Mixed Berry Cupcakes with Shortbread Crust and Strawberry Mousse

It's surprising how so much butter can taste so light and fruity!

I have to apologize - it has been over 2 years since I posted anything! That's not to say that I haven't baked anything; in fact, I've cooked and baked quite a bit. But I've forgotten to take pictures, or I didn't think the recipe was good enough, blah blah blah fishcakes.

So, here we are. And I think I'm coming back with a bang. A BERRY BIG BANG...er, sorry. But these really are nice: what you have is a crisp shortbread base, a buttery vanilla cake just stuffed silly with blueberries, a bright and sweet-tart strawberry mousse in the middle (with a special bonus treat I'll tell you about after awhile), and a rich, buttery, but still snappy raspberry Swiss Meringue buttercream. The end result is a perfectly summery (and marvelously messy) cupcake that manages to be both a luxurious treat and yet feel light on the tummy. And it's full of antioxidants! See, I'm helping you.

Ready to start, then? Off we go!

First of all, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 12-cup muffin tin and 4 cups of a 6-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners (I really prefer the greaseproof ones but use whatever you like). Then...

~Shortbread crust~
8 tablespoons room-temperature salted butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until softened and creamy. Add the sugar and mix until well-combined.

Mix together the flour, cornstarch, and salt and mix at low speed until the ingredients are just incorporated.

See? It really is "just incorporated"

Flour your work surface and gently knead 5 to 10 times until the dough has smoothed out and come together.

Then, breaking off 1-inch balls (slightly smaller than ping pong balls), put one small dough ball into each cup of the muffin tin. Press out the dough gently until it fills out the cup entirely.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until the shortbread is just starting to turn golden on the edges.

Set the pan aside to cool. Now, shall we make some cake? You'll love it. You don't even need a mixer.

~Fluffy Vanilla Cupcakes with Blueberries~

•  1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 extra large egg
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• Juice and zest from one large lemon
• 2 cups blueberries

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until combined, then set it aside. In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Whisk both the sugars into the butter, and then add in the egg, sour cream, vanilla, milk, egg, and lemon juice and zest; mix until it all comes together. Slowly whisk the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until no lumps remain; fold in the blueberries.

Divide the batter among the 16 cupcake liners and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let rest in pans for 5 minutes, then move the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

They look like muffins, don't they? Well, tell your guests they are Gilded Lily Muffins and serve them for breakfast!

And now, the filling:

~Fresh Strawberry Mousse Filling~

• 2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
• 1 tbsp. powdered gelatin
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 cups heavy cream

Puree your strawberries in a food processor (your blender will work, too). Strain out as many seeds as you can using a fine sieve, but don't fret if seeds get into the finished puree. Strawberries have seeds. Teeny, tiny ones. Such is the way of the world.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let it bloom for 5 minutes. Get your double boiler set up while that's going. After the 5 minutes have passed, pour the gelatin mixture into the top of the double boiler and heat over the boiling water until the gelatin has melted. Stir the melted gelatin into the strawberry puree and let it cool. It will become a bit thick.

Whip the heavy cream until medium to stiff peaks form. Gently fold 1/3 of the whipped cream into the strawberry puree and fold it in to lighten the puree a bit. Then pour the strawberry mixture back into the whipped cream and carefully fold it in until all is combined.

Fresh, delicious strawberry mousse! Oh, check that out - do you see how tacky I am? I see a finger swipe there, right in the middle. Hey, it's my kitchen...I dare you not to do it. At least smooth it out before you take a picture, though.

Let's go ahead and fill the cupcakes so we can get those a-chillin' in the refrigerator. Cut a cone-shaped bit out of the top of each cupcake; trim the extra off the bottom so that all you have left is a hat. Spoon in about a teaspoon of the strawberry mousse into the cavity left in the cupcake; top with the hat. Don't worry too much about overfilling; you're going to be frosting these after all. Continue the process until all the cupcakes are filled and hatted - put them in the fridge to chill until it's time to frost them. Now, look around.

What you should be seeing is a pile of delicious blueberry cupcake bits...and a whole lot of leftover mousse. No worries! You can either spoon them into dishes and let the mousse chill and set up for your next gathering; you can rustle up a pound cake and make a trifle...OR...you can drag out that ice cream maker and make frozen strawberry mousse! Just dump in whatever's left in the bowl and let it churn for 20 minutes or however long your freezer recommends. And just like that...2 desserts.

And now (we are getting there, I promise) the frosting. You're going to need that double boiler again.

~Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream~

• 1 cup raspberry coulis
• 5 egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3 sticks salted butter, cubed and at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the coulis, combine 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 1/2 pints of raspberries in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the sugar is dissolved, about 8 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the seeds and set it aside to cool.
In the top of a double boiler, above simmering water, combine the egg whites and the sugar. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it reaches 140 degrees and the sugar is dissolved.
Put this mixture into the (very clean) bowl of your electric mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites for 8 - 10 minutes or until the meringue is thick and glossy and the bowl no longer feels warm to the touch.

It starts out loose...

And ends up glossy! And sort of tastes like marshmallows, in a really good way.

Switch over to the paddle attachment and, with the mixer on low, add the butter cubes, one at a time, until the butter is incorporated. Continue mixing until the mixture is silky and smooth. Add in the vanilla and salt and raspberry coulis and stir until well combined.

Fill a large piping bag fitted with a star tip with the frosting. Swoop the frosting however you like onto each cupcake, making sure to cover the entire top. Keep the cupcakes in the fridge to store (since you're dealing with quite a bit of dairy here), but let the cupcake warm up to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy! I'm very glad to be back. And I'll not wait for two years to pass for the next post. I promise. Plus, peaches and plums are in season! Wheeeeee!

Now, go share with your friends.