Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream
These strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream are just bursting with real strawberry flavor! With nothing artificial and no jello required, they’re perfect for your celebration!
*This post originally published on June 10, 2013. I thought it was about time the pics were updated. So, many of the photos you see here now are new and improved. Most everything else is exactly the same as it ever was! Hopefully you’ll enjoy these strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream as much as my family and I did.*
Last time we hung out, I showed you the chocolate birthday cake I made for my little one’s fourth (!) birthday.
It was awesome! We had one happy little guy…
…and big brother, Mommy, Dada, Grammie, and Pop all loved it too.
The only down side to that recipe is, his preschool doesn’t allow chocolate.
whomp, whomp…
I’ve mentioned in prior posts that there’s just something in my chemical makeup that won’t allow me to send my kids in to school with plain old vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing. So I had a little talk with the birthday boy, and asked him what was his favorite fruit? I wasn’t too surprised when he answered “Strawberries.” (Mama ain’t raisin’ no fool.)
I did a lot of research on the best vanilla cupcake recipe, and I settled on this one, because it was voted the best by thekitchn.com, and those folks probably know thing or two about food…
I only made a couple of changes, one being, I didn’t have whole milk so I subbed a little cream into my lowfat.
I also added in a bag of freeze-dried strawberries. These freeze-dried fruits are quickly becoming one of my favorite ingredients, as they add loads of intense flavor into baked goods, without watering them down with heavy, juicy pulp, like fresh fruit would.
And finally, I don’t know if my oven is off, or what, but my cupcakes took waaaay longer to bake than the recommended 17-20 minutes cited in the recipe…(?)
Well, the cupcakes were perfectly delicious, with a crisp-chewy crust on top, a delicate, fine crumb, beautifully light, yet moist and buttery, lightly scented with vanilla and speckled with tart bits of strawberry.
I topped them off with this delicious Swiss meringue buttercream, which is a little bit more labor intensive than the powdered-sugar-and-butter variety, but every bit of effort feels worthwhile when you taste that silky-sweet, rich-yet-light-as-air, intensely strawberry flavor…
Be sure to check out this highly comprehensive post on Swiss meringue buttercream, for a step-by-step tutorial PLUS all your questions answered!
These cupcakes got rave reviews all around from the preschool folks, kids and staffers alike! They were perfect for my baby’s birthday, but I think they’d also be great for an Easter or Mothers Day brunch, or for Valentine’s Day…
So pretty and sweet, and full of ripe, springtime strawberry flavor!
More great cupcake recipes on my “Cupcake Recipes” Pinterest board!
Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
For the Strawberry Cupcakes:
- 1 3/4 cups (218.75 g) cake flour
- 1 1/4 cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, , softened
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (177 g) low-fat milk
- 1/4 cup (59.5 g) heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1.2 ounces (34.02 g) freeze-dried strawberries
For the Strawberry Buttercream:
- 1.2 ounces (34.02 g) freeze-dried strawberries
- 3 egg whites
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (227 g) 2 sticks unsalted butter, , softened
Instructions
To make the Strawberry Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line cupcake pans with papers.
- Place the cake flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl, and whisk to combine.
- Add the butter, and mix on medium-low speed until the mixture resembles damp sand.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing on medium speed, and stopping after each addition to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
- When all the eggs have been incorporated, stir in the milk, cream, and vanilla.
- Break the freeze-dried strawberries into smaller pieces, and fold them into the batter.
- Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full, and bake for 17 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the thickest part of a cupcake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool completely, then frost with Strawberry Buttercream.
To make the Strawberry Buttercream:
- Grind the freeze-dried strawberries to a fine powder, in a food processor or blender, and set aside.
- In a large glass or metal bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar.
- Set the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water, and stir continuously, until the sugar is completely dissolved. (Check by rubbing a small amount between your thumb and forefinger; it should not feel grainy.)
- Remove the bowl from the simmering water and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture is cooled completely. (There should be no hint of warmth when you place your hand on the side of the bowl. Refrigerate the meringue for 15 to 20 minutes if necessary.)
- Add the butter in, a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture begins to look curdled, continue to beat until it comes back together, before adding the remaining butter.
- Fold in the freeze-dried strawberries.
I have made all of your simply perfect vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry cupcakes with the Swiss meringue buttercream, and they are all amazing! Couple questions how far in advance can I make the cupcakes if I want to get ahead and how should I store them? Also, is it possible to add yoir salted caramel sauce to the Swiss meringue buttercream? Will that work out and if so, how much caramel sauce should I add to the recipe of the butter cream? Thanks!!
Hello!! Can we substitute butter for oil? If yes how much?
I have not tried that so I’m afraid I can’t say for sure. But please feel free to experiment!
I’m wanting a solid pink icing for a cake… I was just curious if the specks from the freeze dried strawberries are visible in the buttercream? It’s hard to tell from pictures. If so, I’ll probably just use vanilla Swiss meringue with food coloring. Thanks!
Yes, they are! The buttercream will show the little seeds from the freeze-dried strawberries.
With the low-fat milk is this 2% or 1%? Also what adjustments needs to be made to make this as a cake if any?
You can use either kind. What sort of adjustments are you looking to make?
How would I convert this recipe to make a 3 layer 6″ cake? And a 3 layer 8″ cake? Should I do the Swiss Meringue Buttercream or a different frosting? Thanks.
Love your blog.
Hi Allie! I have had great success with your simply perfect chocolate cake recipes (with the raspberry SMB!), but wanted to try a fruit/vanilla cake with strawberry frosting for my 1 year old’s birthday. I love the idea of using freeze dried strawbs, but don’t want to mess with the perfection of your reverse creamed with yogurt recipe! I see that this is an older recipe, before you developed the Simply Perfect(er) vanilla one. Do you recommend I stick with this recipe for the cake or try your Simply (more) perfect vanilla cupcakes recipe and just add the FD strawbs to that batter?
It’s great that you asked Kim! I just recently made a few tweaks to the “Even Simpler, More Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes,” and IMO, it’s better than ever! If you’ve been happy with that one in the past, then by all means use it again. Just add in the freeze-dried strawberries (you may need to break them into smaller pieces if they’re big), and bake as usual! Good luck and I hope you’re happy with the result!
Hi Allie! These strawberry cupcakes look so pretty and I love that’s there’s not a gel or jello to make the buttercream. That gets too complicated sometimes! So I think the freeze dried is brilliant and perfect for anytime of the year! I do have a question where did you get the pretty cupcake liners in the photos above? Thank you in advance, I really appreciate your time!
xo, Katie
No problem at all Katie! I ordered the striped ones from the Etsy shop “In the Clear,” and the polka-dotted ones were from Amazon. Here are links: https://www.etsy.com/listing/122820041/small-pink-stripe-nut-or-portion-paper?ga_search_query=cupcake+papers&ref=shop_items_search_4, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MR9RSKR/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.
I love that fresh strawberry flavor! These would be wonderful for Valentine’s Day!