Simply the Best Frosted Strawberry Cupcakes Ever
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When you dream of perfect strawberry cupcakes, you imagine a bite of cake that melts on your tongue and a frosting that tickles your palate with the tangy, fresh flavor of a newly-picked, ripe, red berry.
I won’t lie. This is possibly better than that cupcake dream. These, my friends, are the best strawberry cupcakes possible.
The Perfect Strawberry Cupcakes
How do you inject the flavor and punch of a fresh strawberry into a cake? Naturally, with purée. By using lots of pure, real strawberries to moisten the sponge, your able to really hit home that sweet and sour flavor.
I avoided using chunks of strawberry for the mere fact that pockets of wetness have no place in baked goods. This way, you taste that fresh fruit without the cake going to mush.
This cake is a bit on the dense side to pair well with the cheesecake frosting that will crown it. However, it is by no means heavy. It’s a fluffy strawberry cupcake with just a little bit of chew.
You never want a cake that crumbles on you. In fact, especially with a cupcake, you want the sponge to hold together. That way you can rip it in half and never lose a morsel.
I highly recommend, by the way, that you remove the bottom half of your cupcake and stack it atop the frosting for a perfect bite. It’s my favorite way to get just the right amount of frosting and cake in every bite.
The Best Strawberry Cheesecake Frosting Ever
And speaking of frosting, this is easily the best strawberry cheesecake frosting you’ll ever have the joy of eating.
All alone, it tastes like unfrozen ice cream. While the cake utilizes fresh strawberry purée to achieve its flavor, the frosting gets a punch of strawberry flavor with freeze-dried fruit.
When you use freeze-dried strawberries, you’re using MORE berries, so you’re getting a lot more flavor. However, you don’t have to worry about the excess moisture! That’s the real secret.
Plus, they turn the frosting a lovely pale pink color. So, you don’t even need food coloring to have a pretty frosting. Isn’t that awesome?
And then if you have leftover frosting, squirt it between two graham crackers, freeze it and you have an ice cream sandwich. Boom! You don’t even know how good that is… I’d seriously just make the frosting for ice cream sandwiches.
The Built-In Bonus Cupcakes
This recipe makes more than 12 cupcakes. You are more than welcome to make the additional cupcakes, or you can use a 6-inch cake pan to make a small cake. It’ll take about 40 to 45 minutes to bake. You can either use this as a baby’s smash cake, a centerpiece cake, or you do something extra fun.
Crush your extra cake into crumbs. Take about half a cup of your leftover frosting, and mix it in. From there, scoop out little tablespoon-sized balls. Shape them like strawberries and pop them in the freezer for about half an hour.
Melt some red candy melts or white chocolate with some food coloring mixed in. Now, dip your little berry-shaped cake bites in the chocolate and let them set on parchment paper in the fridge. You can decorate them even further, or leave them as is. Use them to decorate your cupcakes for a fun edible topping.
Storing Your Cupcakes
While there is nothing quite like a strawberry cupcake, freshly frosted, you will likely need to store these before serving them. To that end, I recommend keeping them in the fridge. Butter softens at room temperature, right? Especially if it’s warmer out (which if your berries are in season, it’ll be toasty), you need to keep that buttercream chilled so it doesn’t run and fall off the cake.
As an added benefit, these cupcakes are magical when chilled. They retain all their berry flavor and the coolness only adds to the “ice cream”iness of the frosting. So, like I said, I highly recommend keeping them in the fridge.
Your leftovers will keep for about 5 days so long as you keep them covered. While the fridge and the frosting are happy friends, the cake does tend to go stale quicker at cool temperatures. So, beyond a couple of days, the quality will start to decline.
You could also store your leftovers in the freezer. Just make sure they’re in a sturdy, lidded, air-tight container. Then, they should be fine for about 3 months. To defrost, let them thaw on the counter until they’re soft enough to eat.
If you think of it, you will have the best results freezing if you wrap unfrosted cupcakes tightly in plastic wrap and freeze the frosting in an air tight baggy so they are separate. Then, you can thaw them out, and freshly frost your cupcakes for dessert.
The Tools You’ll Need for Perfect Cupcakes
Here’s what you’ll need to get on your way to perfect strawberry cupcakes:
- 12 cup muffin pan
- Cupcake liners (cute paper ones)
- Cupcake liners (reusable silicone ones)
- Piping Bags
- Piping Tips
- #20 Scoop
And if you want to try another great cupcake recipe, give my red velvet cupcake recipe a shot!
Comment below if you have questions, concerns, or opinions. And tag me @ellejayathome on Instagram or Twitter if you share pictures from any of my recipes. I love to hear from you!
Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Cheesecake Buttercream
Equipment
- 12 cup nonstick muffin pan
- Stand Mixer with whisk attachment
- #20 scoop
- Cupcake liners
- Piping bag and decorative tip
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup pure cane sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup fresh strawberry purée room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup milk room temperature
Frosting Ingredients
- 1 block cream cheese room temperature
- ¼ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 oz freeze-dried strawberries ground to a fine powder
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
Cupcake Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a regular cupcake pan with pretty liners.
- If you haven't already, purée strawberries, and measure out 1/2 of a cup. Strain the mixture if you want to. Use the rest in a smoothie, oatmeal, or a cocktail.
- Cream the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes to get lots of air whipped into it. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add in the vanilla and strawberry purée. If it looks a little curdled after you add in the strawberries, that's fine. It will come back together.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add this dry mix to the strawberry mixture. Then, stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Do not overmix.
- Fill cupcake liners with ⅓ cup of batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in one of the center cupcakes comes out clean. Allow them to cool for at least 5 minutes in the pan, and then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Frosting Instructions
- Whip the cream cheese and butter until they are thoroughly combined and airy and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every minute or so to make sure it's consistent.
- Add in the vanilla and salt and fully combined. Very slowly mix in the powdered sugar and strawberry dust. Scrape down the sides, and scoop under the bottom to make sure everything is consistent. Once it's all mixed in, set the mixer to high and proceed to whip it until it is super fluffy and stable. NOTE: If your kitchen is warm, you might need to chill your frosting for 30-45 minutes before whipping to avoid it becoming soupy.
- Transfer to a sturdy freezer bag or piping bag, and refrigerate until you're ready to frost. To frost, pipe your frosting using the tip of your choice onto each cupcake. Top with sprinkles or a fresh strawberry.
- Save leftover frosting in the fridge for up to a week.
