Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

A weekend home of recuperation before the dreaded exams is just what I needed, so here I am, curled up on my sofa at home in my dressing gown, spaniel at my side, looking forward to a weekend of sleeping and baking; I really am an extreme student.

Oxford is currently in the middle of exam chaos. There are despairing freshers and jovial finalists everywhere! I can't walk down Turl Street without bumping into someone looking either thoroughly panic stricken in sub-fusc (formal exam clothing), or trashed from head to toe.  By "trashed" I mean covered in silly string, confetti and more than likely, cheap bubbly. This is what your friends do to you [in the nicest way possible] when you finish your exams for the year. Another bizarre but wonderful Oxford tradition. 

Personally, I can't wait to be showering off all that trashing muck in the knowledge that my exams are over and summer is here. That first glass of Pimms on grove quad next Friday is going to taste like FREEDOM. 

But for now, the only way possible to escape from the stress of modernist literature and Old English wisdom poetry, is to bake. So bake I will. 

Here's one of the yummy things the Lincoln lot are going to be treated to on my return this week, courtesy of the Hummingbird Bakery Book: strawberry cheesecake cupcakes.

Ingredients: 

For the cupcakes:

120g plain flour

140g caster sugar

1 and a half tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

40g unsalted butter

120ml whole milk 

half a tsp vanilla extract

1 egg 

12 large stawberries, chopped into small pieces 

100g digestive biscuits (the recipe says 200g, but this I found was WAY too much)

For the icing: 

300g icing sugar

50g unsalted butter

125g cream cheese

Method:

Line a muffin tin with pretty paper cupcake cases. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and beat together with a handheld electric mixer until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

Pour in the milk and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the egg and beat well for a few minutes.

Half fill each cupcake case with the batter. Then add a few pieces of strawberries, before topping up the cupcake case with more batter on top. (I then added a few pieces of strawberry on top too, for extra fruity goodness... these are practically healthy.)

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until light and golden. The sponge should bounce back when lightly touched. Leave the cupcakes to cool before turning onto a wire rack. 

To make the icing: beat together the butter and cream cheese. Beat in the icing sugar. Chill in the fridge until cool enough to pipe. 

Break up the digestive biscuits and put them in a food processor. Whizz them up int fine crumbs. When the cupcakes are cool, pipe the icing onto them (or spread, if you prefer). Sprinkle with digestive biscuit crumbs and top with a strawberry quarter! 

Indulge without guilt. (especially if you have exams and are extremely stressed!)

Apologies for the lack of photos on this post folks, being the wally I am I forgot to charge my phone so didn't have it to take photos with until half way through the baking process! These Mini Strawberry Daiquiri Cupcakes are a slightly more grown up treat, and you could also try some summery Strawberry Jam Cupcakes.