These melt-in-your-mouth Strawberry Cupcakes are the perfect spring or summer treat. Fill with fresh strawberries, they are so delightfully soft, moist, and fluffy.
6tablespoonspureed fresh strawberries(about 6 large berries/ 90ml)
½teaspoonvanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until fully incorporated before adding the next. Stop and scrape down the bowl between each egg. Beat in the vanilla.
Stir together the sour cream and whole milk in a measuring cup or medium mixing bowl.
With the mixer on low speed, gradually add a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture followed by half of the sour cream mixture. Repeat, alternating between the flour and sour cream. Scrape down the bowl. Beat in the chopped strawberries and food coloring, if using. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. (About ¼ cup per liner.)
Bake one pan at a time for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove the cupcakes and continue cooling on a wire rack.
For the Strawberry Buttercream:
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter and salt on medium speed until very creamy and pale, about 5 minutes.
With the mixer on low speed, gradually add in the powdered sugar and strawberry puree* until fluffy combined. Stope and scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla. Increase speed to medium and beat until fluffy and very spreadable, about 1 minute.
Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a decorative tip and pipe the frosting on top of the cooled cupcakes. Garnish with fresh strawberries, if desired. Cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature without the garnish for up to 3 days or refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Video
Notes
For strawberry puree, wash and hull about 1/2 pound or 10 to 12 strawberries. Puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. You can also use thawed frozen strawberries in place of fresh.
Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake that will yield dry and dense strawberry cupcakes. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one, fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
If your flour is lumpy, sift it beforehand. Sifting will also help aerate the flour to yield lighter cupcakes.
Bring the eggs to room temperature to ensure it incorporates into your batter evenly. If you forgot to take your egg out of the fridge ahead of time, you could quickly bring it to room temperature by placing it in a large bowl with warm tap water for 5 minutes.
Bake the cupcakes one pan at a time in the middle of the oven, so they bake evenly.
If you don’t have any extra berries to puree, you can use strawberry jam or preserves in the frosting.
A few drops of pink food coloring will give your strawberry cupcakes a beautiful pink color. You can add some to the frosting as well.