Strawberry & Vanilla Cupcakes

A beautiful vanilla and strawberry cupcake recipe that tastes heavenly. Just perfect for summer parties, served with a glass of campaign.

Published: July 1, 2021 · Modified: March 11, 2024 by Jennifer Ryan

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I made these gorgeous strawberry cupcakes for my not so little girls 13th Birthday. These were to accompany a strawberry and vanilla layered drip cake we had made for her. She was really keen to have strawberry flavored cupcakes for her special day. We grow our own strawberries in the garden, so we had plenty to hand.

These cupcakes are a lovely summer time treat. They are great for any tea party or birthday celebration you may have. They also taste amazing, served with a chilled glass of campaign, so perfect for weddings too.

Why do you use room temperature butter to make cupcakes?

The first thing to achieving the perfect cupcake is to make sure that your butter is at room temperature. This is very important, as if the butter is too cold it might break the emulsion of the butter and it will cause it to then separate. The butter won’t cream properly with the sugar which then makes a huge impact on the softness and fluffiness of your cupcakes. When the dairy ingredients are at room temperature, the mixture forms an emulsion which helps to trap air. So when your cupcakes are baking in your oven that trapped air expands and produces a perfectly light and fluffy cupcake. If you use butter straight out of the fridge it wont be able to trap and hold that air and your cupcakes will turn out quite flat and dense.

Add in a little strawberry

If you want to make your vanilla cupcakes into strawberry ones, you can also add small cut up chunks of strawberry into the cake batter. Simply add the strawberry chunks in at the end and stir them in gently using a spatula. I tried this on the next batch of cupcakes, I did and they turned out lovely. Just be sure that the strawberries are mixed evenly into the cake batter using your stand mixer on a low speed. I use my trusty Kenwood mixer to make all my baked goodies. It’s my favorite kitchen gadget and I wouldn’t be without it.

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Strawberry and Vanilla Cupcakes

Jennifer Ryan

These beautiful vanilla and strawberry cupcakes taste just like summer. Perfect for any summertime tea party. They also taste amazing, served with a glass of campaign.

5 from 5 votes

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, British

Servings

Calories 591 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

250 g Unsalted butter room temperature
250 g Caster sugar
250 g Self-raising flour
Pinch Salt
4 Medium Eggs
3 tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

For the strawberry frosting

330 g Icing sugar
230 g Unsalted butter
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
2 tablespoons Double cream heavy cream
3 tablespoons Strawberry puree
A couple of drops of pink food coloring this is Optional

Topping

12 Fresh strawberries For decorating

Instructions

For the cupcakes

First thing to do before starting the cupcake mix is to preheat your oven to 190°c.
Then line a muffin tin with paper cupcake cases.
Grab yourself a large mixing bowl or stand mixer and start to cream the butter for a couple of minutes until it’s smooth and creamy.
Then add in the caster sugar and give it another good mix until it’s all creamed together.
Add in the eggs one at a time and beat on a high speed.
Add in the milk and vanilla extract and mix again.
Lastly, add in the flour and a pinch of salt and mix on a medium speed for a minute until the cake mixture is well incorporated.
Divide the cake batter between the cake cases filling each one up ¾ full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes in your preheated oven.
To test if the cupcakes are cooked, simply poke the center of one of the cakes with a skewer, if it comes out clean its done, if there is a little cake batter stuck to it, pop it back into the oven for a couple more minutes.
Once baked leave the cupcakes in the tin for a few minutes to cool before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling properly.

To make the strawberry frosting

First, make your strawberry puree, to do this; simply wash about 8 strawberries and add them into a food processor and blend until smooth.
Get rid of any seeds and unwanted lumps by pouring the puree through a sieve and set to one side.
In a large bowl add your unsalted butter and using a k paddle attachment (not whisk) cream the butter; this will take a few minutes.
While the butter is mixing sift your icing sugar into a separate bowl.
Once the butter is completely smooth, slowly add in half your icing sugar and mix until combined.
Add in your vanilla extract, double cream and strawberry puree and mix.
Then add in the other half a bowl of icing sugar and mix until completely smooth. You may need to scrape the bowl down a couple of times to make sure that all the ingredients are well combined.
If at this point, if you’re not happy with the color, you can add a couple of drops of pink food coloring. I didn’t need to do this as my strawberries were lovely and red and my buttercream was a lovely peachy pink color, so I left mine as it was.

Decorating Your Cupcakes

Before decorating your cupcakes, make sure they have cooled completely.
Add your buttercream icing or frosting into a piping bag.
Carefully decorate your cupcake and add a strawberry to each cupcake. Serve and enjoy.

Notes

Tips and Tricks

To make this recipe I would suggest using a stand mixer as it takes quite a few minutes to cream the butter.

Make sure your cakes are fully cooled before icing them, as the butter will start to melt if the cake is still warm.

Make sure the butter is at room temperature when you make the buttercream frosting as if it is too cold, it might break the emulsion of the butter and it will cause it to then separate, and we don’t want that to happen.

Using the correct equipment will make baking and decorating these and future cakes so much easier. If you go to the shop part of this site, you’ll see all the equipment that I use in my kitchen.

Nutrition

Calories: 591kcalCarbohydrates: 65gProtein: 5gFat: 35gSaturated Fat: 22gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 144mgSodium: 29mgPotassium: 85mgFiber: 1gSugar: 49gVitamin A: 1124IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 30mgIron: 1mg

Keyword classic cupcakes, cupcake, strawberry, strawberry buttercream, strawberry frosting, summer desserts, vanilla cake

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