Delicious for a summer treat, this is how you make my strawberry mojito cupcakes…

–         250g Unsalted butter or Stork Margarine

–          250g Caster sugar

–          250g Plain flower

–          1 ½ tsp baking powder

–          ½ tsp salt

–          3 Organic free-range eggs

–          2 limes juiced and zested. Keep the juice and zest separate

–          4 fluid OZ buttermilk

–          1 tsp pure vanilla extract

–          1 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

Method for the cake base;

Set the oven to 180 Degrees Celsius and line a muffin tray with either cupcake or muffin paper liners, depending on what size you would like your cupcakes to be. Mix the butter with the sugar and cream until pale and smooth. Then combine the flour, baking powder and salt, and mix well and leave to one side. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure that the eggs have been well mixed in between each addition of egg. Then add the flour mix 1/3 at a time ensuring that the mixture is well mixed in-between each addition. Add the lime juice, zest, vanilla extract and the mint. Add the buttermilk in slowly and mix well for around 3-5 minutes. Then, carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake or muffin liner until they are 2/3 full, leaving ample room for the mixture to rise. The cake should take approximately 20-25 minutes to cook however I like to watch them and make sure they do not overcook and burn. Once they have turned a golden brown colour, place a skewer into the centre of the cakes and if it comes out clean, then the cakes are ready. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes in the metal tin. After 10 minutes, take them out of the baking tray and leave to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.

Second Stage:

Ingredients for the strawberry mojito syrup;

–          Zest of one lime

–          150g frozen or fresh strawberries

–          100g sugar

–          1 fluid OZ of water

–          2 Fluid OZ of Rum (any kind of rum, I like to use Bacardi or you can use Bacardi mojito)

–          2 tbsp of Butter

Method

Pick a small saucepan and mix the butter and sugar together on a medium heat, to melt the butter and sugar. Do not make the heat too high as this could cause the butter and sugar to burn, creating a bitter undertone that will ruin the flavour. Mix in the water once the butter and sugar have warmed and bring to the boil, make sure you stir continuously, to prevent the mixture from sticking to the pan and therefore burning. Add the strawberries and leave until the strawberries have cooked and almost melted into a sticky strawberry sauce. Once all of the ingredients have melted into a runny and sticky liquid, take off the heat and place on a heat resistant mat (or surface that won’t burn). Add the rum a ¼ at a time mixing well between each addition. Finally, add the zest of 1 lime and leave the syrup for 5 minutes in order to draw out maximum flavour. Take the mixture and pour through a sieve until there are no bits from the strawberries floating in it.

Take each cake and make holes in the cakes, using the skewer. Then pour the syrup over the top of each of the cakes so that the syrup can sink into the sponge. It is the same process as the lemon drizzle cupcakes.

Vanilla and Strawberry Butter Cream
Ingredients

–          500g Icing sugar

–          250g Unsalted butter

–          2 tsp rum

–          2 tsp pure strawberry extract

–          1 Vanilla pod

–          Pink gel food colouring

Method
Mix the butter in a bowl until the colour has changed from a yellow colour to a pale cream colour. This means that the butter has been fully aerated. Then, add in the strawberry extract and rum, mix well. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the vanilla seeds and add to your butter mixture. Add in the icing sugar a spoon at a time and DO NOT use an electric mixer as the icing sugar will end up everywhere other than in your butter cream. Once all of the icing sugar has been combined, then you can use an electric mixer. Once all of the ingredients have been incorporated, separate the butter cream into two bowls and in one add the pink food colouring. Using a split piping bag, add in one side the cream coloured butter cream and in the other side add in the pink butter cream and pipe onto your cold cupcakes and serve with a glass of strawberry mojito.
If you have any questions regarding this recipe or any of the others you have seen on this blog, please feel free to send me an email to Jennifer@jenniferscakes.co.uk or leave me a comment and I will reply as soon as I can.

Good Luck x