~Strawberry Jam Filled Cupcakes~

Directions

• Cupcake Batter:
• Pull together the Ingredients
• Mix With A Hand Blender:
• Using a mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar until the mix is light or for about 2 minutes or so. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and almond extract.
• Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
• Incorporate by hand the flour, baking powder and salt mixture into the butter mixture a bit at a time alternating with the milk. Just stir it until it is smooth.
• Pour into muffin tins
• Take a ladle and fill each muffin/cupcake tin almost to the top. (⅔ at least)
• Bake at 350° for about 20-25 minutes or until tester comes out clean
• Allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Cool Completely.
• Filling:
• In a saucepan over medium heat, mix the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and basil together. Add the liquor (optional) and stir well until blended. Bring to boil and then reduce the heat. Cook for about 5 minutes or until it has reduced and thickened. Remove from heat and allow it to cool.
• Tip: Cornstarch can be lumpy, add some of the lemon juice to the cornstarch and stir it up to a smooth consistency BEFORE adding it into the saucepan with the rest of the ingredients.
• Hollow out the center of the cupcake with either a cupcake corer or a very small spoon. Don’t break through the bottom of the cupcake, you don’t want the filling to come out when the wrapper is taken off to eat. Only go 1/2 way or so into the cupcake. The filling should fill @12 – 15 cupcakes.
• Using a piping bag to fill, fill the center of each cupcake.
• Frosting:
• With a mixer blend the softened butter and powdered sugar. Add ¼ c of the pureed strawberries. If it needs more add a little at a time until you get to the right consistency. Mix well. You may not need the full ½ c, but you can reserve that for plating.
• Note: if you want to add small pieces of diced strawberries into the frosting add them now and stir them in. Remember the water content of the strawberries may thin the frosting, go ahead and add a bit more powdered sugar a tablespoon at a time. I also added the finely diced basil into the frosting mix at this point.
• Using a piping bag, pipe frosting on the filled cupcakes.