Soft and fluffy strawberry cupcakes with creamy strawberry buttercream frosting. Make them in mini size, too!
You don’t need to get your eyes checked. Those aren’t giant strawberry slices. The above strawberry cupcakes are, in fact, mini size. I made today’s homemade strawberry cupcakes in both regular and mini size.
Anyway. What a HIT these were. I’ve made strawberry cupcakes before and while I loved previous recipes, I wanted to create a new recipe for them. Complete with strawberry buttercream frosting, of course. That’s what I love most about baking—there is never a stopping point. I love taking recipes I already have and mixing them up to create fresh new versions.
A few important details about the cupcake batter:
Make sure that all of your dairy ingredients are at room temperature. If you’re a regular reader (or baker), you know this is so important. To cut down on time, many ignore this step but it’s crucial to obtaining the best possible cupcake in terms of taste and texture. Room temperature ingredients are smooth and evenly incorporated, which helps produce light, airy, evenly baked treats.
Use my suggested sifted mix of all-purpose flour and cornstarch. The two produce a DIY version of cake flour. You can, of course, just use cake flour! I’ve noted that in the recipe below. Cake flour (or the DIY version) produces a lighter, softer, and much fluffier cake.
Whip those egg whites! I only use 1 egg yolk in the batter, along with three egg whites. The yolk is mixed in with the creamed butter/sugar, while the egg whites are whipped and then folded into the batter. Why do I do this? It adds air and volume to the batter. Again, creating a lighter, fluffier cake.
The strawberry buttercream frosting is where IÂ had a lot of fun. I created wonderful strawberry buttercream candies for my Sally’s Candy Addiction cookbook and used what I learned from creating that recipe to produce my flavorful strawberry buttercream frosting that we’ll use on these cupcakes. I’ve always had trouble obtaining a perfectly creamy and smooth frosting using fresh strawberries because they are so wet. So, I use freeze-dried strawberries.
When ground up, they make the perfect flavorful “dust” to make a strawberry flavored frosting without any artificial strawberry flavoring.
Regular or mini size, these are the perfect treats for the upcoming warm weather.
PrintStrawberry Cupcakes with Creamy Strawberry Buttercream
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 50 minutes
- Yield: 16-17 cupcakes
- Category: Cupcakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft and fluffy strawberry cupcakes with creamy strawberry buttercream frosting. Make them in mini size, too!
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 8–9 large strawberries*
- 1Â large egg + 2Â egg whites, room temperature and separated
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour* (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (30g) cornstarch*
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, room temperature*
Strawberry Buttercream
- 1 cup (about 25g) freeze-dried strawberries*
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups (480g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3Â Tablespoons (45ml)Â heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 12-count muffin pan with cupcake liners. This recipe makes 16-17 cupcakes, so you will have a few cupcakes to bake in a 2nd batch. Please read notes about mini cupcakes.
- Slice 5 strawberries and place in a food processor or blender. Pulse until strawberries are a chunky puree. You should have about 1/3 cup. Set aside. Finely chop remaining strawberries. Set aside.
- With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the 3 egg whites on high speed in a medium bowl until soft peaks form, about 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
- Make the cupcakes: Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 3-4 minutes until creamed together fairly well. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the whole milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Do not overmix. Fold egg whites, 1/3 cup strawberry puree, and finely chopped strawberries into the cupcake batter. The batter will be velvety and slightly thick.
- Spoon batter into cupcake liners filling halfway. Bake for 20-24 minutes or until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
- Make the frosting: Using a blender or food processor, process the freeze-dried strawberries into a powdery crumb. You should have around 1/2 cup. Set aside. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy – about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, strawberry powder, cream, and vanilla extract with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Add 1/4 cup (30g) more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin or 1 more Tablespoon of cream if frosting is too thick. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. Frost cupcakes as desired. I used a Wilton 1M piping tip. Leftover prepared cupcakes can be stored covered tightly at room temperature for up to a day or in the refrigerator up to 5.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare cupcakes and frosting 1 day in advance. Keep cupcakes covered tightly at room temperature and the frosting covered tightly in the refrigerator. Unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before frosting and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-Count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners |Â Food Processor or Blender | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Spatula | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Piping Bag (Disposable or Reusable) |Â Wilton 1M Piping Tip
- Layer Cake: You can easily turn these into a layer cake. Simply pour batter into two greased and (lightly) floured 9-inch cake pans and bake for 27-35 minutes. Cakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Frost as desired.
- Mini Cupcakes:Â For around 36Â mini cupcakes, line mini cupcake pans with liners or spray with nonstick spray. Prepare cupcakes and frosting as directed. Bake mini cupcakes for 12-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Strawberries: I highly recommend fresh strawberries. Frozen strawberries are fine. Thaw before using in step 2.
- Flour: I use a combination of sifted flour + cornstarch to produce cake flour – if you keep cake flour in the pantry, use 2 and 1/3 cups (268g) instead of the specified all-purpose flour and cornstarch.
- Milk: For the richest and moistest cupcakes, use whole milk. Buttermilk would be great too!
