Strawberry Cupcakes

These Strawberry Cupcakes contain lots of fresh strawberries and are so easy to make. What you need? 12 ingredients and less than 30 minutes of hands-on preparation time.

You love Strawberries? Then check out this Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp recipe. It's just perfect for warm Spring days.

Why this Strawberry Cupcakes recipe works: 

1. The cupcakes and the frosting are made with homemade fresh strawberry sauce.
2. It does not contain any artificial colors.
3. It's a straight-forward recipe with less than 30 minutes of prep time.
4. The cupcakes are soft and fluffy and the frosting light and creamy. Exactly how a perfect cupcake should be.
5. It's the perfect Spring recipe to honor strawberry season.

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Instructions

Strawberry Sauce

First step: In a medium bowl, using an immersion blender, puree strawberries. Then press the fruit and the liquid through a mesh strainer into a heavy-bottomed pot and discard solids.

NOTE: The finer the mesh strainer, the fewer solids you have in the cupcakes. If you don't mind about the solids at all, you can skip this step.

Second step: Add sugar and lemon juice to the strawberries and cook over medium heat until reduced by half. You need 1 cup of strawberry sauce (240ml) for the recipe.

TIP: If you accidentally overcooked the sauce then whisk in some water that you get 1 cup.

Third step: Remove from the heat and transfer the strawberry sauce to two bowls equally (two times ½ cup) and let cool to room temperature.

Batter

First step: In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Second step: In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, whisk butter, oil, and sugar on medium speed until creamy about 2 minutes. The color should be very bright as you can see in the picture below.

Third step: Add the egg, ½ cup of the cooked strawberry sauce, and vanilla. Stir until combined.

Fourth step: Alternately add dry ingredients and buttermilk. Start and end with dry ingredients. This works best when you add the dry ingredients in three additions and the buttermilk in two.

TIP: If you don't have buttermilk then replace with milk 1:1. Then remove ½ tbsp of milk and add ½ tbsp of lemon juice or white vinegar to get ½ cup of liquid in total.

Fifth step: Fold in strawberries just until combined. You can see in the picture below that the batter is light and fluffy.

Sixth step: Spoon the cupcakes batter into a muffin pan lined with muffin liners about ⅔ to ¾ full. Then bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Let cool to room temperature before frosting.

Frosting

First step: Mix butter until soft and creamy. This works best with room temperature butter. The butter should look like in the picture below before you add the next ingredients.

Second step: Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until well combined and creamy.

Third step: Add the strawberry sauce and stir until smooth and creamy.

TIP: If the frosting is too thin add more powdered sugar - up to ½ cup. In this case, you may want to add a pinch of salt to cut down the sweetness. If the frosting is too firm add 1-2 tbsp of whipping cream.

Fourth step: Transfer the frosting to a piping bag. Therefore place a piping bag fitted with a tip of your choice in a tall glass and pull about 4 inches (10cm) over the outside of the glass. Then spread about half of the frosting into the bag and close the bag by twisting the back of the bag.

Then frost the cupcakes to your preference.

Baker's Tips

• The combination of oil and butter makes sure you get the best of both worlds. Fluffy texture from the oil and an incredible taste from the butter.
• Use room temperature butter for the cupcakes as well for the frosting. Room temperature butter incorporates better with the other ingredients than cold one.
• Don't fill your cupcake liners more than ¾ full to avoid spilling over or sinking cupcakes.
• Measure the flour correctly. Use a kitchen scale or spoon and level the flour in the measuring cup.

Substitutions

Substitute buttermilk for milk 1:1. Then remove ½ tbsp of milk and add ½ tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice.

Do you want to make your Strawberry Cupcakes gluten-free? No problem. Substitute all-purpose flour for Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour 1:1.

Also making them eggless is possible. Just substitute eggs for flax eggs 1:1.

Storage

These Strawberry Cupcakes stay fresh up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

NOTE: If you skip the chopped strawberries in the cupcakes you could further increase shelf live by 1-2 days.

Freezing

Strawberry Cupcakes are best eaten fresh. However, if you plan to freeze them, I suggest freezing the unfrosted cupcakes and making the frosting before serving. In this case, let the cupcakes cool completely. Then wrap them individually in plastic wrap. Place the wrapped cupcakes in freezer bags and remove as much air as possible. They freeze well up to 3 months.

To thaw, unwrap the cupcakes and place them on the counter. They need about 1-2 hours to come to room temperature. Then frost them and serve.

NOTE: Skip the chopped strawberries if you freeze the cupcakes. The strawberries would get mushy during the freezing and thawing process and would negatively impact the texture of the cupcakes.

If you make this super delicious Strawberry Cupcakes recipe leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #alsothecrumbsplease on Instagram! Would love to see your snap!

Are you crazy about strawberries? Here are my favorite strawberry recipes:

• Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
• Strawberry Brownies
• No-Bake Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie Recipe