantry to make them so to the kitchen I went!
Here's the recipe I used.

Ingredients

• 1 package of strawberry cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup of shortening
• Frosting:
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 stick of butter, softened
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 c. powdered sugar

Instructions

Mix cake mix, shortening, and eggs together in a medium mixing bowl.

The dough will be pretty stiff-it's supposed to be that way.

Roll into balls. (Use about 1 tsp of mix per ball)

Place two balls next to each other and pinch the bottom to create a heart.



Please excuse the nail polish, I'm in serious need of a manicure!

 Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or Silpat.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Immediately transfer to a cooling rack.

Allow to cool completely.

Mix frosting ingredients together. Spread onto cool cookies. Sandwich together.

Now when I started this recipe, I had already been standing in my kitchen for about 8 hours doing cupcake orders, so I'm not sure if that's where I went wrong, or what the problem was. The cookies taste great, but as you can see from the picture, they don't look like hearts at all, they basically were pink, strawberry circles. You have to be really careful not to make the balls too big when you're shaping them, and make sure you leave enough space between them, they do spread out a little and you don't want the edges sticking together. My first pan I ended up with a few very large pink cookies!

Now, just a warning...these taste nothing like Oreos. Although they taste amazing and I'd make them again and again, they are soft, chewy cookies with basically a cream cheese buttercream center. Dear hubby liked these cookies plain, with no frosting in the center. I would have to agree. Although they were pretty good with a hot cup of joe for breakfast! Once I iced and sandwiched them, they were very sweet, almost too sweet for my taste. I know for some of you there's no such thing as too sweet, so enjoy them however you'd like.

Onto another item of business. As you can see, my blog has a new look! I want to thank Ashton at http://www.somethingswanky.com/ for fixing up my blog for me. It is still a work in progress, and I hope in the near future to add a few new items to the page to make it more user friendly. I hope that all of you will continue to check back for new creations as well as my old favorites...The Cupcakes! See y'all soon!!