Strawberry Balsamic Cupcakes

This wasn't the cupcake I had envisioned making this week. Oh, I wanted to do a strawberry cupcake with strawberry frosting but the plan was to fill it with balsamic caramel. Let's just say I may be good a making many things but caramel is not one of them. Matt just shook his head & said candy making is hard. I didn't let that stop me since really, I just wanted to make a cupcake that tasted like strawberries with balsamic, I didn't need the caramel.

The strawberry flavor is just wonderful in this cupcake & frosting plus I loved the texture of the cake. The balsamic vinegar plus the cream cheese in the frosting add a really nice tang.

Strawberry Cupcakes

1 c strawberries, fresh or frozen (I used frozen & they worked beautifully)
1/4 c sugar
1 T balsamic vinegar

2 T unsalted butter, a room temp
1/4 c sugar
2 T well beaten egg
1/4 c + 1 1/2 T all purpose flour
1/8 t baking powder
1/8 t baking soda
pinch of salt
1 T milk

If using fresh strawberries cut them in half & remove the stems. If using frozen thaw them. Mix the strawberries with 1/4 sugar & let stand for about 15 minutes. Place in a small saucepan & add balsamic. Let simmer over medium for about 15 minutes. The strawberries should cook down & create a sauce. Crush the berries our use a hand blender if you want a smoother puree. Let cool. You should have about 3 T of strawberry sauce.
Beat the butter on high for about 30 seconds. Add the sugar & beat on medium high until light & fluffy about 3 minutes. Add the egg & beat for another 30 seconds. Add baking powder, baking soda and salt plus 1/3 of the flour. Beat until combined. In a small bowl mix 2 T of the strawberry sauce with the milk. Add 1/2 of the strawberry/milk mixture to the batter and beat until combined. Add another 1/3 of the flour and combine. Add the rest of the strawberry/milk mixture and combine. Finally add the last of the flour & beat until just combined. Divide the batter evenly between four prepared muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Strawberry Balsamic Cream Cheese Frosting

strawberry sauce (leftover from above)
1 t balsamic vinegar
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1 T butter, softened
1 c powdered sugar (or more as needed)

Mix balsamic vinegar into leftover strawberry sauce & set aside.
Beat cream cheese & butter together at medium speed until creamy. Shift in 1/2 c of the sugar & beat until combined. Add 1 T of the strawberry sauce & balsamic mixture (you can add more is you like but you'll need to add more sugar to get a good consistency) and beat until combined. Shift in the remaining sugar & combine. Add more sugar if necessary for sweetness & consistency. Frost cooled cupcakes.

Makes 4 cupcakes
I decided to post this recipe in this small batch size because that's how I bake for the two of us. I figure other people out there might be interested in baking recipes that have been sized down.

(I based this recipe on one SpeedM posted on Flickr)