Strawberry, Cucumber and Mint

Strawberry, cucumber and mint are perhaps one of the most iconic flavour profiles of the springtime season because it tastes so refreshing and makes for great lemonade. If you would like to view the other episodes of 'cake vs cookie' then you can find the flavour profiles below:

Lemon, Basil and Coconut

Raspberry, Mint and Vanilla

Orange, Tarragon and Honey

Banana, Coconut and Ginger

Apple Almond and Thyme

Now, we are on strawberry, cucumber and mint, we are definitely hitting the spring and I will say this: I really do want to work more with berries because the way they are added to things can often be confusing. In a biscuit, there tends to be a lot more needed to create any flavour, whereas for a cake, a hint will do. You can probably tell that in this case, the cake won - but let's have a look at both of the bakes to see how each one is made...

1) Cookie

Strawberry, Cucumber and Mint Shortbread

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Ingredients:

• 50g Light Brown Sugar
• 120g Light Brown Sugar
• 100g Strawberries
• 2x Baby Cucumbers
• 5g Dried Mint
• 1x Tsp Vanilla
• 220g Plain Flour
• 1x Tbsp Powdered Sugar

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How To:

1. Line your tray with some greaseproof paper and preheat your oven to 200/C
2. Mix together your butter, sugar, vanilla, strawberries and grate your cucumbers into the mix - do this until they are completely combined
3. Sift in your flour and mix to form a dough (it's going to be pink!)
4. Kneed the dough a bit and then chill for 5 minutes
5. Roll out the dough into the thickness of your iPhone and then cut into shapes of your choice and place on the tray
6. Put the tray in the oven for 15-18 minutes until golden
7. Chill on the tray for 5 minutes and then take off the tray and transfer to the fridge for another 5 minutes
8. Sift powdered sugar over the cookies for decoration

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2) Cake

Mint and Cucumber Filled Cupcakes with a Double Strawberry Cream Cheese Buttercream

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Part 1: Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 100g Light Brown Sugar
• 100g Vegan Butter
• 2x Tbsp Apple Sauce
• 100g Self Raising Flour
• 1x Tbsp Baking Powder
• 50g Grated Cucumber
• 1x Baby Cucumber (Chopped Thick)
• 10g Dried Mint
• 1x Tsp Vanilla
• 1x Tsp Honey

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How To:

1. Line a cupcake tray with 12 cases and preheat your oven to 200/C
2. Cream together your sugar, butter, mint, cucumber, vanilla and honey until fully combined
3. Mix in your apple sauce
4. Fold in your baking powder and self-raising flour
5. Transfer your cake batter to the cupcake cases
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes
7. Allow to cool in the tray for 5 minutes
8. Grab your chopped thick cucumber and place one of the segments into each cupcake
9. Transfer to a plate and put in the fridge for 10 minutes

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Part 2: Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 100g Vegan Cream Cheese
• 200g Powdered Sugar
• 2x Tsp Your Choice of Gel Food Colouring
• 1x Handful of Freeze Dried Strawberry Candies
• 10g Strawberry Jam
• 2x Pinch of Dried Mint

How To:

1. Whisk up the cream cheese and jam for about 5 minutes until fully combined
2. Add in one pinch of the mint, the sugar and the food colouring and whisk again
3. Grab your cupcakes
4. Pipe the cupcakes
5. Sprinkle the candies atop of them
6. Add the final pinch of mint to the cupcakes
7. Pop back into the fridge for 5-10 minutes
8. Enjoy your cupcakes!

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Conclusion

This has been a difficult one because to know how much of everything to put in was wild. These ingredients, especially the strawberries and the cucumber were really wet and so I was quite worried about my dough at times. However, if you follow this recipe, it could all work out. As you can probably see, I cut my strawberry cookies into strawberries and painted them with edible ink. It took a pretty long time, and the strawberries are quite small, but it was definitely some form of therapeutic. If there was one thing I enjoyed about this flavour profile it is the fact that it adds natural colour to most of the bakes. The cookie dough comes out pink, the cake batter comes out green, it is all really quite nice and light.