I’m a sucker for anything dipped. Chocolate dipped pretzels, chocolate dipped strawberries, dipped ice-cream cones, you get it, anything dippable. Well that includes dipped cupcakes. I have done a few different versions of the dipped cupcake, peppermint, hot chocolate- I highly recommend you make these during the holidays or any day. They’re damn good. Red-velvet high-hat dipped, again, damn good. And now, strawberries and cream dipped and not to be redundant here, but damn good. It’s summer and strawberries are the berry of choice in summer for me. Strawberry desserts elicit summer thoughts and dreamin’ and these cupcakes actually take me back to my youth and the good ole’ dipped ice-cream cone. Creamy vanilla/strawberry Swiss Meringue, piled high on a light and airy vanilla strawberry cupcake, filled with more vanilla cream and then dipped in that hard candy shell!
When we were little we grew up in the burbs, but a way out there burb, un-incorporated burb, lots of room, corn fields, grass and trees. Well most kids had a place in the summer time they could ride their bikes or walk up to the local convenient store or corner store to stock up on goods. Goods meaning, candy and ice-cream. Those were all the goods a 7-year-old needed. Well that place for us was Bengston’s Farm, farm/slash convenient store. The old little store is gone but the farm is still a big deal. People go out there for pumpkins and fall fun. We got our pumpkins there when we were little. Any who, it was not that well known back in the day. We would walk up there along the side of the road with no sidewalks to Bengstons. Change in our pockets and ice-cream on the brain. I can still remember it like it was yesterday, walking in, take a right head towards the back of the store and where the deli was, they had soft-serve ice-cream there. Not just soft-serve but dipped cones too! This is where my love for dipping was born. I am a vanilla girl through and through, always have been and always will be. I went for the vanilla cone dipped in that beautiful strawberry magic shell that hardened upon touching the cold ice-cream. My sister was always a swirl soft-serve girl dipped in the chocolate coating – to each their own. Taking that first bite of the top and getting that crunch and sweetness of the shell to reveal that delicious creamy vanilla soft-serve underneath. Mmm, can still taste it! Then heading outside in the heat and trying to eat it before all that glorious ice cream melted through its protective shell down our grubby little hands and arms, all the while turning us into a delicious sticky mess!
These cupcakes take me there! They bring me back to the flavors and memories of summer and youth. The cupcake is flavored with the essence of strawberry and vanilla, the center is a creamy light vanilla swiss meringue and the topping is more strawberry flavor in the “light as air” meringue buttercream. All topped with that wonderful magic shell! No melting all over your hands, but still a little messy to eat. That’s ok, dig in and embrace the mess and channel your grubby 7-year-old self.
These cupcakes are perfect for any gathering. Birthdays, 4th of July BBQs, Tuesday, you name it!
Enjoy!
Diane
- For the cupcakes:
- 1⅔ cups cake flower
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 cups whole milk for steeping strawberries (1/2 cup strawberry milk for batter)
- 3 egg whites room temp
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter – room temp
- ¼ cup Mascarpone – room temp
- One 1.2oz bag freeze dried strawberries
- One bag red candy coating wafers
- For the Buttercream:
- One 1.2 oz bag freeze dried strawberries
- 4 ½ sticks unsalted butter sticks butter
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 7 egg whites
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- For the cupcakes:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with liners and set aside.
- In a medium sauce-pan heat milk over medium heat until just beginning to scald. Bubbles forming around the edges. Turn off the heat and pour the bag of freeze dried strawberries in to steep for 15 minutes. It will curdle and separate, that's ok. Strain through a fine mesh strainer twice. You will be left with a watery consistency strawberry liquid. Pour ½ cup into a measuring cup and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine your dry ingredients and whisk to combine, then set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth about 2 minutes. Slowly add in the sugar and continue to beat for another 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add the mascarpone and beat until combined. Beat the egg whites until slightly foamy. Add to the butter sugar mixture in three pours. Beat after each addition until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract.
- Add ⅓ of the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Add half of the wet mixture and combine. It will curdle some, that’s ok. Add another third of the dry and mix. Then add the rest of the wet mixture and combine. Last, add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Do not over mix.
- Using an ice-cream scoop or about ⅓ cup, fill each cupcake liner ⅔rds full. Gently even out tops with offset spatula or knife.
- Bake on middle rack of the oven for 16 to 18 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let cool for 10 minutes in pan on rack. Then remove from pan and allow to cool completely on the rack.
- For the buttercream:
- Place egg whites, salt and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Place bowl over medium saucepan with about an inch of simmering water on the stove top.
- Whisk constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Should take about 10 minutes. You can tell when it’s done by rubbing a small amount of the mixture between your fingers. If there is no graininess, it’s done.
- Remove bowl from double boiler and attach to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium high until stiff peaks form, about 10 minutes and the bottom of the bowl is cool to the touch.
- While the egg whites are whisking grind the freeze-dried strawberries in a spice grinder or coffee grinder and set aside.
- Switch to the paddle attachment and your butter slowly a piece at time. Mixture will eventually curdle but keep mixing until smooth and shiny. Add the vanilla extract.
- Next add your strawberry dust. Mix to combine.
- Frost cooled cupcakes high with frosting. Place in the fridge for an hour so the frosting firms up. Melt the candy coatings in a large heat-proof bowl in 30 second increments until completely melted and smooth. Transfer melted coating into a deep wide enough cup for dipping the cupcakes. Dip each chilled cupcake until the frosting is coated. Allow to set at room temp for 10 minutes.
- Store covered in the fridge for up to 5 days. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
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