Strawberry & Blueberry Cupcakes (and a dash of summer)

The transition from winter to spring and eventually summer is both beautiful and foreign to me. Dull greys and sombre browns turn to sunshine yellows and baby blues; and from the dreariness of winter emerges the glorious exuberance of summer. 

The insurgence of colour that summer inevitably brings inspired me to try my hand at decorating cupcakes for once instead of focusing on its ingredients. I think taste is partly psychological, and superficiality is a virtue rather than a vice in the realm of food.

To make these:

You need this: 

and these:

Mash the berries:

Bake and let cool: 

Smother, sprinkle and serve:

I very rarely allow myself to bake wholly unhealthy things, but when friends come round, I have to make an exception (all in the name of friendship of course). But eventually the health monster in me rears its ugly head and destroys any inclinations of smothering the batter with butter - it'd be akin to injecting my food with lard. So this time I swapped butter for extra virgin olive oil, and plain flour for wholemeal flour - all with little impact on taste. 


Strawberry & Blueberry Cupcakes with Vanilla Icing Recipe
Based on BBC's raspberry cupcake recipe

Ingredients
200g self-raising (wholemeal) flour
2 tsp baking powder
125g olive oil
3 eggs
125g caster sugar
50g ground almonds
3 tbsp cinnamon
1 punnet strawberries and blueberries, lightly crushed, plus extra to decorate
Optional: Sprinkles, and hazelnut oil instead of olive oil 

1.  Heat oven to 180C. Tip the first 7 ingredients into a large bowl and beat with electric whisk until smooth. Fold the crushed strawberries and blueberries through the batter.
2.  Divide the batter between the cases (they should be about half full) and bake for 15 mins or until golden and just firm.
3.  Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool a little. Top with the extra strawberries to serve. 

Vanilla Icing! 

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup milk

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.     Place the butter in a large mixing bowl.

2.     Add 2 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla.

3.     On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes.

4.     Gradually add the remaining sugar, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. 


After distributing these amongst my friends, I left the rest on the kitchen counter after dinner with a note: "FREE CUPCAKES!" I'm happy to say that all of them had been devoured by the time I entered the kitchen at 6am the following morning.