Strawberry Cupcakes with Tri-Colour Vanilla Frosting

My eldest's birthday just passed and the theme was unicorns!  This has been a recent obsession in our house so I started looking for unicorn themed ideas for the party.

The unicorn toppers I purchased.

This cookbook is amazing and
never fails me!

I came across these cupcake toppers on Amazon and decided I would bake some cupcakes for the party.  I pulled out my trusty Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book and settled on Strawberry Cupcakes.  Every recipe I have ever tried from this cookbook has turned out amazing and I always get great compliments on them.  The tips and notes she provides in the recipes are always spot on; nothing has every failed.

I loved using this and can't wait
to make more cupcakes just to use this!

I also used her Vanilla Frosting which I divided into 3 bowls and coloured with food colouring.  I used this neat tool from Wilton that lets you pipe 3 differed coloured icing at the same time.  While I was a little wary of it because I've never really piped anything before and this tool had mixed reviews, I gave it a shot and it was really quite awesome.  It does get a little messy, but overall went pretty smoothly.  And they looked positively stunning.  They were a huge hit at the party!  The frosting recipe was not enough to frost all the cupcakes; I needed about 1-1/2 to 1-2/3.  Doubling the recipe will give you plenty to work with.

Strawberry Cupcakes
Makes 34 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour (not self-rising) **
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2-1/4 cups sugar
1-1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 large whole eggs plus 1 egg white
1 cup milk
2 cups freshly chopped fresh strawberries (about 20)

Directions:
**If you don't have cake flour, measure out 1/2 cup all-purpose flour.  Remove 1 tbsp and replace it with 1 tbsp. cornstarch.  Give it a quick mix

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Sift together both flours, baking powder and salt.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add whole eggs and the white, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed.  Reduce speed to l ow.  Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk, and beating until well combined.  Fold in chopped strawberries by hand.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.  Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.  Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto rack and let cool completely.  Cupcakes can be stored up to 1 day at room temperature in airtight containers.

Fluffy Vanila Frosting
Makes about 4 cups

Here you can see how awesome
it looks with the three colours
piped together!

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 cups icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. With an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.

2. Reduce speed to medium.  Add the icing sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium.  This process should take about 5 minutes.  Frosting will be very pale and fluffy.

3. Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth.  If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 10 days in an airtight container.  Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

4. If tinting with food colouring, add a drop at a time and stir with a flexible spatula until well combined before adding more.

Matcha (Green Tea) Ice Cream

I love tea, and matcha tea is one of my favourites.  What's really neat about matcha is that it is ground green tea leaves.  Instead of steeping the leaves as you would with pretty much any other tea, matcha powder is whisked into hot water.  The powder doesn't dissolve; instead it is suspended in the hot water.  This is why if you don't drink the tea right away, the powder will fall to the bottom of your mug and you will need to whisk it again.  Because you are actually ingesting the tea leaves when you drink matcha, you are reaping the health benefits of green tea (like high in antioxidants) in greater amounts.

Matcha will give your ice cream a nice green colour!  There are different grades of matcha powder.  For ice cream you can use a culinary grade, which will not be as expensive as a ceremonial grade for example.

I use an ice cream bowl attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer.  It needs to be placed in the freezer for at least 15 hours prior to using it.  The ice cream mixture itself also needs to be chilled prior to using it; at least 4-8 hours.  And then once it has been churned, the ice cream needs to be placed in the freezer again for another 4-8 hours to firm up.  So the whole process is very slow, but it is so worth it!


Ingredients:
3 tbsp matcha green tea powder, or more to taste
1 cup milk (I used 2%, but whole milk provides a richer flavour)
2 cups heaving whipping cream
3/4 cup - 1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk

Directions: 

1. Sift matcha powder into 1/2 cup milk and whisk until the powder and milk is combined.  Gradually whisk remaining milk into matcha-milk mixture.

The cooked matcha mixture
cooling to room temperature.

2. Heat whipping cream and matcha-milk mixture in a pot over medium-low heat, whisking occasionally until heated through.  This should take about 5 minutes.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and eggs together.  Pour about 1/2 cup of the hot matcha mixture into egg mixture to temper the eggs; whisk thoroughly.  Add another 1/2 cup of the hot matcha mixture and repeat.

4. Slowly pour the egg mixture back into the pot, whisking constantly.  Cook, while occasionally whisking, over medium-low heat until heated through, about 5 minutes.

5. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.  Refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours, or overnight.

The churned ice cream mixture ready to firm up in the freezer.

6. Prior to pouring the cooled matcha mixture into an ice cream maker, give it a quick stir.  Then pour it into the ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

The ice cream has a soft texture
even after being left in the freezer
for 24 hours.  It tastes yummy!