Strawberry and Almond Cupcakes
This recipe was originally by a home cook from Spain, Gastronomistico
Cupcakes, madeleines, magdalenas, quequitos... those are some of the names that these delicious pastries are known by in the world. Nowadays they're very trendy and can be made very easily.
Cupcakes are said to date back to 1755 (they're a bit old, aren't they?) when Stanislas Leszczynski, the king of Poland and duke of Lorraine, invited people to his residence in the French province, and asked his cook to prepare something new and exquisite for the occasion. The cook was called Madeleine ("cupcake" in French), and amazed the diners with small round cakes, which everyone liked because of their spongy texture. The king was delighted and decided to call those mini cakes "madeleines" in her honor. The recipe spread to all the great halls in the Court of Versailles, later on to Spain, and then the world.
Another theory explains that cupcakes go back to the age of pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela, where a young woman called Magdalena ("cupcake" in Spanish) offered pilgrims small conch-shaped cakes. These "magdalenas" spread along the roads of Santiago, which explains their long existence in Spain.
Traditional cupcakes are shaped like a small conch, which is made by baking them in the oven on a metallic mold that is shaped like a conch. The end result if beautiful. Nowadays they are made in small frilled paper molds, and it's the most popular presentation in the world.
The main ingredients are flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and chemical yeast. Nowadays they can be found in any flavor you can imagine, but they aren't a low-calorie dessert by any means.
Strawberry and Almond Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 220 gr (7.7 oz) of self-rising flour
- 180 gr (6.3 oz) of fine sugar
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 75 ml (1/3 cup) of skim milk
- 75 ml (1/3 cup) of soy or sunflower oil
- 2 eggs
- 175 ml (3/4 cup) of strawberry puree
- 1 tsp strawberry extract
- 1 tsp raspberry vinegar (optional)
- peeled almonds
Directions
1. Mix all the solid ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder) in a bowl and set aside.
2. Mix the milk, oil, eggs, and strawberry extract in another bowl until it emulsifies as much as possible.
3. Add the liquid mix to the solids and stir with a wooden spoon until it's well-integrated.
4. Mix the strawberry puree with the raspberry vinegar.
5. Add the strawberry puree to the previous mix (step 3) and blend with a wooden spoon.
6. Pour the final mix into cupcake papers inside their respective molds. Fill 3/4 of the mold. Place one or more peeled almonds on them and shove them inside with your finger.
7. Bake at 180° C (356 F) for 15-20 minutes or until you place a toothpick in the center of a cupcake and it comes out clean.
8. Let them cool for 10 minutes in the mold, remove them and let them cool completely on a different tray.
9. Decorate to your taste.
Related article - The Lost Recipe: Strawberry Crème Caramel
Tips
1. Always turn the oven on right before you begin to prepare the cupcakes, that way it'll reach the appropriate temperature by the time you have them ready.
2. The recipe can be made with butter instead of oil. However, using oil gives the cupcakes more volume, since the flour's proteins are better wrapped in the fat and have a harder time forming gluten. The oil also improves the moisture level of the cupcakes, giving them a soft, humid, and spongy texture.
3. When you use baking powder you need to add an acid element to the dough, since baking powder reacts with acid, forming CO2 bubbles that make the dough rise. In this case, the strawberry's acidity can be used, but if the strawberries used are sweeter than they are acidic (like in my case), you need to add an extra source of acidity, like lemon juice, yogurt instead of milk, or vinegar.
Enjoy!
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Translated by: Gerald Francis; Reviewed by: Tomas Chernitsky
