Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Late spring and early summer is one of my favorite times of year. Not only is the weather turning nicer, the flowers and trees are in bloom, and we’re starting to spend more time outside, but strawberries are in season! I actually used to not like strawberries. My sister B always loved them. I remember thinking she was really weird when we were young cause I couldn’t stand strawberries. It was one of those things I grew out of though and thank goodness I did!
Obviously, strawberries are delicious on their own, or in strawberry shortcake, but I wanted to bake with them too. If you remember my Top Ten list from last June… I haven’t made a whole lot of progress on it in the last year, but I immediately remembered this fresh strawberry cake on the list.
I had a hard time figuring out how many cupcakes the recipe would make. You see, the original recipe is for a two-layer 4.5″ cake. So I did some number crunching and calculated the volume of a 4.5″ cake pan and how many cups of batter that would hold and so on. I figured that one batch would make ~9 cupcakes. Yea,… I forgot to factor in the fact that you don’t fill a cake pan to the TOP before you bake it. At any rate, I tripled the recipe because I wanted around 2 dozen. I got 12 cupcakes. And one was a bit on the skimpy side. Oh well, live and learn.
These were a huge hit when Hubby took them to work. I did add the 5 drops of red food coloring so the color of the cupcakes wouldn’t be a weird beige color. I love that the recipe uses fresh strawberries and I kicked it up a notch by spooning in even more fresh strawberries after they baked. You can see that I got a bit impatient and frosted these before the cupcakes were completely cooled.
One Year Ago: Roasted Red Pepper Dip
Strawberry Cupcakes
Yield: 12
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes
3 T buttermilk
6 T mashed strawberries
3/8 t baking soda
1 whole egg + yolk of 1 egg
1 1/2 t vanilla
9 T unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
5 drops red food coloring (optional)
For the Frosting
8 oz cream cheese at room temp
1 stick butter at room temp
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
For the Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Whisk the buttermilk, strawberries and baking soda together in a small bowl. Add the egg yolk, vanilla, and melted butter, whisk to combine.
In a larger bowl stir together the flour, sugar & salt. Add the buttermilk/strawberry mixture & whisk until just blended. Stir in food coloring (if you leave this out, the cupcakes will be a weird beige color).
Divide the batter between the two pans. Bake for 20-25 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely.
I used some leftover cream cheese frosting I had in the fridge. A single batch will usually cover ~24 cupcakes, so you could cut that recipe in half
For the Frosting
Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.
Assemble the cupcakes
Once cupcakes have cooled completely, use the cone method to cut a cone out of each cupcake. Fill the hole with more mushed up strawberries and replace the top. Frost with cream cheese frosting.
Recipe adapted from A Good Appetite
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
these look so fun! i, too, am LI, but i carry lactaid with me everywhere… and jp licks makes a lactose free flavor 🙂
Lactaid is my best friend. I have spare pills in the car, in Hubby’s wallet, in my purse and desk. Can’t ever be too prepared! I have had their lactose free flavors and they’re quite tasty. I wish they had more than one a month though!
Ooooh. This looks too good. I’m gonna have to try that.
I love the idea of using the cone method for ice cream cupcakes. I hadn’t thought of that. That strawberry down the middle of the cupcake is so perfect! I’m so glad you entered again!
I wouldn’t be able to live without ice cream! Your cupcakes are beautiful. Good luck in the competition!!!
They look pretty! Love the photo of the cross section where you can see the strawberry.
~ingrid
Those cupcakes look scrumptious! Oh, and you’ve gotta try Purely Decadent made with Coconut Milk Ice Cream! It’s rich and creamy, a lot like gelatto!
Thanks Vegiegail – I’ll have to check that out.
So cute! These are so pretty with the strawberry in the middle and they look delicious.
voted for your strawberry one..good luck!
gorgeous. love the inset strawberry. love the Neapolitan theme.
bethany@scoopalicious
I agree with you about the non-dairy ice creams available in stores. However, If you have an ice cream maker vegan chick-0-stick ice cream is unbelievably rich, creamy and delicious.
Here is the recipe http://couldntbeparve.blogspot.com/2008/09/chick-o-stick-ice-cream_04.html
Hey, these cupcakes sound awesome! I use to be Lactose Int., but I found the best cure ever & seriously have been L.I. cured for 7 years. I could not give up my dairy & use to take 3 Lactaid every time I ate.I heard about “Lactogen” on the radio on the way home from a trip. I would do anything to get rid of my L.I. so it was $90.00 at the time so I said what the heck I spent $200.00 a year on Lactaid. I was floored that it worked & 7 years later still no signs. I drink milk every morning, cheese everyday, & ice cream when ever. It retrains your body to except lactose, so for 42 days while you take it (a mix to drink with water) you have to stay away from all dairy & anything with dairy in it. I just went to the health food store during that time. I am sure you can find it on the web. Lactogen is the name
This is my second post, it erased my first. But for all you suffering with Lactose Int. try Lactogen it really works I have been cured for going on 7 years now. It was only $90.00 when I tried it & I was spending $200 a year on Lactaid at the time. I now can drink milk every morning, & eat cheese every day & ice cream when ever. It is not an on going thing you take it once for 43 days & that is it.