Make Your Own Maplewood Valentine Cup Cakes

Editor's Note: This story first appeared on Patch on Feb. 10, 2010, but we "heart" it so much, it's back for another sweet tasting!

There is big pressure to come up with something delicious and sweet for Valentines Day. Especially for my very girly seven-year-old daughter, this day is extremely important. She starts talking about it right after Christmas. There is constant talk about how we will celebrate her birthday (which is a week before "V" day) and what treat we will be eating for Valentine's Day.

I usually order cake or cupcakes for her birthday, but this year I decided to bake my own. I asked her what she wanted and she described a vanilla cupcake topped with a strawberry frosting.

I did a bit of research and came upon a lovely blog, www.honeyandjam.com that had a recipe for exactly that. I tweaked the cake recipe and made my own frosting.

The original recipe called for regular cake flour. I usually use white whole-wheat flour for all my baking. Since this one was for the party and I was trying to replicate a store-bought cup cake, I decided to use the regular cake flour. I remembered reading something about King Arthur Flour coming up with unbleached cake flour. I went looking for it and found it in our local Whole Foods. Unbleached flour is not chemically treated—I am always looking for healthier choices for my family.

I also used extra light olive oil instead of butter and evaporated cane sugar instead of white sugar. The subtle changes are hard to detect but make the product much healthier.

I am not a frosting person. I don't like the typical butter cream or any other kind. I do love whipped cream on any kind of dessert. Even though the cupcakes were for my daughter and her friends, I couldn't get myself to make a typical sugary frosting. I decided to melt some strawberry jam and add it to the sweetened cream I whipped up.

I made the cupcakes and the frosting pink with some food coloring to make them more festive and girl appropriate. My daughter was thrilled with them and suggested we make the same for Valentine's Day.

That is when it occurred to me to share this recipe with all of you. I would love to know what treat you will be enjoying this Sunday.

Maplewood Valentine's Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups evaporated cane sugar
• 1 cup extra light olive oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 3 cups unbleached cake flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place liners in cupcake pans.

Beat sugar and oil at medium speed in a stand-alone mixer until creamy and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add the vanilla and almond extracts as well as the food coloring.

In the meantime, sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Add to the sugar mixture alternating with the buttermilk—in three batches. Beat a medium-low speed until blended after each addition.

Makes 18- 24 cupcakes, depending on how filled the cups are.

Valentine's Icing

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
• 3 to 4 drops red food coloring
• 3 tablespoons strawberry jam- melted for 30 seconds in the microwave and cooled
• Pink sprinkles

In a standalone mixer, add the cream and beat with the sugar and coloring. Beat until stiff peaks have formed, about 5 minutes on high heat. Add the jam and beat for another ten seconds until incorporated. Add the stiff icing in an icing bag and embellish the cupcakes. Top with the pink sprinkles.

Monica Puri Bangia is a cooking coach who teaches in her Maplewood home and the Maplewood/South Orange Adult School. She writes about food and ingredients including recipes for The Local as well as her own Sharing Plate blog where she posts mostly healthy, quick recipes for weeknight dinners. Puri Bangia also contributes kid friendly and healthy recipes to Kiwi magazine. For Patch, she will be reviewing local eating places and replicating dishes that she enjoys and including recipes that form in her head from time to time that may be relevant to you.