Strawberry Rose Macaron Cupcakes

Macaron CupcakesIngredients

  • 1 box Duncan Hines white cake mix
  • ½ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon of almond extract
  • 1 tablespoon of rosewater
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 1/3 cups of water
  • 2 tablespoons of melted, cool butter
  • 4 drops of red food coloring
  • 1 cup of heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon of rosewater
  • 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
  • 10 strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced

Procedure

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together all the ingredients for the cupcake batter: the cake mix, vanilla, almond extract, rosewater, egg whites, water, butter, and red food coloring. Mix until the batter is well-incorporated.
  3. Grease a 24-mini-muffin tin with nonstick spray.
  4. Spoon the batter about two-thirds of the way up the sides of the muffin tins. You really do not want these cupcakes to form a cap. You want them to stay a uniform size all over, so you want to leave enough room in each tin for the cupcakes to rise without baking over the rim of each mold. The tin will not require all the batter.
  5. Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes. Allow them to cool for 15 minutes in the tin, and then on a cooling rack until they are completely cool.
  6. To make the cream filling, beat the cold heavy cream with a hand mixer. Add the rosewater and the little bit of sugar. Beat until you have whipped cream.
  7. To assemble the macarons, slice each cupcake in half horizontally. Lay a couple of strawberry slices on the bottom half, top with a bit of rose cream, and then crown with the top half of the cupcakes. Press down and make the perfect little pink rose-and-strawberry macaron.