Strawberry Cup Cakes + Matryoshka Dolls

These Russian nesting dolls or Matryoshka dolls (more story here) reminded me of my childhood. I have seen these dolls in my grandmother's home when I was a very young child. And when saw these dolls in Ebay suddenly the living room of my grandmother came to live in my head. I can even see the dress that I was wearing when I visited her home and playing with these pretty tiny dolls. 

When saw the cup cake liner and cup cake top in a box at Homegoods; I immediately grabbed them and I knew I wanted to take pictures of both items together plus the cup cake that I intended to make.

This is my first cup cake attempt and I got the recipe from Martha Stewart. I never knew that strawberry can make a delicious cake. It is moist and; tastes like strawberry !

::Recipe::

Strawberry Cup Cake

~ 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

~ 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour

~ 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

~ 1/2 teaspoon salt

~ 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

~ 1 large egg

~ 1/2 cup milk

~ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

~ pound strawberries. hulled and halved {I chopped 6 strawberries and mixed in the batter before baking}

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg. Buter a 10 - inch pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.

2. Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low, mix in egg, milk and vanilla.

3. Reduce speed to  low; gradually mix in flour mixture.  Transfer batter  to buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoon sugar over berries.

{Note; For above recipe I mix in chopped fresh strawberries last in batter. And therefore I do not sprinkle sugar on top.}

Bake cake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

{Note; arrange cup cake liner in a cup cake pan and pour 2/3 batter inside cup cake liner. I used only half recipe for about 8 cup cakes.}

Oh yes, the Cream Cheese Frosting

Mix with electric mixer; 1 cup low fat cream cheese, 1/4 butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla. 1/4 cup powder sugar and 2 drops red food coloring. Spoon all batter in to a plastic piping tube with any piping tips you like. I am using no. 12 round piping tips by Wilton. 

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Good luck Everyone and thank you for stopping by !