Strawberry Roasting Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Toss berries, lemon juice, sugar, and salt in a bowl before spreading them out into an aluminum or metal pan to bake for about 20 minutes, flipping berries halfway through.
- Once they have a syrupy consistency, remove from oven and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Let cool in refrigerator.
Cupcake Baking Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper liners.
- To a large bowl, add and whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Set aside.
- Using the paddle attachment in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream your unsalted room temperature butter, vanilla and almond (if using) extract, and sugar together on medium speed for 4 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the two eggs and beat again for 1 minute.
- Add half of your bowl of dry ingredients and all buttermilk to your mixing bowl. Mix on low for about 45 seconds. Scrape sides again.
- Add the remaining flour, along with your Greek yogurt and oil. Mix on low speed until mostly incorporated. Stop mixer and fully incorporate by hand with a spatula for another minute or two to avoid over-mixing.
- Pour and evenly spread the batter into your prepared cupcake liners (about 50 grams in each cavity). Bake for 14-16 minutes or until cupcakes appear buttery and dense but bounce back at the touch of your finger.
- Let cupcakes cool in pan about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before inserting the roasted strawberry filling.
Marbled Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment -- or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer -- beat the cream cheese until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the butter and mix for another 1 minute or until fully combined.
- Turn off mixer and add salt, powdered sugar, and almond and vanilla extracts to bowl. Mix on low setting to slowly incorporate powdered sugar before increasing to high setting for another 2-3 minutes. Add lemon juice if needed to cut sweetness (personal preference).
- To marbled frosting, remove half of it and set aside in another bowl. Then add finely ground freeze dried strawberries to mixing bowl and mix until well-combined.
- Spread out the white and pink frostings in two lines on a piece of plastic wrap. Roll that up and place in piping bag fitted with a tip of your choice (2D forever!).
Cupcake Assembly
- Use the wider end of a large piping tip (like the size of 1M, 2D, etc), and make a hole in the center of your cupcakes that goes about 3/4 of the way down into it.
- Scoop about 2 teaspoons of cooled, diced and roasted strawberries into the hole in each cupcake. Firmly pack it down for more strawberry flavor!
- Cover each opening by using your piping bag filled with frosting to swirl frosting directly onto tops of cupcakes. Garnish with white sprinkles, fresh strawberry slices, or leave as is.