- Freeze-Dried Strawberries: 25g is accurate—freeze dried strawberries weigh next to nothing! You can find them in the dried fruit/nut aisle. Or order them online. If you can’t find them, try my raspberry frosting but swap out the raspberry jam for strawberry flavor. Or try my strawberry whipped cream instead.
- Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking the BEST cupcakes before you begin!
You’re going to love these.
Hi Sally
Can I double this recipe for more cupcakes ?
Thank you so much in advance.
Hi Sonia, For the best taste and texture it’s best to make this recipe twice instead of doubling it.
Hi Sally!
I have a very important question for you, because well, you are after all a baking genius!
I wonder if i could put strawberry slices in the cupcakes, instead of the puree and dice?
I want to get more texture, but an also thinking that they’ll probably soften and dissolve up in the oven?
What do you think?
Hi Tiffany, you can certainly try it, though the texture around the strawberry slices may taste a little gummy. I recommend sticking to the recipe, but let me know if you try it.
Still looking for strong strawberry flavor, and I just didn’t get it here. Would love to add strawberry powder but not sure how to use it correctly. Maybe even a strawberry emulsion?
Hi Lauri! We’ve never had luck adding freeze-dried strawberry powder to cake and cupcake batter before (usually end up with a weird texture), but you can certainly try using a couple Tablespoons. A strawberry extract or emulsion can help, though. We recommend using about 1 teaspoon.
Hi Sally,
Could I use regular strawberries for the buttercream instead of freeze dried?
Hi Eliza, regular strawberries will not work in the frosting- they’re too wet. You want the freeze-dried variety to grind up into a powder.
Hi, may I ask how long can the frosting stay out in the room temperature? I’m making these for a bbq party and it will be 30minute drive from my place. Do you think I should frost the cupcakes before or make the frosting first then frost the cupcake when I arrive?
Hi Alissia, After decorating anything with buttercream frosting, it’s fine for 1 day at room temperature. After that, I would definitely refrigerate it. But, use your best judgment and whatever you are comfortable with- I’ve never had any problems leaving frosted desserts at room temperature for a day. However if it is very hot where you live I do recommend keeping the air conditioning on in your car so the frosting doesn’t melt 🙂
My family loved these. Thanks so much.
I’m in love with these gorgeous cupcakes <3 also, thanks for the tip about cornstarch and flour, it worked so well!
Hi Sally! So I’m making this recipe right now and I wanted to know if there’s any substitution for the heavy cream on the buttercream? If not i can wait to go ahead and shop for it.
Hi Shayle, For the buttercream you can use a lower fat milk.
Made this for my daughter’s 5th birthday. It was a big hit. The strawberry flavor was spot on. Added a unicorn cake topper and a strawberry whipped cream mane and it was perfect!
Hi! Is there a way I can substitute the freeze dried strawberries?
Hi Amy, Freeze dried strawberries are the absolute best way to get real strawberry flavor without compromising the texture of the frosting. If you try to use pureed strawberries your frosting will be thin and likely still need a flavor boost from strawberry extract, although you can certainly go this route if you wish.
Hi Sally,
I am making these cupcakes for my daughter’s baby shower. I’m very excited because it’s also my first grandchild! My mixer does not have a paddle attachment. Do you think the batter and frosting will still turn out ok? I don’t want to over mix. I will also be using a blender for the strawberry ingredients. I will be making them a day ahead and will apply the frosting the day of the shower. Any tips would be very helpful.
Congrats on your first grandchild, Pat! You can use your whisk attachment, but when mixing the wet and dry ingredients together you might want to just do that by hand with your rubber spatula so that you don’t over mix the batter. Enjoy!
Hi Sally! I baked these cupcakes in advance for a huge choir event and they were a hit! They were a perfect post-performance treat and I had so much fun making them, although there were a lot of steps and consequently a lot of dishes to wash afterwards.
The best cupcake batter EVER! The only thing I did different was make the purée into a reduction and just used more strawberries. The taste is so delicate. I also used the reduction for the buttercream I could not find dried berries and it whipped fine. All the steps are worth it and yield amazing cupcakes.
I just made this icing with freeze dried blueberries instead of the strawberries and turned out great. Not super berry-tasting, but the color is a really cool deep purple color. My kid wants pink and purple icing for his birthday cupcakes so I’m going to do the strawberry and blueberry.
Hi! I made this recipe and the cupcakes just weren’t strawberry enough at all. I dont plan to use the strawberry buttercream on it, so can I add strawberry extract to cake batter??
Hi Samantha, After I published my favorite Strawberry Cake recipe, I began to make strawberry cupcakes the same way – using pureed and reduced fresh strawberries. I highly recommend using this newer recipe for strawberry cupcakes!
The cupcakes don’t have a super strong strawberry flavor– you’ll taste it, but it’s truly brought out when paired with our strawberry frosting. You can of course also add a very small amount of strawberry extract if you still wish.
Hey Sally I made your homemade strawberry cake into cupcakes which are cooking right now. I want to pair them with a strawberry buttercream but have no freeze dried strawberries. I do have strawberry extract and some remaining strawberry puree is there a way I can use one of these instead? I hope I get a reply soon as I need these tonight lol
HI Jennifer, You can add some of your strawberry puree but if you add enough to give it a lot of flavor your frosting will be too thin. I would suggest you add a little of the puree (and reduce the cream if needed) and also use your strawberry extract until you get the best flavor.
