By Week two. The kids are adjusting. Luc has figured out that virtual school means he can attend class in sweatpants, which is the only silver lining a fifteen-year-old needs. Colette has created a quarantine routine that includes schoolwork, art, reading, and a 3 PM "family activity" that she announced without consulting anyone and which everyone participates in because nobody fights Colette's clipboard. This week's activities: a puzzle (Monday), charades (Tuesday), a cooking lesson (Wednesday — she taught Rémy to make a roux, and I watched my daughter teach my son the thing I taught her, and the chain went another direction I didn't expect).
Rémy is handling lockdown the way Rémy handles everything: with volume and enthusiasm and an absolute refusal to be bored. He's been fishing in the backyard drainage ditch again — three years now, no fish, no results, total commitment. He set up a lawn chair next to the ditch and sits there with his rod and his book ("My Side of the Mountain" this week — the boy reads survival novels like they're instruction manuals) and waits for a fish that doesn't exist in a ditch that drains a suburban street, and the waiting is its own kind of practice, and the practice is Cajun, and the Cajun is patient.
Tommy's quarantine birthday — April 22nd is in two weeks. I'll be thirty-eight. In quarantine. No party. No crawfish boil (well — crawfish boil yes, but no guests). No Mama cake (she can't come, and I can't go to her, and the distance between Baton Rouge and Thibodaux has never felt longer). I'll make my own cake. It'll be lopsided and ugly and I'll eat it on the porch in the dark and wish for the same thing I always wish for: more time. More time, and a vaccine. More time, and Mama safe. More time, and the lights coming back on.
Colette’s Wednesday cooking lesson got me thinking — if she can teach Rémy to build a roux from scratch, I can manage a birthday cake by myself for once. I landed on cupcakes instead of a layer cake because cupcakes are forgiving, and forgiving felt right for April 22nd. The strawberry filling is for Mama, who puts fruit in everything and who I’d give just about anything to hand one of these to right now.
Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Filling
Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup hot coffee or hot water
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup strawberry preserves or strawberry jam
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced
- For the frosting:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat your oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar until evenly combined.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, hot coffee, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk gently until just smooth — don’t overmix. The batter will be thin; that’s right.
- Fill and bake. Divide the batter evenly among the lined cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake 18–20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the filling. Stir together the strawberry preserves and diced fresh strawberries in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Core the cupcakes. Using a small paring knife or apple corer, cut a 3/4-inch-wide plug from the center of each cooled cupcake, going about halfway down. Reserve the plug tops.
- Fill. Spoon or pipe about 1 tablespoon of the strawberry filling into each hollowed cupcake. Replace the plug tops, pressing gently to seal.
- Make the frosting. Beat the softened butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating after each addition. Add the heavy cream, vanilla, and salt and beat on medium-high until the frosting is smooth and spreadable. Add a splash more cream if needed.
- Frost and serve. Frost each cupcake generously. Top with a fresh strawberry slice if you like. Eat at least one on the porch before you share the rest.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 320 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 49g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 210mg