So even though summer has officially passed I couldn’t resist getting inspired by the late bloomers of the summer fruits. I had an order to make some colourful cupcakes for a very good friend of mine who was throwing a garden party and she asked for some colourful cupcakes inspired by summer. YEAAAAAH. So I made 60 minis 20 each of three different flavours – double chocolate cupcakes with strawberry and strawberry cream cheese frosting topped with chocolate-coated strawberries, double chocolate cupcake with raspberry cream cheese frosting and orange cupcake with orange cream cheese frosting.
Double chocolate because apart from the cocoa powder used I also added chopped chocolate pieces into the batter. For the strawberry and raspberry cupcakes I made a big portion of the double chocolate cupcake batter and just before I was done with mixing it all I divided it into two parts and added pureed strawberry to one and raspberry puree to the other half.
For the Double Chocolate Cupcakes : 48 minis
- 300ml of water
- 150ml oil
- 250g sugar
- 2 medium eggs
- 1 tps vanilla extract
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
- 300g flour
- ½ tbs vinegar
- 50g cocoa powder
- 50g of chopped chocolate (dark or milk, I used dark)
- 1tsp of coffee granules
- About 50ml or 3tbs of pureed fresh strawberry and raspberries.
I prefer using fresh berries because I think the frozen ones do not taste as good when thawed as the fresh ones.
Direction:
Set the oven to 180 degrees and line the cupcake tins with cupcake liners. In a large bowl
Add all dry ingredients including coffee granules and set aside. Then using a whisk, mix sugar water and oil till they are well combined. Subsequently add eggs and then mix until the mixture is smooth. Then add the flour mixture, vinegar and chopped chocolate. Mix slowly till all are well combined be careful not to overbeat. Overbeating might cause the cakes to sink in again when you take them out of the oven. You may have little lumps but that’s ok. Scrape in the sides and then mix again for 30 seconds. Bake the cupcakes for 13-15 minutes, depending on the chocolate pieces used and the oven take them out when they don’t stick to the testing pin and let them cool.
For the Orange Cupcakes: about 24
- 75ml oil
- 200g sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1.5 tbs freshly grated orange zest
- 200g flour
- 50g sour cream
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- I tsp salt if you use unsalted butter
- 60ml of milk
- 100g butter
Direction:
Set the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line the cupcake tins with cupcake liners. In a large bowl
Add all dry ingredients and set aside. Then using an electric standing mixer mix butter, sugar and oil till they are well combined. Subsequently add eggs and then mix until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Then in two additions add the flour mixture, sour cream and milk alternatively. Mix on low tempo and be careful not to overbeat. Overbeating might cause the cakes to sink in again when you take them out of the oven. Scrape in the sides and then mix on low tempo again for 30 seconds. Bake the cupcakes for 13-18 minutes (there are both minis and standards) and let them cool.
For the frostings: since I used cream cheese for all of them I started out with a huge portion of basic vanilla cream cheese frosting and then getting towards the end divided them into three equal portions where I later added some raspberry, strawberry purees and then orange zest and juice to the last portion
- 800g icing sugar
- 200g butter
- 400g cream cheese
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- Wilton’s orange, pink and red gel colour
- About 2 tbs of strawberry puree
- About 2 tbs of raspberry puree
- 1tsp of orange zest and 1ts of orange juice
- fresh raspberries for decoration (optional)
- homemade chocolate-coated strawberries for decorating (optional)
- orange wedges for decorating (optional)
For the chocolate-coated strawberries:
- Cooking chocolate
- Strawberries
Bring water to a boil in a cooking pot then place a heatproof bowl on top and melt some cooking chocolate in the heatproof bowl. Dip in your fresh strawberries and place them on parchment paper and let them cool. Then put them in the fridge for an hour or more till you are ready to use.
For the frosting:
In a large bowl combine sugar and butter till smooth then add the cream cheese and vanilla extract but watch out for the consistency after it is well mixed. Divide the frosting into three equal parts and mix in the purees and zest to the different portions, use a toothpick to add the colour to the frostings till the desired colour is attained. If the frosting is too runny set the prepared frosting in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
The cupcakes are ready to be frosted and decorated voila 🙂
Daisy's Desserts 