150 Calories per cupcake
December brings in the festive Christmas cheer. The winter breeze is soothing and calm. And the markets are flushed pink with fresh local strawberries!!!
I look forward to the season every year and each December weekend I make sure I whip up a Strawberry dessert.
The dessert list is long – strawberry pancakes, strawberry & cream, chocolate dipped strawberries or maybe a quick strawberry and oats for breakfast.
But amidst all these beautiful yummilicious pink desserts, the strawberry cupcakes are truly magical. They turn out soft and fluffy with the right amount of sweet and tangy notes, adorned with red strawberries like jewels.
And they were totally with the wait.
These Strawberry Cupcakes are sweet but without the refined sugar. They are springy and fluffy but without the refined flour and still just as perfect. The last time I made these, no one knew these were refined sugar free and whole grain too!
Healthy Strawberry Cupcakes
Ingredients:
220g Whole Wheat Flour (Sieved twice)
96g (½ cup) Monkfruit Sweetner
75g Fresh Strawberry Puree
75g yoghurt
120g unsalted butter
4 Large Eggs
1 tbsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Salt
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
½ tsp strawberry essence
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
For Icing:
200m Fresh Cream
100g Cream Cheese
50g Monk fruit sweetener
Pink Food Colour
For Decoration:
Fresh Strawberries
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 180 deg celsius and spray cupcake tins with cooking spray.
- For the strawberries puree: rinse the berries, slice the greens off, and puree in a blender until completely smooth.
- Beat the butter and monk-fruit sweetner till fluffy, add the eggs,vanilla extract and strawberry essence and beat well.
- To this add the strawberry puree and yoghurt further mix on low speed until completely incorporated.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Add the vinegar and quickly fold in with a spoon or spatula to ensure all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. DO NOT OVERMIX
- Scoop the batter into the prepared cupcake tins and bake for 25 minutes or till they are baked well.
- Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Whip the cooled fresh cream till soft peaks form. Add in the cream cheese, monkfruit sweetener and two drops of pink food colouring and whip further till the icing holds shape.
- Decorate the cooled cupcakes with the whirl of this icing and place fresh strawberries on top for the festive look.
Handy Tips :
- If the cupcake mix is too thick add a little milk to adjust the consistency.
- For a smooth puree, strain the strawberries puree once through a sieve.
- Make the icing ahead of decorating the cupcakes and keep to cool in the refrigerator to set. This will make it easy to decorate the cupcakes.
