This post is my first ever entry to Cupcake Hero, the brainchild of Laurie at Quirky Cupcake. This month's theme was chosen by Nikki and Clara. As soon as I saw what the theme was I had an idea of what I would do but the 'blue' element threw me a bit. While it seemed like a bit of a cop-out to go with blueberries, I am very anti food colouring and honestly there's nothing else blue! Even blueberries are actually purple. Oh well.Basically I wanted to keep it simple, so I chose a snowy white angel food cupcake covered with sweetened whipped cream, luscious red strawberries and topped with a blueberry!
Angel Food Cupcakes
Recipe from Not Quite Nigella
Ingredients are unchanged but I did change the method slightly. You can find the original recipe at the link above.
5 egg whites at room temperature
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup pure icing sugar, sifted
1/2 cup plain flour
Preheat oven to 180°C (I did 160°C fan forced)
Line cupcake tray with paper liners (I had enough mix to make 7 jumbo sized, but you would easily make 12-14 normal sized cupcakes)
Beat egg whites and lemon juice together until frothy. Add vanilla and cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sifted icing sugar until stiff peaks form.
Sift flour 3 times, then gently fold it into the egg white mixture using a metal spoon until just combined.
Spoon into prepared cupcake trays. They will not rise during cooking so fill as high as you want the cake to go. Smooth the tops with knife.
Bake for approx 15-20 minutes (I did 20 minutes – they were golden brown and had shrunk in from the sides. I noticed they still sank a little while cooling but they were perfectly cooked)
Decorate however you like!
I also did one a bit differently - I cut out the centre piece of cupcake and filled it with a mixture of whipped cream and pureed strawberries. I replaced the top piece of cupcake then covered it with cream and a drenching of dessicated coconut. And of course another blueberry on top. This was actually delicious! The coconut gave it some textural interest and the pink cream in the middle was really pretty.
I'm looking forward to next month already!
