While surfing Martha Stewart dot com for cupcake porn, my friend Carissa discovered this delightful recipe from Candace Nelson of Sprinkles Cupcakes fame. As soon as she sent me the link, I wanted to fire-up the oven and line my muffin tins. I prepared the cake as written, but added more strawberry puree and reduced the amount of sugar for the frosting (the proportions below reflect these tweaks). The cupcakes turned out strawberryliciously—the cake was moist and light, while the frosting was pleasantly fruity. Garnish with fresh strawberries or colorful sprinkles.
For cupcakes
- 2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
- 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
For frosting
- 1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
- Pinch of coarse salt
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Make cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.
Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.
Make frosting
Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.
Recipes by Candace Nelson courtesy of Martha Stewart (Strawberry Cupcakes, Strawberry Frosting). [For Printable Recipe Click Here]
Wow, that really looks “strawberrylicious.” How does it taste compared to Sprinkles Cupcakes?
BTW, did you ever make it to NorCal (SJ Mercury News, was it?)
Now you are making me feel guilty with your real strawberries. I was planning on making some Betty Crocker Strawberry flavored mini cupcakes. They have artificial flavor and a crazy pink shade, but they are delicious. =) Your cupcakes look great.
YUMMMM!
Those look fantastic! I tried her recipe as well. I love fresh strawberry cupcakes- so fresh and springy!
I think I’ll run to the nearest bakery joint!
oh man! i wish you could have shared ;-p
Holy cow, these are DELICIOUS–exactly what I was looking for! They are full of fresh strawberry taste, w/ light, spongy cake and dense, creamy frosting. And they were easy enough that my 3-year-old made them with me! MMMMMM…
Just finished baking this recipe and they turned out great. Recipe was easier than the puree and boil down method I have read. I thought the frosting was too sweet but then again you don’t have to kill the cake with it. Thanks for the recipe!
Ok, you’re my hero for saying “cupcake porn”. Seriously, I can relate. Totally whipping these up tomorrow.
Awesome! I’ve been meaning to try Martha’s recipe but I love your tweaks and will use your version. Perfect time while strawberries are atill in season.
I am so looking Forward to making these for my daughters birthday. She wanted me to go to this crazy expensive bakery but I think this will be even better!!! thanks for the recipe!!! I will be back to let you all know how they turned out!!
mmmmmmm theae are one of the best cupcakes in the world i have had to and already want a third!
I made these cupcakes and they turned out great!
This was my first time making frosting. I have only used chocolate ganache before.
I stuck to the original 3 and 1/4 cups of cemfectioners sugar in the frosting and it tasted divine, though my frosting wasn’t as dense and thick as yours … it was just a little runny but still spreadable….what do think went wrong?
My cupcakes did not look like your beautiful ones. They were much paler even after 24 minutes.I did not think the strawberry taste was strong enough. I also had problems with the frosting and found it too sweet but I am not a huge butter cream fan. I mixed the puree with confectioners sugar to make a nice strawberry icing. My kids preferred that.
LOVE the detailed pics!! How to step by steps are the best!
Thank you for the recipe. I look forward to trying it for my daughter’s first birthday party tomorrow. However, I wonder if you could set up some sort of print-friendly option so that if someone (um, like me!) wanted to print up a recipe they didn’t end up printing out 10 pages of your blogroll?
I made these amazing cupcakes and blogged about them! Obviously gave you the credit … your step-by-step photos really helped me, and I’ll definitely make these again & again! Crave-worthy!
Making these for my sister in law’s baby shower! Thank-you and awesome post!
Laura
I made the Martha Stewart recipe last year and thought it was ok, but these are wonderful. I tweaked the recipe a bit also and added more straberry puree to the cake. The frosting is divine. Thanks for this recipe.
cake part was good – light and fluffy. i do not recommend the frosting…tasted like pure butter with strawberry flavor to me. also i had trouble with the frosting and it came out chunky.
I only needed a recipe for frosting, so I tried this one.
First: people complaining about the frosting being too sweet? It’s FROSTING, people. It’s supposed to be sweet. If you don’t like sweet, don’t use frosting.
Second: Maybe my strawberry puree was runnier than yours, but after adding the 3 Tbsp…it turned into sloppy goop. I had to add maybe a cup more icing sugar before it got any kind of consistency at all, and even then it wasn’t the lovely butter-cream consistency I was hoping for.
Third: Naturalists can hate me, but I added one drop of red food coloring so it looked just a bit more pink.
AND Last: It tasted great. So…thanks! I put my frosting on chocolate cupcakes, and it was a great combination.
Is coarse salt sea salt?
While this recipe is excellent and very easy to make, I have made them twice now and no one has been able to tell that the cupcakes themselves were supposed to be strawberry. There simply was no strawberry taste to them. I like to think it is because most people are used to the fake box “strawberry” flavored cakes, but it seems like a lot of work to go through for strawberry cupcakes that don’t taste like it. Would finely chopped strawberries work better or would there not be enough liquid then for the batter?
I just finished eating a FROSTINGS Strawberry cupcake which promped me to search for a recipe to make my own. These sound delicious. I can’t wait to try them.
Your frosting is close to one that I have been working on. Here it is…It is a big receipe for frosting a cake.
2 cups chopped fresh strawberries.
2 sticks soft butter
2 lbs of confectionery sugar (7cups)
1 tbs vanilla (I use the real thing)
puree strawberries in blender
blend butter and sugar on high
blend in strawberries
add vanilla to taste
resist the urge to whip frosting after you have added the strawberries as it will break down.
refrigerate for two hours before frosting cake or cupcakes.
Yes, frosting should be sweet, but not so sweet that it turns you off. Adding the vanilla cuts that icky sweetness and the “powdered sugar” taste of the sugar.
Wowwee! Just made these, the best cup cakes i’ve ever made. I’ve only ever made a basic cup cake mixture before, these are much lighter and springier and they come out flat; brilliant. The strawberry flavour came through lovely. I’ll be making these for my mum’s birthday on Wimbledon final day, served with fresh whipped cream and strawberries.
Yum yum.
Would the amount be enough for a cake cake my husband wants a strawberry cake for his birthday but wants a cake not cupcakes.
These are awesome! I added more strawberry purée to the batter until it had a more definitive strawberry taste. Also, my icing Was goop. It wasn’t a super big deal since I was filling a fondant covered cake, so the filling was “dammed” in by buttercream. However, next time I will make a thick cream cheese frosting and add purée.
I went strawberry picking today so I am definately making these cupcakes!! Thanks for the recipe.