Strawberry Cupcakes

These Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are for sure to be very…. Or shall I say, BERRY satisfying and delicious. They are rather easy and simple to make and can be decorated however you wish. When I decorate, I keep mine simple with some piped cream cheese frosting and half of a strawberry on top. That seems simple right? It is! Decorating these strawberry cupcakes is quick and easy!

This recipe makes a total of 12 regular sized cupcakes. This cupcake recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to best suit your serving size needs. Filling the cupcake tray or liners about ¾ of the way full will ensure that you get a nice sized fluffy cupcake. Have you noticed their color? These strawberry cupcakes have the most beautiful pink hue I think I have ever seen in food. Just the color alone will make you want to sink your teeth into one of them. The white cream cheese frosting offers a beautiful contrast to the fluffy pink cake. 

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Strawberry Cupcakes

Recipe by Recipe Helper

Course: Dessert

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

17

minutes

Ingredients

• For the Cupcakes:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened

• 3/4 cups granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• 4 tablespoons pureed strawberries

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/3 teaspoon salt

• 3 egg whites

• 1/3 cup milk

• 3 drops red food coloring

• For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon water

Directions

• For the Cupcakes:
• Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a cupcake pan with 12 regular sized cupcake liners.
• In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together for about 2 minutes.
• Next, beat in the sour cream and pureed strawberries.
• Slowly beat in the egg whites and combine well.
• Next, add the vanilla extract and food coloring and stir with a spoon or spatula until you reach your desired pinkness.
• Next, in a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
• Slowly combine half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and then add half of the milk.
• Add the other half of the dry ingredients and other half of the milk and combine.
• Using an ice cream scoop, fill cupcake liners ¾ of the way full. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.
• Allow to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese frosting.
• For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
• In a large bowl, beat together softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract and water. Use to frost the cupcakes.

I love giving my cupcakes a natural strawberry flavor along with their pink tint. It is easily done with this recipe. The wonderful thing about it is that I do not use only food coloring to give it its color. I first use pureed strawberries to tint the batter and then I use a couple drops of food coloring to tint the batter even more. The strawberry puree is quick and colors and flavors the batter nicely.

Now, when making this batter be sure to not skimp out on adding a cup of sour cream to the batter because that is what makes these cupcakes really moist. Trust me, you will be able to tell the difference between a cupcake with or without sour cream. Some people opt for instant pudding mix instead of sour cream which is also a viable option. 

While the cupcakes bake for about 17 minutes, I work on making the cream cheese frosting. This only requires a few simple ingredients. Most likely, you have them on hand if you are an avid baker. Of course we have to fill these delicious cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting as well. To do so, you simply need to carve out a medium sized hole in the center of your cupcakes. I do this using the widest end of my piping tip and then scooping out what needs to be scooped out with a spoon. Be sure to not scoop out too much so that you do not break through the bottom of the cupcakes. It is easy to go too deep, as I have done the same myself. 

After frosting all the cupcakes, make sure that you top them right away with half of a strawberry. You want to do so right away so that they can adhere properly to the cupcakes since the frosting will be relatively soft at this point. Then you should set them in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes before serving so that the frosting can keep its shape. This is especially important if you are not in a room temperature environment or if you are using a piping tip to pipe the frosting. It would be a shame if your cupcakes melted. I know that I despise when that happens. 

As long as you take your time, do not over mix the batter ingredients and make this recipe with lots of love, you are on your way to a delicious batch of strawberry cupcakes. Enjoy the baking process and the eating, of course!