Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

I always try and take advantage of the summer months for baking recipes that are perfect in the sunshine. Usually these involve fruit - and I knew I had to use the heatwave as an excuse to bake these strawberry cheesecake cupcakes. Soft, light sponge complete with a hidden strawberry surprise inside and topped with cream cheese icing. I have to admit, the first cream cheese icing recipe I used (and that is in the pictures) didn't turn out like I had hoped. However, since then I have discovered the perfect recipe (thanks Nigella!) which I used in my biscoff cupcakes and so you can see from the photos how well it pipes and holds together. It is so tasty too, and is so much better than butter cream icing! So I have included that recipe here instead of the one I actually used. 

Recipe

170g margarine/butter
170g caster sugar
3 eggs
170g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

For the cream cheese icing

125g unsalted butter, softened
125g cream cheese (good quality)
500g icing sugar, sifted.

Plus a handful of digestive biscuits and around 8-10 fresh strawberries. 

Firstly, preheat the oven to 160c.

Cream together the margarine and caster sugar until fluffy.

Then, whisk in the eggs until combined.

Fold in the self raising flour and baking powder (a teaspoon of baking powder works wonders for creating a soft, fluffy sponge)

Bake in the oven for around 25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the cream cheese icing. To do this, simply sieve the icing sugar to remove any lumps. Then whisk in the butter and cream cheese until combined. Try not to over whisk the mixture as cream cheese icing is known to become runny - simply whisk until just combined. 

Once the cupcakes are cool, hollow out the centre and press about half a strawberry into the middle. 

Cover with icing. I wish I had found my favourite cream cheese icing recipe when I made these so I could have made the icing a bit neater. But seeing as they are supposed to look like cheesecake cupcakes I didn't mind too much! Sprinkle on some crumbled digestive biscuits - and enjoy!

Liddie x