#Berrylove: Strawberry Strawberry Cupcakes

April is #berrylove month!   Please join in on the #berrylove fun by linking up any berry recipe from the month of April 2012. Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #berrylove event! The twitter hashtag is #berrylove :). Here  is the The Pinterest Board for #berrylove. Thank you Junia, for hosting the blog hop, and all of your hard work!

When I found out the theme for the April  blog hop was #berrylove, I knew exactly what I wanted to make, Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Butter Cream frosting.  I actually made these in Mid-March, before the Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes.  You see for me, Strawberries are comfort food.  Each bite of strawberry that I take transports me back to my chilhood, when I would spend time at my Grandma's in Southern Illinois during the summer.  She would let me have Strawberries morning, noon, and night, with her wonderful Pound Cake. Sadly, I don't have that recipe, but I will have to try to make Pound Cake soon. If you have a wonderful Pound Cake recipe, please email it to me.

I looked at many Strawberry Cupcake recipes, finally settling on a white cupcake, chocked full of chopped strawberries, and topped with a wonderful Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting made with Strawberry puree. These cupcakes taste heavenly, and there is a huge strawberry flavor in every bite, from both the cupcake and the frosting. The cake is light and moist and the frosting is wonderful, a perfect combination of flavors and textures.

Strawberry Cupcakes Adapted from Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella

Ingredients: Makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1  teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup of milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pans with liners.

2. With an electric mixer on medium speed beat the butter until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. 

3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk until combined. Fold in Vanilla and strawberries.

5. Fill the cupcake liners one half to three-quarters full. Bake for about 20-25minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan. Remove to rack to cool completely.  Frost when completely cool.

Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting

1 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
3 Tbsp strawberry puree (from about 3-4 strawberries)

Directions

1.      In bowl of stand mixer cream butter for 1-2 minutes.

2.      Gradually add confectioner’s sugar and continue mixing scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

3.      Mix in strawberry puree.

4.      Place the frosting in a piping bag fitted with tip 1M to decorate cupcakes.

Here are  my amazing co-hosts:.

A little bit of everything ~ Roxana GreenGirl ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl
Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29
Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves ~ Becky Higgins
BigFatBaker ~ Erin Meyer ~ @bigfatbaker
Bon à croquer ~ Valerie ~ @valouth
Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess
Easily Good Eats ~ Three Cookies                                          
Elephant Eats ~ Amy

Georgie Cakes~ Georgie @ GeorgieCakes
Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19
Java Cupcake ~ Betsy Eves ~ @JavaCupcake
Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk
No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ T.R. ~ @TRCrumbley
Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose
Queen's Notebook ~ Elizabeth  Quirino ~ @Mango_Queen
Rico sin Azúcar ~ Helena ~ @ricosinazucar
Simply Reem ~  Reem ~ @Simplyreem
Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood
Teaspoon of Spice ~ Deanna Segrave-Daly ~ @tspbasil
That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!! ~ Liz ~ @thatskinnychick
The Art of Cooking Real Food ~ Laura ~ @TAofCRF
The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian
Vegan Yack Attack ~ Jackie S. ~ @veganyackattack
Vegetarian Mamma ~ Cindy ~ @vegetarianmamma

This is a blog hop!