Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Celebrate summer with these delicious strawberry cheesecake cupcakes!

Topped with cream cheese frosting and filled with strawberry jam, these cupcakes are perfect for picnics, BBQ’s or just to enjoy on a warm summers day.

How to make strawberry cheesecake cupcakes

There are four parts to this recipe, each step is really easy to make but together they create a show-stopping bake:

1. The cupcake base – made using a classic sponge cake recipe, the base has added vanilla essence for a light and sweet flavour.
2. The filling – the middle of the cupcake is scooped out and filled with strawberry jam. I used Bonne Maman Strawberry Conserve, which is a lovely high-quality jam you can buy in most supermarkets.
3. The frosting – the cupcakes are topped with a swirl of sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting. Now they’re starting to taste like cheesecake!
4. The decoration – crushed digestive biscuits are sprinkled over the cupcakes and a fresh strawberry is place on top.

Strawberry cheesecake cupcake recipe (makes 12)

Ingredients

For the sponge:
150g Stork tub (margarine) or unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
150g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

For the cream cheese frosting:
300g icing sugar
150g unsalted butter, soft at room temperature
150g full-fat cream cheese, cold from the fridge

For the filling/decoration:
1 jar of strawberry jam
12 fresh whole strawberries
4-5 Digestive biscuits (crumbled)

Method

Start by making the cupcakes.

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a cupcake baking tray with 12 cupcake cases.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.
3. Add the vanilla extract and beat in the eggs one at a time, along with a tablespoon of the 150g flour each time to stop the mixture from curdling.
4. Add the remaining flour and milk, and fold the mixture together until combined.
5. Divide evenly between the cupcake cases and bake for 16-18 minutes until the cupcakes are a golden brown, risen and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer cakes to a cooling rack and leave to completely cool.

Core and fill the cupcakes.

6. Once the cupcakes are cool, scoop out the middles using a cupcake corer, apple corer or teaspoon.
7. Fill each cupcake with a heaped teaspoon of strawberry jam. Press the cake middles back into the holes to cap off the top (you may have to trim them down).

Make the cream cheese frosting.

8. Beat the butter with an electric mixer until really soft and pale in colour.
9. Sift in half the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
10. Sift in the remaining icing sugar and beat again until you have a smooth and creamy frosting.
11. Now take the cream cheese out of the fridge and add to the bowl. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to gently fold the cream cheese into the frosting until smooth. Be careful not to over do it, as it can quickly become runny.

Time to decorate!

12. Spread or pipe the frosting on top. I used an 11mm open star piping nozzle to get that lovely swirl effect.
13. Use a rolling pin to crush a few digestive biscuits and sprinkle them over the cupcakes.
14. Finish by slicing a fresh strawberry in half and placing on top.

Store your strawberry cheesecake cupcakes in an airtight container, in the fridge, for up to 3 days.