Strawberry Jam Cupcakes

It’s Fri-YAY and I’m shouting YAY for the weekend annnnd for CUPCAKES!

My post yesterday was all about strawberries! One of the recipes I talked about was for Strawberry Jam which I found on Memory Makin’ Momma’s blog. So delish! Today, I’m finishing up my strawberry recipes with these pinkalicious cupcakes in which I used my strawberry jam as an ingredient in both the cake and the icing! 

I found these adorable cupcake liners and picks at Lifeway a couple of weeks ago and, knowing we were about to go strawberry picking, I couldn’t pass them up! I love that they have strawberries on them, but even more that they quote a line from that lovely old hymn “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”.

It was my turn to take dessert to our Bible study group this week so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to use the strawberry liners along with the strawberry jam. I’m calling these cupcakes Strawberry Jam Cupcakes!

Strawberry Jam Cupcakes

For the Cake:

For the cake, I kicked up a cake mix a little to give it some extra yum! I made this recipe twice because I needed more than the standard 24 cupcakes. 

Ingredients:

Strawberry cake mix 

Vanilla instant pudding (3 oz) 

1 cup oil 

4 eggs 

1 cup sour cream (regular or lite is fine but not nonfat)

1/2 buttermilk (milk is fine) 

1 teaspoon vanilla (sometimes I use almond)

pinch of salt 

Mix all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Fill your liners 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake according to box directions. I baked mine at 350 degrees. I usually use 2 scoops (with my 2 Tbsp. cookie scooper) of batter, but these liners were very tall so I used 3 scoops and got a really nice big cupcake! 

Once the cupcakes cool, use a small steak or paring knife to cut out a cone shape chunk from each cupcake. Fill the hole with about 1-1 1/2 Tbsp. of strawberry jam. Cut the tip off the cone and place it back in the hole over the jam. Above, I have one cupcake with the jam showing, and one with the “lid” back on. 

For the icing:

I always double my icing so I can really pile it up on the cupcake. If there’s not enough icing to mention on that cupcake, then it’s just a muffin! Haha! The recipe below makes the double batch I use. You can cut it in half if you want less. But since I used two cake mix recipes, I definitely needed to double the icing. 

Ingredients:

4 sticks softened butter

1 cup strawberry jam

12 cups powdered sugar

Using a mixer, cream the butter and then add the powdered sugar and jam, alternating each until all ingredients are used. If you need to thin it just a touch, you can use a little more jam or some milk, but just a smidge at a time until it’s a good consistency for spreading or piping. I like to pipe the icing on because it just goes faster for me. I line up the cupcakes on the serving dish, fill my piping bag, and pipe them down the line. I would probably have topped them with a fresh strawberry, but since the liners came with those cute picks, I used those. 

I love that you can see the red specks of strawberry in the pink icing! And look at how that jam soaks through inside the cupcake! It’s so good. 

In our Bible study that night, we read about how the Pharisees in Mark 8 were testing Jesus, asking Him for a sign when He’d already been giving signs right and left. We talked about how we sometimes do this today, wanting to see some kind of proof that God will be faithful, ignoring the fact that He’s proven Himself over and over to us. Why do we seek more proof that He’s real and He’s taking care of us instead of looking at what He’s already done, trusting Him at His word, and resting on His promise? I didn’t plan to coordinate my dessert with the lesson, and I’m sure not trying to cutesy up the gospel with a cupcake, but I think these cupcakes picks went along nicely with our lesson! So I’m leaving you with these words from the first verse and refrain of this old hymn.

‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus 

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just to take Him at His word;

Just to rest upon His promise,

Just to know, “Thus says the Lord!”

 

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

O for grace to trust Him more!