Strawberry jam cupcakes recipe

These strawberry jam cupcakes are topped with a delicate Swiss meringue icing. The sponges are made with strawberry jam, milk, and golden caster sugar. 

These strawberry jam cupcakes are made by cupcake decorator and expert Victoria Threader. Victoria tops each cupcake with Swiss meringue icing made from granulated sugar, egg whites, vanilla extract, and butter. She says; “For this recipe, I use carton liquid egg whites but you could always do it the old-fashioned way and separate the yolk from the whites with fresh eggs.”

Ingredients

• 150g golden caster sugar
• 150g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 130g self-raising flour
• 20g cornflour
• 2tbsp milk, room temperature
• 3 eggs
• 12tsps strawberry jam

For the Swiss meringue buttercream:

• 225g granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 large egg whites
• 300g chopped unsalted butter, room temperature
• Few drops vanilla extract

To decorate:

• 60g white ready-to-roll fondant icing
• Red and green food colouring
• White sprinkle cake decorations

You will also need:

• 3.5cm heart cutter
• Small daisy cutter
• Cocktail stick
• Piping bag with a Wilton 1E nozzle

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160°C/320°F/Gas Mark 3. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Beat the sugar and butter with the vanilla extract until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add 1 egg, 1/3 of the flour and 1/3 of the milk and beat until just combined. Repeat twice more until all the eggs, flour and milk have been added.
3. Divide the batter between the 12 cases and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove and cool in the tins for 10 minutes before placing on a wire rack.
4. When the cakes are cool remove the centre of each cupcake using an apple corer (leaving some cake in the bottom). Place one teaspoon of strawberry jam in the hole and replace the piece of cake, trimming if necessary to fit.
5. To make the Swiss meringue icing, use a large, clean, heat proof bowl (clean with a splash of lemon juice to make sure all traces of grease are gone)
6. Place the sugar, salt and egg whites into the bowl and place over a pan of simmering water making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar, you’ll know when the sugar has dissolved as the mixture won’t be gritty.
7. Once the sugar had dissolved and the mixture is smooth whisk (preferably with an electric whisk) on high speed until you have a thick meringue. Remove the bowl from the pan of water and continue to whisk on low speed until the meringue has cooled to room temperature, you can check this by feeling the outside of the bowl.
8. Whisk in the butter chunks one at a time until all the butter in incorporated, add the vanilla. Don't worry if it looks scrambled, this is completely normal. Keep whisking until you have a light smooth silky buttercream.
9. Pop your Wilton 1E nozzle into the piping bag and place into a tall glass. Fill the bag with the icing, twisting at the top of the icing ensuring all the air is pushed up out. Starting in the centre of the cake, pipe inside out to the paper using the paper as a guide and build up into a swirl. To finish push down slightly and pull up quickly. Decorate with white sprinkles.
10. To make the strawberries, colour 40g of white fondant red, roll thick to 6mm thick and cut 12 hearts. Using a toothpick make little dents in the heart and press the white sprinkles into the dents.
11. Colour 20g of fondant green. Roll the green fondant to 3mm thick and using the daisy cutter cut 12 daisies and with a brush of water stick them to the top of the strawberries. Place one strawberry on the top of each decorated cake.

Top tips for making strawberry jam cupcakes

Swap the fondant strawberries for fresh strawberries instead. Just make sure you add them last minute to the cupcakes so they are as fresh as possible and don’t discolour the meringue icing.

Take these cupcakes to the next level and whip up some homemade strawberry jam using our strawberry jam recipe. These cupcakes would also work just as well with other jams such as raspberry jam, blackberry jam, or orange marmalade.

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