Chocolate & Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Filling

Vanilla Cupcake with Strawberry Filling 

Let me first start off by saying I had not originally planned on making a strawberry filled cupcake. Originally I set out to make cupcakes with a warm gooey caramel filling. The kind of caramel that reminds you of sundaes topped with warm caramel syrup. What I ended up with was a runny light colored soybean flavored mess. Nevertheless when your attempt at caramel flops miserably there's only one solution... fruit fillled cupcakes.

Strawberry Filling

I decided on basic chocolate and vanilla cupcakes filled with a strawberry filling and topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting. The vanilla version reminded me of a revamped strawberry shortcake cupcake and was defiantely the favorite of the two. 

Chocolate Cupcakes

Strawberry Filling: 

2 cups of sliced strawberries

2 tbsp of sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch

2/3 cup water

with Filling

Instructions:

• In a saucepan bring strawberries and water to a high simmer
• Add sugar and mix well
• In separate bowl mix with 2 tbsp water
• Add cornstarch mixture to fruit mixture
• Stir constantly until mixture thickens
• Remove from heat and set aside to cool

*I ended up blending my strawberry mixture using a hand-held blender to achieve a more consistent texture *

Vanilla Cupcakes

The Cupcake:

1. Make your favorite basic vanilla and/or chocolate cupcake
2. Core out the centers and set tops aside
3. Fill middles with strawberry mixture
4. Place tops back in cupcake holes
5. Frost cupcakes and top with fresh cut strawberries, jelly belly candies, sprinkles, or whatever else you like

Overall this fruit combination was a huge success particularly with those who prefer  sweeter tasting fillings. Despite my crisis aversion I am still a little disappointed with my caramel failure. Any suggestions on how to achieve the perfect vegan caramel filling would be greatly appreciated. 

All finished

How do you deal with disappointments when baking?