I cake, therefore I am: strawberry

Vanilla cupcakes with whipped cream frosting

I wanted something simple, tasty and easy to transport to the combined birthday dinner for three friends. These cupcakes were quick to make and tasty without being too sweet, perfect for grown ups!

Making the cakes and frosting:

I used my usual vanilla cupcake recipe. I wanted to use whipped cream for the frosting, but was worried about it holding its shape so I used this recipe (with a little less sugar and a few drops of vanilla extract) which added gelatine to stabilise the cream. It worked perfectly, the cakes held their shape easily.

Decoration:

Keeping with the simple theme I piped a small amount of the stabilised whipped cream on all the cakes. I then decorated half of the cakes with these cute 'happy birthday' chocolates I found at Woolworth's:

The other half of the cakes are decorated with a slice of fresh strawberry.

Chocolate layer cake with chocolate frosting and a mound of strawberries!

I have been wanting to try this cake out since I saw Lorraine Pascal make on TV. Making a delicious birthday cake for my sister seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a go.

Making the cake and frosting:

My mum assisted by making the cake base ahead of time (as I was arriving on an afternoon flight). She followed Lorraine's 'I can't believe you made that' cake recipe and it worked out perfectly!