Strawberry Daiquiri: Cocktails and Cupcakes

This gorgeous weather we have been having recently has bought with it a glut of strawberries and raspberries to my garden. There is nothing nicer than a strawberry picked fresh from the plant but I wanted to think of other things I could make with them. I remember an evening, a while ago when I went out with my friends from school. We ate at one of those restaurants that make fancy cocktails and decided we would treat ourselves to something special as a treat. I chose to have a strawberry daiquiri and remember it as being a lovely refreshing drink bursting with Summer flavour. I wondered if I could some of the strawberries and recreate the drink at home. With the help of The Bar UK I found a recipe and got out my cocktail shaker. After some shaking and some blending, I managed to create drink that was almost the same as I remembered from that evening in the restaurant.

I then decided to take things a step further, I thought the mix of strawberry, lime and rum would make a deliciously decadent cupcake recipe for grown ups. I came up with the idea of Strawberry Daiquiri cupcakes, making some without alcohol for my son. I was really pleased with how well the flavours translated into a cupcake. These would be perfect served as a delicious end to an evening barbecue party adding an air of sophistication.

Strawberry daiquari cocktails also make a refreshing drink  on a warm evening. The original daiquari drink, a blend of lime juice and rum has its origins in Cuba.  Daiquiri is the name of a beach near Santiago and also an iron mine in the area. Tradition tells us that the daiquiri was invented by an American, Jennings Cox who was working in the town. Supposedly he ran out of gin so started mixing rum and lime instead. The drink was brought back to America and became popular in the 1940’s when rum was easy to obtain but other liqueur was harder to import due to trade agreements. Quite when the strawberries were added to the drink is lost in the mists of time.

I have to admit I enjoyed the cocktails and the family loved the cakes, my son was rather pleased I had created an alcohol free batch just for him.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cupcakes

Strawberry Daiquiri Cupcakes

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Ingredients

  

• 75 g 3 oz dried strawberries
• 6 tbsp rum
• 125 g 4 oz butter
• 125 g 4 oz caster sugar
• rind and juice of 1 lime
• 2 eggs
• 150 g 5 oz self raising flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• For the topping
• 150 ml double cream
• fresh strawberries
• 50 g 2oz caster sugar
• red food colouring
• 1 tbsp lime juice

Instructions

 

• Soak the dried strawberries in the rum and leave to soak for a couple of hours until plump.
• Drain the rum and keep to one side.
• Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas Mark 4
• In a bowl mix together the butter, sugar, lime juice, lime rind, eggs, flour and baking powder and mix until smooth.
• Add the strawberries and mix though.
• Add the mixture into 12 cupcake cases, dividing evenly between them.
• Place the cases on a baking tray and place in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.
• Leave to cool.
• When cool mix the sugar for the topping with a couple of drops of red food colouring. Mix with a spoon until the sugar is red.
• Brush the edge of each cupcake with lime juice and roll in the sugar to create a red rim.
• Mix the remaining rum with the lime juice, make some small holes in the cakes with a cocktail stick and drizzle the rum mixture over them.
• Whip the cream until it just holds its shape then top each cake with the cream and a strawberry.

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