Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Afternoon everyone. I’ve just got back from my first day at Uni. I enjoyed it more than I thought it would. I met some really lovely people, it seems like a friendly place. I really struggle to make friends, so for me to say it was easy to talk to people, it really must have been.

I didn’t really speak to my own year group though… I spoke to like one person right at the end, but throughout the day I was with 3rd and 1st years.

Unusually we actually have our own desks and spaces, I’ve never had this before, at Uni you take your work in, so many times I’ve had models wrapped in plastic bags and I’ve walked like a fool desperately trying not to bash my model.

Well at my new Uni we have our own spaces which will be ours for the year so that’s good, I have a good timetable, only have studio/lectures on Monday and Thursday. So I should still have plenty of time to bake and blog! As I don’t drink and go out, I actually get my Uni work done so it’s not like work will suffer if I still bake 🙂

I’m feeling more positive about Monday now, next week the course starts properly. There is one odd request, which given the fact I have an eating disorder is going to be even more difficult for me, they want us to write a food diary….

OK, I’ll get back to you on that.

Back to today’s recipe. I found this recipe on a blog that I read. They’re strawberry cheesecake muffins, but for the sake of it being National Cupcake week I’ve renamed them as I failed and didn’t bake any cupcakes today… They’re pretty quick to make and really, really tasty.

Recipe from Damn Delicious

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Makes 12

Ingredients for the muffin cupcake base:

> 2 cups plain flour
> 1 cup crushed digestives
> 1/4 cup caster sugar
> 1tsp cinnamon
> 1 tsp baking powder
> 1 cup milk
> 1/3 cup vegetable/sunflower oil
> 1 egg
> 1tsp vanilla extract
> 1/2 cup strawberries, diced

Ingredients for the cheesecake:

> 4oz cream cheese (I used philly)
> 1/4 cup caster sugar
> 2tbsp egg, beaten
> 1tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for the crumb topping:

> 1/4 cup crushed digestives
> 2tbsp light brown sugar
> 1tbsp butter
> 1/2tsp cinnamon

Method:

> Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/400F and line a cupcake tray with 12 cases.
> Make the crumb topping first. Place the crushed digestives, sugar, butter and cinnamon in a small bowl.
> Beat until they resemble bread crumbs. Leave to one side. Chop up your strawberries and leave them to one side too.

> Now onto the cheesecake layer. Place the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla in another small bowl.
> Beat until smooth and well combined.
> Now to make the cakey part. Place the flour, digestives, sugar, cinnamon and baking powder in a larger bowl.
> Place the milk, oil, egg and vanilla in a jug.
> Pour onto your dry ingredients.
> You can either mix it by hand, or use your hand mixer like I did. Mix until combined.

> Place about a tablespoon of batter into the bottom of each cupcake case.

> Spoon a tablespoon of cheesecake mixture on top of the cake base.

> Place the diced strawberries on top of the cheesecake. It worked out as about 4 bits of strawberry per cupcake.

> Place another spoonful of cake mix on top of the strawberries until all the cake mix is used.

> Sprinkle the crumb topping on top of each cupcake and then press the crumbs into the cake mix.

> Place in the oven for about 15 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
> Try and remove from the tray as quickly as possible and leave to cool on a wire rack.

> Once cooled, you can store them in an airtight container for 2 days. They are best eaten the same day as they have fresh strawberries in. I wouldn’t encourage eating them after 2 days.