The problem wasnt the taste (that part was amazing), and i know i didn't undercook either. The problem is the mound, the fact that there wasnt one, to be exact. It looked thoroughly baked, except for some part where there was a bit larger of a strawberry chunk. I didnt expect them to be ultra high top cupcake, but a small or medium and smooth top is what i typically aim for. Again, the taste was delicious, but how would i go about getting a better mound without losing taste?


Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
From Martha Stewart
Makes 34 Cupcakes
Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cake flour, (not self-rising)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2¼ cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 large egg white
1 cup whole milk
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups finely chopped strawberries, plus small strawberries for garnish
Buttercream:
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1¼ cups sugar
1½ cups unsalted butter, softened, cut into small pieces
1½ cups fresh strawberries, pureed
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs and egg white one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in two additions alternating with the milk, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Gently fold in the chopped strawberries with a spatula. Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling each about ¾-full. Bake until light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Allow to cool in the pans a few minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While cupcakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream. Place whites and sugar in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat, and attach bowl to a mixer. Whisk on medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, and add butter, 1 piece at a time, whisking well after each addition. Switch to a paddle attachment. With mixer on low, add strawberry puree, and beat until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Fill a piping bag with a fitted tip. Pipe on the buttercream on top of cooled cupcakes. Garnish with fresh strawberry slices.

I am a big Martha fan and have made many of her recipes, but this recipe sucks. It has WAY too much liquid in it. Typically this recipe makes cupcakes that are flat or will fall in the center, take forever to bake and be gummy. I actually don't know how this got past her recipe testers.

Tried and true fix for this recipe... use the same recipe only instead of milk, use strawberry puree. You need some baking soda to cut the acid, so add 1/8 plus 1/16 tsp of baking soda. And don't add the extra 2 cups of strawberries, cut it back to maybe 1/4 cup folded in at the end just to get some larger strawberry pieces in it. Everything else stays the same. You will get light fluffy cupcakes with a nice dome.

Jen

I learned on CC the method of increasing the temp to 375 and then dropping it to 350 when you put them in the oven. That helps on some recipes. But just like cake, some dome more than others. When you see a uniform dome where every cupcake, no matter the flavor, is domed the same way, it was probably a mix where just a different flavor packet was added. In scratch baking, all recipes will react a little differently.

I disagree on the too much liquid part. I've made strawberry cupcakes such as this before and it was fine.

Some recipes are just not meant to rise. And I don't understand the need to when you cover up the top with frosting anyway. I make 400 cupcakes a day of 9-10 different flavors. Some will rise and some won't. I have never had a customer comment on the rise of the top of the cake.

I have several issues with this recipe. But one of them is not the liquid. If there is too much liquid, not only will it not rise, but it would sink a bit. But the strawberries as done in the recipe are not enough to cause the cake to not rise. Unless it is the acid in the strawberries. Strawberries are one of the most acidic fruits out there. Ask anyone with GERD and they will tell you. Add about 1/8 tsp of baking soda and see what happens. Don't add too much. But I think 1/8 should help neutralize some of the acid in the strawberries.

I hav the same problem with many of the cupcakes that have added fruit or juice to them, and had to learn to live with it. Not all recipes are created equal, and some don't rise the same. I am disappointed when they come out and fall flat, but oh well..... I just mound a little extra frosting on them. Until someone can do a fool-proof recipe, I guess I will have to endure it.

I don't have the book, but if you enlarge the photo of that page here, you'll see that they're flat in MS own book, and the person makes them gets them the same way.

http://www.familyplaque.com/blog/?p=312

These two bloggers have a mound, but it's not a big one. I'm not sure how they got it, either.

http://wee-eats.com/2011/08/10/strawberry-cupcakes-with-strawberry-buttercream/

http://www.thelovebitesblog.com/2011/04/strawberry-cupcakes-with-strawberry.html

In some cases you want a flat surface to frost or decorate. When I have done a cupcake, cake I preferred the cupcakes with a more flat top.
The most improtant thing to me is the tast. When my cupcakes have a high dome I have cooked them way to fast and they temd to be dry.
Just my opion.

I think we cake bakers have recipes for cakes that don't dome because we have learned to get the dome out. Then when we use those recipes for cupcakes, we get a small to no dome. That's been my experience. But I like the flat cupcake. After adding the frosting in a well balanced amount, you can still take a bite and not get it on your face.