Salvage Your Strawberries before Going Bad, Strawberry Short Cupcake

If you’re anything like I am, you have great intentions to eat those fruit and veggies, but don’t actually get around to doing anything with them until they are bad, and they go directly to the garbage. I know, I’m working on it.

The other day I was looking through my fridge and say a big, beautiful, container of strawberries. As a pregnant lady, I never really know what is going to sound good from one minute to the next, but this did sound good at that minute. So I picked it up and realized that most of the strawberries in the container we not as pretty as I originally thought.  I needed something to hurry and make so I wasn’t wasting as much.

My husband, bless his heart, won’t eat anything that has fruit mixed into it, including jams, cakes, pies, you name it. So making a Strawberry short cake just wouldn’t work out. I would end up eating most of it, and he would nibble on the cake part. So I thought of the crazy idea to make stuffed cupcakes. I know husband still wouldn’t eat any, but then my portion would be a better size and they were so cute I could give them to the neighbors.

I found a great little recipe for a plain white cake, there are a lot that are easy to do, and actually taste pretty good. The recipe had to be tweaked, a lot, so I’m not putting the one I used on here, but Martha Stewart has a great white cake, so does Wilton. I am also a fan of trying to find something on Allrecipes, but don’t have a lot of success when just looking for something as plain as white cake.

The key to a good batter would be in the way that it is mixed. (You can also use a box mix, they are very convenient and inexpensive.)  Make sure all the clumps are out of the powder if you are using a mix, and it never hurts to sift your flour. The less worried you are about lumps, the less you have to mix everything.  When you add the eggs, do it one at a time and make sure each egg is slightly combined before you add the next one. Don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl as you go.

If you’re using a cake mix, don’t mind this part too much, the adding of ingredients doesn’t make that much difference. If you’re making it by scratch, it’s a smart to follow mixing directions. Put the dry ingredients is a separate bowl, and the wet ingredients save until last.  Combine the sugar and butter and salt ( I tend to forget salt if I don’t cream it in with the butter). The dry ingredients and the wet ones get alternated as you mix them. By that I mean that you would add about a third of the dry ingredients, then add about a third of the wet ingredients, ending with the wet ingredients.  Just be careful not to over mix everything as you alternate, and remember to scrape the bowl.                

Now to the fun part… Decide what you are baking. I did mini cupcakes, so the cooking time was a bit shorter. I LOVE the smell of baking, when the cupcakes are almost done you will start to smell an amazing scent , this is the first sign that those cupcakes are getting close to being done. (You should probably put on a timer as well, going on just smell is a little risky.)  As the cupcakes cool, make sure you have the strawberries (or whatever you’re filling them with) ready.

Now I take a knife and just cut out the middle, in a cone, or pyramid, or just something that you can fill with the strawberries.  I have even used a little strawberry jam mushed in with my real strawberries to help it go further, and be a little sweeter.

After they are filled, take a can of whipped cream,  or just spoon it on in a pretty design, and add a strawberry to the top for a cute decoration. I keep some whip cream on the side so I can use it after.)

Now I get to have my strawberry shortcake, and not worry about all my good food going bad.

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Tagged as: dessert, strawberries, strawberry short cake