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Real Strawberries.
Real Sugar.
Real Butter.
Those are all things you’ll find in these cupcakes.
Things you will not find in these cupcakes — fake pink coloring – jello – gelatin – pink cake mix
Princess’ teacher adores Strawberry Cupcakes, her birthday was last week so, I searched and searched and searched for a GOOD, REAL strawberry cupcake recipe. Holy hell y’all, do you KNOW how hard that was? They all either used cake mix or gelatin stuff and none of them sounded all that appealing to me.
So, I cobbled together a few recipes and ideas and came up with these and I have to tell y’all.
These Strawberry Cupcakes are definitely Tonguegasmic.
The cake itself is dense and delicious – reminiscent of pound cake or shortcake.
Real chunks of strawberry and strawberry juice give bursts of sweetness and texture and pure vanilla extract adds a lovely hint of flavor and depth.
I really, really hope that y’all try this recipe and let me know what you think.
First, the night before you make these, you’re going to cut up about 16 medium strawberries (12 to 14 oz) and cover them in sugar (macerate them)
This breaks down the strawberries a bit and creates a delicious, sweet, natural strawberry syrup — this is also how my husband prefers to eat his strawberries.
The strawberries, the next day.
The next day, when you’re ready to make the cupcakes, pull the strawberries out of the fridge and use a potato masher or a food processor to just gently break them down a little bit more. You still want some chunks of real strawberries — NOT a puree.
Place the berries in a strainer over the bowl — you won’t need ALL the syrup for the cupcakes 
Have you pre-heated your oven yet? Me either 
Let’s go ahead and do that now .. 350 F and have your little helpers put your pretty liners in your cupcake tins for you.
Sift cake flour several times into a medium bowl – from that sifted cake flour- measure out 2 3/4 C. Place that into a small bowl with 1/4 tsp salt and 2 1/2 tsp baking powder.
In your mixer (Dear Mom and Dad, I love my amazing KitchenAid Pro Mixer. It makes me so happy, Thank you xoxoxoxoxo) beat 2 sticks of room temperature butter and sugar together until they’re a pretty and fluffy pale yellow. Slowly add one egg at a time to the mixture beating for about one minute after each addition – don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl! You don’t want to miss any of the buttery goodness!
Add 1 tsp pure vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp strawberry extract* and mix well.
Whisk your dry ingredients and then alternate adding your dry ingredients to the batter with 1/2 cup 2% milk. Add the flour and milk in alternating batches mixing and scraping down the sides of the bowl well between each addition.
Add your berries and 1/4 C + 1 Tbsp strawberry juice to your batter
Mix well
Drool over the pretty and delicious strawberry-ness of your batter
I made 6 full size cupcakes and 36 mini cupcakes out of this batter.
An ice cream scoop works really well for putting the batter into the cupcake liners – fill about 3/4 full.
Bake for about 18 minutes or until the tops spring back when pressed and they have turned a pretty golden color. Cool for about 5 minutes in the tins and then remove and allow to cool completely before icing or eating. These are actually BETTER when they’re cool don’t ask how I know, it’s not because I tried them 5 times during the cooling process.
Feel free to cut one open or just peel the wrapper off so you can see the beautiful strawberries inside these tonguegasmic cupcakes. You do need to taste test one after all!
You could use some of the leftover strawberry juice to make a delicious strawberry buttercream — I thought that would be too much strawberry – but, Princess’ teacher said she wouldn’t have minded
I just topped them with my favorite ButterCreamCheese frosting – I’m not a fan of traditional buttercreams — too sweet.
I’ll add the recipe below.
Delicious Real Strawberry Cupcakes. The strawberry extract just enhances the flavor, it isn't necessary if you don't want to use it.
Ingredients
- 2 Sticks Butter
- 1 1/4 C white sugar
- 2 3/4 C sifted cake flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 4 room temperature eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp strawberry extract
- 1/2 C 2% milk
- 16 medium strawberries (12 -14 oz) chopped and macerated (topped with white sugar and allowed to soak overnight)
- 8 oz block cream cheese, softened
- 6 Tbsp butter, softened
- 1 – 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (to taste)
- 2 Tbsp to 1/4 C milk
- 3 to 5 C powdered sugar
- dash of salt
Instructions
- The night before, chop the strawberries (stems removed), cover with white sugar and refrigerate. When you’re ready to make the cupcakes, remove the strawberries from the refrigerator and mash them with a potato masher or lightly pulse with a food processor. You don’t want a puree — you still want strawberry chunks. Place them in a strainer over a bowl, you won’t need all the juice.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F and line cupcake tins
- In a medium bowl, sift cake flour. From the sifted bowl measure out 2 3/4 Cups of cake flour and add in 2 1/2 tsps baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt
- In your mixer, mix together the butter and white sugar until pale yellow and fluffy.
- Slowly add the room temperature eggs one by one, mixing for about one minute after each egg, make sure that you scrape down the sides of the bowl so you don’t leave any buttery goodness out.
- Add in vanilla and strawberry extract
- (if you leave out strawberry extract, just sub. more vanilla)
- Whisk together the dry mix
- Alternately add the dry mix and 1/2 C milk, blending well and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.
- Add in the strawberries and about 1/4 C + 1 Tbsp strawberry juice, fold in with a wooden spoon until well incorporated and you can see bits of strawberry throughout the batter.
- Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for roughly 18 minutes or until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when pressed and they’re a bit of a lovely golden color.
- Allow to cool in tins for 5 minutes and then remove and finish cooling on a wire rack
- I think butter creams are too sweet but often cream cheese frostings aren’t sweet enough for kids — this is my family’s favorite.
- In your mixer whip together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
- Add in vanilla* and 2 Tbsp milk, blend well
- Start with 2 C powdered sugar and dash of salt, mix well
- Add more milk and powdered sugar slowly and in alternating batches- mixing and tasting each time until the frosting has reached your desired consistency
- Place in a bag with your desired piping tip and pipe onto cupcakes or spread on cakes.
- * 1/2 Vanilla Extract and 1/2 Almond Extract or whip in some kahlua for an adult twist
Look how one reader adapted this recipe to create her own version of Strawberry Cupcakes for a baby shower!
