This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please read my disclosure policy.
These Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are perfect! So moist and fluffy! And they are an amazing copy of one my favorite cupcakes!
So I think I’ve mentioned it before, but in case I haven’t here’s my little secret: Even though I bake mostly from scratch these days, I grew up on box mixes and store bought cakes.
It’s true. I know there’s a camp of people who are totally box mix haters and then there’s a camp that’s all about them. I personally love them at times when I want something easy. And you will never convince me that Funfetti Cake with Rainbow Chip Icing isn’t the best cake ever. But I also love baking from scratch. I’ve always loved cake, but I loved it even more when I started having from-scratch cakes. There’s just so much variety and I love that.
That said, my favorite besides Funfetti was always a strawberry cake mix with cream cheese frosting. There’s just something about the strawberry cake mix flavor. I know some might think it’s artificial, but whatevs. I dig it.
So I set out to replicate the flavor of that cake mix, but from scratch. I’m pretty sure I hit the nail on the head. I’m in love with these cupcakes! I even put “love” on top of them. 🙂
The strawberry flavor in the cupcake comes from a mix of strawberry puree and strawberry extract. I love mixing the two. The extract makes the flavor a little stronger and more box-like in my opinion, while the puree adds a little of that real strawberry taste. Perfection.
And with the cute little chocolate “love” on top, these are perfect for sharing for Valentine’s Day.
To make the toppers, you just need a little bit of colored candy melts. I use the wilton ones, but if you have another brand you prefer that should be fine. They’re great because they come colored, are easy to melt and dry firmer than regular chocolate chips, which is ideal for a more delicate decoration like this one.
I did these free handed, but you could use a pattern if you prefer. You’ll just need a piping bag, icing tip with coupler (I used tip 4, but tip 3 would work too) and some parchment paper. Melt the chocolate, add it to your piping bag fitted with the icing tip and write out “love”. I also tossed a few sprinkles on, but you could leave those off if you prefer. There’s a similar method used for this red wine chocolate cake, so if you need some pictorial guidance, there are photos in that post you can check out.
Once they are dry, just press them into the frosting and you are done! Quick and easy! Not only are these strawberry cupcakes delicious, they are so darn cute!
Watch How To Make Them
You might also like:
Homemade Strawberry Cake
Strawberry Cheesecake Cookie Cups
Strawberry Moscato Layer Cake
Strawberry Brownie Cheesecake
Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes
Strawberry Cool Whip Cookies
Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 17 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are perfect! So moist and fluffy! And they are an amazing copy of one my favorite cupcakes!
Ingredients
STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES
- 3/4 cup (155g) sugar
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter (86g), room temperature
- 6 tbsp (90ml) sour cream
- 2 tsp strawberry extract
- 3 egg whites
- 1 1/4 cups (163g) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp (75ml) milk
- 3 tbsp (45ml) strawberry puree
- 3–4 drops pink food color
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 8 oz (226g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 6 tbsp (86g) butter, room temperature
- 4 cups (460g) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
TOPPERS
- 5 oz red Wilton Candy Melts
- sprinkles
ADDITIONAL TOOLS
- Piping bag
- Wilton #4 Icing tip
- Ateco #844 Icing tip
- Coupler
- Parchment paper
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
2. Beat butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add sour cream and strawberry extract and mix until well combined.
4. Add egg whites in two batches, mixing until well combined.
5. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl, then combine milk and strawberry puree in another bowl.
6. Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until well combined. Add the milk mixture and mix until well combined. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
7. Stir in pink color.
8. Fill cupcake liners about halfway. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs.
9. While cupcakes cool, make the frosting. Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
10. Add half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
11. Add vanilla extract and remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
12. To make the toppers, melt candy melts in a small bowl according to package instructions.
13. Pour melted candy into your piping bag fitted with Wilton tip #3 and pipe “love” onto parchment paper. Add a few sprinkles, then allow to dry and firm.
14. Pipe the cream cheese frosting onto the cupcakes using Ateco tip #844, then add toppers.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cupcake
- Calories: 400
- Sugar: 45.3 g
- Sodium: 120 mg
- Fat: 18.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 55.6 g
- Protein: 4.1 g
- Cholesterol: 46.1 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
I made this frosting tonight and used it to pipe on carrot cake cupcakes. It is so delicious! I love your recipes!
It wasn’t as thick as I wanted and didn’t look like the photos here. But I popped it in the freezer for a few minutes and it helped thicken the frosting.
