These cupcakes are packed with a double dose of strawberry flavour and it’s basically strawberry heaven in cupcake form. Fluffly buttermilk cupcakes are loaded with strawberry pieces and then topped with strawberry buttercream icing, and if you haven’t tried strawberry buttercream icing you have been missing out!
These are super simple cupcakes to make and even though strawberry season is always the best time to make anything strawberry, these can absolutely be made with frozen strawberries, I’ve done it many times!
The icing is made by pureeing strawberries and then cooking on a low heat to reduce to a thick puree. Add this to a basic buttercream to give you a creamy, lick the spoon delicious strawberry frosting. It’s a little more work, but it gives you a delicious strawberry flavour. Alternatively if you feel like being lazy you can also use 2 tablespoons of strawberry jam instead.
Strawberry Buttermilk Cupcakes
These cupcakes are packed with a double dose of strawberry flavour, basically strawberry heaven in cupcake form.
Ingredients
192g (1 1/2 cups) AP flour + 1 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
113g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
200g (1 cup) granulated sugar
240g (1 cup) buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
150g (1 cup) strawberries
Icing
100g (3/4 cup) strawberries
115g (1/2 cup) butter
250g (2 cups) icing sugar
Instructions
Heat the oven to 350F. Line a cupcake tin with liners.
Chop the strawberries into small chunks. Toss them in the tbsp of flour.
Whisk all the dry ingredients together well. Using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Add in the vanilla and mix, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add in half the dry ingredients and half the buttermilk. Mix on low until just combined. Add the rest and mix just until there are no streaks of flour. Add the strawberries and carefully fold into the batter.
Fill the cupcake liners with an ice-cream scoop of batter to about 3/4 way full. There will probably be 1 extra cupcake worth of batter.
Bake for 10mins, then rotate the pans. Bake for about another 10mins until they are just about to start turning brown and a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Check on them regularly towards the end and make sure they do not overbake.
Cool cupcakes in the tin for 10mins, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Icing
Strawberry Puree: Add the strawberries into a small blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add to a small saucepan with 1 tbsp of water and cook over medium-low heat until reduced to about half to a quarter. It should be like a thick jam and make about 2 tbsp of puree. Let cool completely before adding to frosting. If you want to skip this step you can alternatively use 2 tbsp strawberry jam.
Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium till light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar, beat on low until fully mixed in. Add the strawberry puree, turn up to medium high and beat for 2-3mins until creamy and smooth. If it seems too stiff add up to a tbsp of milk one tsp at a time. If too soft, add in more icing sugar 1 tbsp at a time. This will really depend on how liquidy your strawberry puree is.
Pipe or spread the frosting using an offset spatula onto each cupcake and enjoy!
My goodness, you had me at “strawberry heaven in cupcake form”! They look and sound so delicious!