{Real Strawberry Cupcakes}

That's real strawberries as apposed to "strawberry flavoured", to be honest they took a bit of faffing around and are quite sweet but they were a big hit with the little people in the house, Jay unfortunately missed his chance when he declined to take one to work for lunch , he thought there would be some left when he got home that night, rookie.

I'd like to add that they are delicious and although they come with a sugar high if you channel and time it properly you can use it to your advantage and dash round the house like a fembot cleaning up the days debris, cooking dinner, bathing the wee ones, folding the washing whilst sweeping the floor and emptying the dishwasher, along with all the other things you didn't get round to because you were faffing around all afternoon making strawberry cupcakes.

...strawberry cupcakes
150g strawberries

2 tbsp sugar

115g butter, room temperature

225g caster sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g self raising flour, sifted

125g plain flour, sifted

125ml milk, room temperature

..strawberry butter cream
strawberry puree

125g butter, room temperature

30ml milk, room temperature

500g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180/160 fan forced, line cupcake trays with papers (my batch made 16).

To make the strawberry puree cut strawberries into quarters and pop in a small saucepan over low heat for a couple of minutes until liquid starts being released, add the sugar and allow to cook for a few minutes until strawberries are soft. Using a stick blender, blend until smooth, cook on low heat for a minute longer then take off heat and allow to cool.

On to the cupcakes, cream the butter and sugar until its pale and fluffy, add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, sift flours together in a separate bowl and add the vanilla to the milk. Add half the flour, and milk mixtures to the butter, combine then add the rest of the flour and milk and mix till all combined and smooth.

Remove a cup of the cupcake batter and add half the strawberry puree. Spoon the plain cupcake batter into cupcake papers, then divide strawberry mixture between cupcakes, and using a skewer, swirl the mixture to create a marbled effect. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden, test with a skewer. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes, then pop on a wire rack to cool completely.

Now on to the buttercream, cream the butter for a couple of minutes then add the strawberry puree, milk and a cup of icing sugar, continue beating for a few minutes until smooth, then gradually add the rest of the icing sugar beating it until its really light and fluffy. Ice those cooled cupcakes and eat em.