How to make Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes?

The cupcake is a combination of –

Chocolate Cupcakes – These tender and moist chocolate cupcakes made with dutch cocoa.
Strawberry compote – Fresh strawberry compote compliments the rich dark chocolate. I have filled the cupcakes with a teaspoon each, but its completely optional.
Strawberry Buttercream – The perfect topping to the chocolate cupcake, the strawberry buttercream. There is strawberry compote added to the buttercream and it sure tastes divine! Make sure to puree what goes into the buttercream or strain the compote. Chunks of strawberry tend to get stuck in the nozzle while piping.
Top with chocolate coated strawberries and chocolate drizzle.

Making Strawberry Compote –

Compote is a simple fruit sauce made with pieces of fresh (or frozen) fruit and some sugar, cooked briefly on the stove. To make compote –

Core and quarter the strawberries.
In a small shallow saucepan, toss in the quartered strawberries, along with sugar and juice from one lemon. With the heat on medium, keep stirring the mixture continuously until the sugar melts.
Cook the strawberries until it is tender and the compote has thickened. The mixture begins to bubble during the cooking process and the syrup is thickened, once done, allow this mixture to cool completely.
Chill for a bit before using it.

How to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberries:

Its just so simple to make these.

Wash and dry the berries– Once washed, you want to make sure that your strawberries are completely dry. If they are not dried well, the chocolate coating won’t adhere to the strawberry.
Melt chocolate -Melt chocolate in a microwave or use the stove top method
Dip berries – Set up a cookie sheet, and line with parchment or wax paper. Dip each strawberry, and let excess chocolate drip off back into the bowl. Place on parchment/wax paper to let set up.
Decorate – You could either drizzle chocolate or use sprinkles to decorate the chocolate dipped strawberries.
Enjoyy!

Tips for buttercream!

The buttercream calls for unsalted butter and it is better to use that, since salted butter will make the frosting very salty. Also, use good quality butter as regular local butter contains excess water and that may lead to a runny buttercream that is difficult to pipe. (Out of experience, sadly).
The second major ingredient is Icing sugar. This is something you would not want to substitute with powdered sugar made at home, since that leads to a grainy buttercream with sugar crystals. If you would like to still make it at home, make sure to powder the sugar verryy fine and add some cornstarch to it! (1 tsp Cornstarch for 100 g of powered sugar).
Beat the butter well before adding icing sugar. The butter should be fluffy.
If the buttercream is too stiff, add a tablespoon of cream. If too runny, add icing sugar.

Storing the Cupcakes

These cupcakes will stay well at room temperature for 2-3 days. For hotter climates refrigerate the cupcakes and they should stay well for upto 5-7 days in an airtight container (if they last that long).

Like this recipe? Other homemade cupcake and muffins recipes to try –

Valentine’s day baking –

Happy Baking!!

Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes

Recipe by thecrumbstoriesCourse: Dessert

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes
130 g All-purpose flour
120 g Granulated Sugar
50 g Brown Sugar
60 g Dutch Cocoa Powder
¾ Tsp Baking Soda
½ Tsp Salt, skip if using salted butter
120 ml Buttermilk
85 g Unsalted Butter, melted
10 ml Oil
1 Tsp Instant Coffee + ½c Hot water or ½ cup Fresh Brewed coffee
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Strawberry Compote
200 g Fresh Strawberries, halved
50 g Sugar
1 tsp Lemon
Strawberry Buttercream
200 g Unsalted Butter, softened
280 g Confectioners Sugar
3 tbsp Strawberry Compote/preserve
3 tbsp Fresh / Heavy Cream

Directions

For the chocolate cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 175C/350F.
In a bowl, add the wet ingredients except coffee and hot water. Beat till combined.
Now, in another bowl, sift all the dry ingredients.
Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Combine well.
Now mix the coffee in hot water and add it to the mixture. Give it a good mix
Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Fill the cupcake liners with the batter until 2/3 full.
Bake in the preheated oven for 22-25 mins or till a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool completely before assembling.
Strawberry Compote
Core and quarter the strawberries.
In a small shallow saucepan, toss in the quartered strawberries, along with sugar and juice from one lemon. With the heat on medium, keep stirring the mixture continuously until the sugar melts.
Cook the strawberries until it is tender and the compote has thickened. The mixture begins to bubble during the cooking process and the syrup is thickened, once done, allow this mixture to cool completely.
Chill before using it.
Strawberry Buttercream
In a bowl, beat the softened room temperature butter with the help of an electric mixer for 3-4 minutes or until pale.
Sift the icing Sugar into a bowl and add it to the butter in two batches, beating well in between each.
Add in the strained/pureed strawberry compote and mix till well incorporated.
Also, add fresh cream/ heavy cream and beat well.
Assembling
Once the cake is cool, scoop out the center halfway of the cake with the help of the back of a nozzel or spoon it out. Fill it with 1 tsp of prepared strawberry compote.
Once you get the desired pipe able consistency, put the cream in a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice.
Now pipe it over the cooled cakes.
Top with chocolate coated strawberries and chocolate drizzle. (Optional)

Notes

Skip using the salt incase you are using salted butter in the cakes. The buttercream will be best made with unsalted (White) butter.
Puree or strain the compote before adding to the buttercream, as the strawberry chunks tend to get stuck in the nozzle while piping.

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