Hi Sally,
Thank you for setting up this blog! I’ve made several of your recipes and they have all been a hit! Can I use this recipe and the alcohol amounts from your margarita cupcake recipe (replacing tequila with rum) to make strawberry daiquiri cupcakes?
YUM!! I can’t see why not!
Hi! I made these for a party and they were a HUGE hit! They’re delicious with lots of strawberry flavor. Thank you for this fabulous recipe!
I made this recipe when I spotted a great deal on fresh strawberries this summer (2019). I can’t say enough about how mind blowing these cup cakes were. I have never had a cup cake as light as these were. Everyone loved the cup cakes as well as the strawberry buttercream. I will make these again. Thank you Sally for showing me just how good a cup cake can be!
I made these yesterday for my daughter’s birthday. They are the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. They are so soft but substantial. They don’t just fall apart when you take the liner off of them. Amazing!
Hi sally! I love every recipe I have made of yours! These were a HUGE HIT! I just have one question in the list of ingredients you list one large egg +2 whites. In the directions you say to whip the 3 egg whites and later in add the egg yolk. So I did three egg whites whipped then added the 3 egg yolks later on. Not sure which way is correct ?
Hi Kim! This recipe calls for 1 large egg (which is 1 egg white and 1 egg yolk) and an additional 2 egg whites. There is only 1 egg yolk in the entire recipe. Does that make sense?
I made these yesterday and brought in a dozen to share with coworkers, who are now raving about them. This is a fantastic recipe! The texture of the cupcakes is superb. The icing is wonderful but I’ve also made your strawberry cake as cupcakes and ever so slightly prefer the frosting on that recipe, which uses cream cheese. I also think the cake tasted a bit more strawberry but I really really love the texture and taste of these. Another winner here.
This strawberry buttercream is the best frosting ever! I had some freeze dried strawberries that I didn’t know what to do with, so I looked up some recipes on the internet. This buttercream seemed tempting, so I tried it. I made 2, 9 inch round pans of lemon pound cake, then made this frosting exactly as written. Wow! I think this cake and frosting combination has now replaced my old favorite of chocolate cake and vanilla frosting. I just love it, as does my entire family. Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic recipe with us!
Hey , where did the original recipe go? The one with strawberry yogurt and NO corn starch an whipped cream frosting. Is there a link to that one. My co-workers and I both prefer that one.
Hi Cristy! Thank you so much for the email– the Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes was taken down because I was never fully pleased with it. However, I’m so glad you are! The recipe is basically this one: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/blueberries-n-cream-cupcakes/
Leave out the lemon zest and blueberries. Add 2 Tablespoons flour, 2-3 Tablespoons strawberry puree, and about 1/2 cup very finely chopped strawberries. Top with whipped cream: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-whipped-cream/
This recipe is very similar, too! https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/strawberry-shortcake-cupcakes/
These are the best fresh homemade cupcakes I’ve ever had. My son asks me to make these for his birthday. My friends made them for their daughter’s first birthday. It’s worth the extra steps in making these extra special cupcakes. Thanks for sharing.
Somehow my batter came out looking super grainy like oatmeal, did not look pretty at all. I tried the recipe twice, I think something went wrong during the adding flour and milk portion. It was okay in the middle until the end.
Is it curdled looking? It should come together when you add the dry ingredients. Make sure things are at room temperature because it will be curdled/chunky if some ingredients are cold.
These were the lightest cupcakes I’ve ever eaten, but they really weren’t “strawberry” cupcakes. I thought the pureed strawberries would really add the strawberry flavor, but they turned out to be really good vanilla cupcakes with bits of strawberry in them. The frosting did have the strawberry flavor, though. Also, I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I made mini muffins and it made 56 mini cupcakes, not 36 and I had to cook them for 17 minutes, not 12-14 (even in the mini form). This recipe had lots of extra steps (pureeing strawberries, crushing freeze dried strawberries, whipping egg whites)- not sure I will do this one again. Thanks for the recipe, but still not the strawberry cake I’m searching for.
Have you ever tried making the cake with the freeze dried strawberries instead of fresh one?
I love making frosting with freeze dried strawberries! But for the cake I find the best is reducing fresh strawberries like in these: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/white-chocolate-strawberry-cupcakes/
Hi Sally!! I love this recipe – it reminds of spring!! I have a question about the height of the cupcakes – they rose beautifully in the oven then when I removed them and placed them on a cooling rack they began to deflate. Is this normal or did I do something wrong?
Hi Sindia! When cupcakes begin deflating, that means the batter was over-whipped OR the cupcakes are underbaked. Do they taste under-baked?
Hi Sally, thanks for your reply!! The crumb was a little dense and not as fluffy as yours so perhaps it was a little under done. The strawberry flavor was amazing though!! I did use my convection setting and lowered the temp to 335′ which could be the problem so next time I will just use my regular bake setting at 350′. Convection is not always reliable.