Strawberry Cupcakes: Recipe

I have a cupcake confession. I made a LOT of cupcakes in order to get this recipe right. I ate cupcakes, fed them to Lee and even delivered them to friends. I have my sister to thank for testing the recipe who declared them a success with not only adults but kids. It happily passed the test with cupcake eaters from age 4 to 45 (but I'm fairly certain those over 45 will enjoy them too).

What did I learn from my cupcake trials and tribulations? I learned that by adding a little chopped fresh strawberry you get a lot of strawberry flavor. Baking with yogurt allows you to use less sugar and less butter and still get a sweet tender cupcake. It's not the healthiest cupcake in the world, but it's not too bad either. Once a cupcake gets too healthy it's nothing more than a muffin. I also learned that one person can only eat so many cupcakes before screaming "uncle".

cupcakes are fun to make, to share and to eat. cupcakes are not particularly fun to photograph. Unhappy with my first attempts, I turned to the world of pop art. My inspiration for this photo were the cake paintings by California artist Wayne Thiebaud. Eat them or just gaze longingly at them, I hope you enjoy them!

Strawberry cupcakes

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 large egg
6 ounces Dannon® All Natural Vanilla Lowfat Yogurt (or any other fruit flavor of yogurt)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced

Frosting:
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 fresh strawberries, about 2 Tbsp. mashed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. With an electric hand mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg, Dannon® All Natural Vanilla Lowfat Yogurt and vanilla, blending until smooth.

2. Measure the dry ingredients into the bowl and blend, then fold in the strawberries.

3. Divide the mixture equally between the 12 paper-lined cupcake cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

4. Beat together butter, powdered sugar, and mashed strawberry in medium-size bowl until creamy and smooth. Chill frosting for 15 minutes or until thick. Frost cupcakes with a spatula. Keep cupcakes in the refrigerator loosely covered.
Yield: 12 servings

Enjoy!

READ MORE Over at the Dannon Kitchen is my post on Mother's Day.

FOOD + YOGURT + CUPCAKES