STRAWBERRY PUREE FOR CHAMPAGNE RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Spray cupcake cups with cooking spray, or line with cupcake liners.
• Place 8 strawberries into a blender, and blend until smooth. Pour the puree through a strainer to remove seeds. Puree should equal about 3/4 cup. Set the puree aside.
• In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, white sugar, vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, lemon zest, and strawberry puree until well combined. Stir in the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla pudding mix (for a moister cupcake), and red food coloring to reach a desired shade of pink. Spoon the batter into the prepared cupcake cups, filling each about 2/3 full.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the cupcakes have risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool at least 10 minutes before frosting.
• To make frosting, beat cream cheese and butter together in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until smooth, and mix in confectioners' sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract to make a lump-free icing. Frost each cupcake with about 2 tablespoons of icing, and top each cupcake with a strawberry slice.

Steps:

• Lower the oven rack to the next to lowest position.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a tube pan. If you are baking in a dark colored pan, reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and you may need to bake a bit longer.
• Strawberry Puree and Reduction— Wash and slice 1 pound of strawberries. Puree using a food processor or blender ( I used a Bullet smoothie blender) until you have 1 cup puree.  Put the puree in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until it reduces to 1/2 cup, stir frequently. Set aside to cool.  Reducing the puree gives you the flavor of 1 cup puree without adding too much liquid to the recipe.
• In a separate bowl whisk the flour and baking powder to combine, set aside for later
• In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter until sooth.  Gradually add the sugar and beat at  medium speed until lightened in color and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, a bit longer if using a hand mixer.
• Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yolk disappears.
• In a 1 cup measuring cup, add 1/2 cup milk plus 1/2 cup of the reduced strawberry puree.  If you end up having a bit less than 1/2 cup, when you add it to the 1/2 cup milk, add more milk to bring the total liquid to 1 cup. Add the 2 teaspoons strawberry extract to the cup. Set Aside
• Add the flour/baking powder mixture alternately with the milk/puree mixture.  Begin and end with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of wet ingredients.  Do not mix above medium speed.   If adding a little pink coloring gel, you can do so at this time.
• Pour the cake batter into prepared tube pan/bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden skewer comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.  Keep an eye on the cake, if the top of the cake begins to get to dark, loosely place a piece of aluminum foil over it. Check at 1 hour for doneness.
• Remove the baked cake from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before carefully inverting the pan onto a cake board or cake plate.
• 2 1/2  cups (230g) powdered sugar (sift then measure)
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons milk  depending on how thick you want the glaze
• 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract  (use clear extract for a whiter glaze)
• Mix all ingredients until smooth.  If it is too thick add a little more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time. Add more powdered sugar if it is too thin.