A Southern Grace: powdered sugar powwow

April 30, 2012

powdered sugar powwow

Yum



Let's be honest--cheesecakes take a lot of work to make, especially when compared to a batch of cupcakes. You've got the endless beating of the cream cheese before and after adding your sugar and eggs. You've got the repetitious scraping of the bowl. You've got the foil and the water bath and the hour of baking and the hour of cooling and the hours of refrigerating. For someone who appreciates a little instant gratification, a cheesecake is not an apt choice!


What's more, I don't necessarily like the way cheesecake tastes or feels in my mouth, but I do like the concept of strawberry cheesecake, especially if the strawberry portion overwhelms the cheesecake part. With that in mind, I made some cupcakes that would hopefully mimic everything I love about strawberry cheesecake and omit all that I dislike.


The cupcakes are a dense vanilla pound cake, the filling is a simple cream cheese frosting mixed with a bit of strawberry pie filling, and the frosting is a buttercream flavored with strawberry jam. There's plenty of strawberry flavor, just a wee taste of cream cheese, and all kinds of sweetness--just what I like. Some might argue that I've done just as much work on these as I would on a cheesecake, and to these people I say, "You're absolutely right." However, I like the end result much, much better.

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
(makes about 18 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:
1-1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream cheese filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry pie filling

Strawberry buttercream frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup strawberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda into a medium bowl; set aside.
With a mixer in a large bowl, cream butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream.
Scoop the batter into each cupcake liner, filling about 2/3 full.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in tin for 15 minutes. Remove from tin onto a cooling rack.
To make the cream cheese filling, cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in the vanilla. Mix in the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, then fold in the pie filling. To make the frosting, with an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Add the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after both additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium-high. Frosting will be very pale and fluffy. Add vanilla and jam, and beat until frosting is smooth.
To fill the cupcakes, carve out a cone-shaped hole (and immediately eat the cone)(after schmearing it with frosting, of course) and carefully squirt or spoon the cream cheese filling inside. Apply frosting generously to cupcakes and devour.

38 comments:

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

I do love cheesecake but could eat several cupcakes without blinking an eye:D

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Heavenly! Those must be so enjoyable.

Cheers,

Rosa

José Manuel said...

He visto que está tremendo estas magdalenas

Deborah said...

I do like cheesecake, but I'm pretty sure I'd love these cupcakes!

Faith said...

These beautiful cupcakes are such a fun take on cheesecake! Love how much faster they are to make too! :)

Gloria Baker said...

this look absolutely georgeous!

Blond Duck said...

So much better!

A Plum By Any Other Name said...

Ha! While I do like cheesecake it can sure be fussy. It's not a great "dessert-for-one" either ... unlike these little beauties. ;)

Pam said...

I would much rather make & eat these than cheesecake any day! They look spectacular Grace.

Juliana said...

Grace, your cupcakes always look so good, tempting...and this one is no different. I wish I could have one of this moist and tasty cheese filling cupcakes...love the strawberry with cream cheese.
Hope you have a wonderful week ahead :)

lisa is cooking said...

Cheesecake and strawberries both make me very happy. And, I imagine these cupcakes would make me very happy as well. Look at that pretty filling!

tania@mykitchenstories said...

They look great. Unfortunately I love cheese cakes and cupcakes oh dear!

Erica said...

They look absolutely delicious! Love that filling!

Elizabeth said...

Strawberry cheesecake cupcakes sound genius!

Anonymous said...

the cream cheese and strawberry pie filling sounds scrumptious!

Joanne said...

I love cheesecake...but you're right. There's something way more gratifying about cupcakes. And these may be just as much work, but look at all the different components you get to make (and taste test!) whereas with cheesecake it's just...one cake.

Robin said...

Ha! Like you I am also picky about my cheesecake and I think these cupcakes have all the creamy goodness without that weird cheesy lumpy feel!

Lucy said...

These cupcakes look amazing - I love all the different components together! The filling sounds so delicious :)

vianney said...

a cupcake with a cheesecake twist, oh I there!!

Anonymous said...

You have made getting cheesecake flavoour so much easier and so much cuter - much adored my friend :D

Cheers
Choc Chip Uru

Leslie said...

I'm a instant gratification kinda girl too !! These look scrumptious

Mimi said...

Such a problem...I love good cheesecake, but I also love a good cupcake.
Mimi

Hungry Dog said...

I'll take a cupcake over a cheesecake any day of the week. Love strawberry season!

kellypea said...

I saw these in my inbox -- well the photo anyway -- and wished they were real. Admiring from afar and sighing heavily while trying not to inhale stray calories.

Beth said...

The end result is what matters!
I just made a cheesecake this week and, yes, they are a ton of work. Great idea to turn it into cupcakes.

Rosita Vargas said...

Patelitos de lujo son adorables siempre esponjosos,abrazos hugs,hugs.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Grace, this really is the best of both worlds! :D

Angie's Recipes said...

Besides all the benefits you have mentioned about cupcakes, they are CUTER!

Lynda said...

You are right Grace, cheesecakes are so much work. I love the looks of your cup cakes and wish I had 2 or three right now!
I've been getting ready to have a yard sale, and I feel I need sugar!

Marjie said...

Of course, if you love the result, the amount of work is rather irrelevant. These sound like wonderful cupcakes (says the cheesecake lover).

I WIlkerson said...

Great post (far prettier than my cookies) and I wanted to let you know that I just awarded you the versatile blogger award. I know some of my awardees have gotten this before, but I do have my favorites and really wanted to honor you. For the announcement, see: http://artofnaturalliving.com/2012/05/05/kitchen-sink-cookies/

Lisa-Marie said...

Oh yum.

The only cheesecake I make is a no-bake one that you stick in the fridge and it sets!

I'll post the recipe sometime :)

MaryBeth said...

I love cheesecake and cupcakes, ok dessert of any kind really. these look delish!

Julie M. said...

Pure pleasure is most definitely earned. The work is worth the reward; especially in this case. Another beautiful cupcake Grace!

Anonymous said...

I just made these and there is a ton of filling left after filling 20 cupcakes. I worked hard and I'm afraid they r gross.

grace said...

if you have leftover filling, it'll keep for a week or two for sure--there are many other ways you can use it! gross? that's just not possible!

Anonymous said...

You are right, after a night to chill they r good. Sorry I jumped the gun:) Got a Angels Food Cake--gonna use filling and left over pie filling to make a truffle. Sorry again.

grace said...

phew--i'm glad it worked out! using the leftovers to make cake truffles is brilliant--let me know how they turn out!