Now We're Cooking with Gas

I always like to ask my guy if he has a preference for what I should bake. I really just enjoy baking and only very rarely do I have something specific in mind that I want to make. I have been getting antsy to bake something in our new house and to try my luck with the gas oven. I've made a couple batches of cookies, but really, I could bake those in my sleep. I wanted something slightly more challenging to try my hand at. So, when I asked what to make this time he answered immediately with Strawberry cupcakes!

I love strawberry cake, it is one of my favorites, but I have had so much trouble in the past finding a recipe that doesn’t use boxed mix. Most of the ones that I have found are simply “recipes” that call for including some type of strawberry preserve in with the box mix. That just doesn’t work for me. As I said, I like baking, I don’t want someone else to do the work for me, that's the fun part. The last time I made strawberry cake I settled for incorporating jam into a white cake recipe. While it tasted good it was still lacking something.

Luckily, this time around I stumbled upon a recipe for strawberry cake and strawberry frosting from scratch. It does call for a package of jello, but we’ll let that slide because it also calls for strawberry puree. And, I have made cookies that use jello for color and flavor in the past and they were a huge hit!

 

So thank you, Sweetapolita, this recipe was wonderful! I adjusted it only slightly. I cut the cake recipe in half and made cupcakes instead of a layer cake and I reduced the amount of frosting significantly. I like to make small batches of baked goods whenever possible. 

P.S There is a pound of fresh strawberries in my fridge that were supposed to be used as garnishes for the cupcakes, but I got so excited about the frosting that I completely forgot about them.