Thanks for a great recipe! This will be my new go to cream cheese frosting recipe. Can’t wait to make the strawberry cupcakes (:
Made these. Took them out of the oven and they totally shrank. 🙁 Not the first time with strawberry cupcakes. Another recipe did exactly the same thing.) Followed the recipe to the tee. Threw them out and tried again. Added a bit of baking soda and upped the oven temp to 360, and a little longer bake time. Didn’t shrink, but the middles fell some. Not as bad. added strawberry preserves to the pureed strawberries in the second batch. They are yummy though. Took them to a cookout and everyone loved them.
Just that I’m a perfectionist and was going for the rounded top. Any suggestions for the third batch? (I checked my baking powder and it was good.)
I would be sure that you’re fulling creaming the butter and sugar together in the second step. It adds air to the batter than gives it lift and that nice round top. If it’s not fully creamed, they often do shrink after they come out of the oven.
Ok thanks! I creamed it according to the directions, but maybe my butter was to soft to start. I was hot in my kitchen that day. I will defiantly try creaming it longer, and make sure the butter is not to melty.
Have you tried these with Gluten free flour? Just curious.
I haven’t
I had some strawberries at home, and your blog is the first place i go to for some inspiration. I realized i did not have any strawberry extract or any sour cream, but still decided to go ahead and try and make these anyway. Substituted a bit of milk and yogurt for the sour cream. These cupcakes are perfect! So light and fluffy! I used mini-muffin trays to bake them (made a good 60 mini-muffins). My frosting was slightly runny, though. Maybe i did not beat the cream cheese enough? How does your cream cheese pipe so beautifully on the cakes? Mine just sort of looked like glaze. But they tasted wonderful! Gone in seconds! 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed them! For the frosting, did you by any chance add less powdered sugar than the recipe calls for? The powdered sugar should thicken the frosting. If it’s still to thin, you could always add a little more but it should be plenty thick as written.
No, i added the exact amount. Maybe the day was unusually warm, or perhaps it could be the brand of cream cheese I used. I’ll try popping it in the refrigerator for a bit the next time 🙂 I think i will be making these again pretty soon. They’re delicious!
Update I made them again. Popped the frosting in the fridge for an hour, and it worked! Of course, once again, the cupcakes were gone before the icing had the chance to melt 🙂
I suppose it was unusually warm the last time I made these.
I’m so glad you were more successful this time and enjoyed them! 🙂
Always whip your butter first before adding the cream cheese. Overmixing the cream cheese will make for runny frosting. I learned that the hard way 😉
How would one go about making Strawberry puree? Cook and then blend?
I put strawberries into a food processor. You could also use a blender. You won’t need too many strawberries for the amount of puree in this recipe.
Does that frosting recipe leave any left over or does it make just enough for a dozen?
It should be pretty close to a dozen.
can I make a big cake with it ? it looks great
Definitely! I would suggest doubling the recipe and dividing the batter between three 8 inch pans. If I remember correctly they’d back for about 23 minutes.
it came out great tnx a lot
you are an angle
Hi, I don’t have any strawberry extract. Could I use more purée and still achieve a strong strawberry taste? Thanks
You can replace some of the milk with additional puree. I’m not sure that you’d get quite as strong of a strawberry flavor, but you could try it.
Do you have a strawberry extract brand that you would recommend?
The one I’m usually able to find in stores (Walmart) is Watkins brand.
Hello, Lindsay.Greetings from Ukraine.
According to the recipe you need to take 240 grams of cream cheese, 86 gr.butter and 460 grams of powdered sugar. It is impossible to many, there is no error, really 460gr.? One cup of 115 grams. powdered sugar.
Hi Elena! Yes, the powdered sugar and other ingredients are correct in the recipe. You can use less powdered sugar if you’d like a thinner frosting.
Is there anything more romantic than homemade cupcakes? 😛 These look perfect, love the little candy melt toppers 🙂
Yum! What a pretty pink color. I think there is a place for box mix cakes and scratch cakes 🙂
I’m glad you think so because I agree. 🙂 I love cake no matter what!
How cute are those toppers? I always forget that I can easily make things like that. Such a nice touch.
Wow! These are gorgeous!!!
The cupcakes look yummy and I LOVE those toppers so much!!! 😀
These cupcakes are just darling! I Love the “love” signs you made for them! So stinkin cute!! 🙂
Lindsay, these are amazing! We have some friends over today and I made these cupcakes. I am officially obsessed, they turned out perfect for me!
That’s great to hear! I’m so glad you are happy with them! 🙂
Okay, you did this free handed? You are so amazing! They look so good and perfect for the season of LOVE! What a perfect and fun way to spread some love over Valentine’s Day with these lovelies! I’ll just pretend to taste test them through the computer for now! 😉