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    Home » Recipes » Cupcakes

    Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

    Published: May 12, 2014 · Modified: Jun 1, 2024 by Stephanie @ Pretty.Simple.Sweet. · This post may contain affiliate links · 26 Comments

    Jump to Recipe

    Delicate, moist and tender vanilla cupcakes filled with strawberries and frosted with strawberry whipped cream. The recipe for the cupcakes is easy and basic with a simple strawberry for decoration.

    Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes (2)

    These cupcakes are soft, tender and moist with a refreshing vanilla and strawberry flavor. Then there’s the frosting… delicate, creamy, and too good to be true. If you like this recipe, I also have a strawberry cream layer cake you’d love too!

    Secret Ingredient: Stabilized Whipped Cream

    What’s unique about strawberries and cream cupcakes is that the frosting is actually whipped cream and not the traditional buttery frosting. Since whipped cream is a delicate frosting, sometimes I add instant vanilla pudding mix to stabilize it. There – I’ve shared another one of my secrets with you… 2-4 tablespoons per cup of whipping cream is all you need to make a stable and stiff whipped cream frosting for cakes and cupcakes. You don’t need to make an actual pudding, just use the powder straight from the box.

    While you make the frosting, watch it all the time. The moment you get a thick, stable frosting that holds its shape, stop the mixer. Don’t be tempted to whisk it more, since overbeating will break it down and ruin it. Use heavy whipping cream so the frosting will be as stiff (and delicious) as possible. Whisk the whipping cream until soft peaks form (which means it’s still soft but pretty stable, like the texture of shaving cream), then stop the mixer and add the strawberry puree. Keep whisking until the frosting is stiff.

    Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

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    Ingredients

    For the cupcakes:

    •  All-purpose flour
    •  Baking powder
    •  Salt
    •  Unsalted butter, softened
    •  Granulated sugar
    •  Large eggs, room temperature
    •  Vanilla extract
    •  Whole milk
    •  Diced strawberries

    For the strawberry whipped cream frosting:

    •  Heavy whipping cream
    •  Granulated sugar
    •  Instant vanilla pudding mix
    •  Strawberry puree
    Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes (4)

    How to make Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

    1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake papers. Set aside.
    2. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set it aside.
    3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as necessary. On medium speed, beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients and beat just until combined. Add the milk and beat until combined. Add the other half of the dry ingredients and beat slowly or fold by hand only until combined. Do not overmix – the less you mix, the lighter the cake will be. Fold in diced strawberries.
    4. Divide the batter between 12 cupcake liners, filling them about ¾ full. Bake for 15-20 minutes (or 8-10 minutes if making mini cupcakes) until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack.
    5. To make the frosting:
    6. In a mixer bowl, place the heavy cream, sugar and instant pudding mix. Beat until soft peaks form. Add the strawberry puree and beat just until stiff peaks form. Don’t overbeat. Frost cupcakes immediately after making the frosting. Decorate with more strawberries if desired.

    Storing Instructions

    1. Store cupcakes in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
    2. Unfrosted cupcakes can be kept tightly covered at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
    5 from 2 votes
    Print

    Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

    Delicate, moist and tender vanilla cupcakes filled with strawberries and frosted with strawberry whipped cream.
    Prep Time 18 minutes
    Cook Time 20 minutes
    Frosting Prep Time 7 minutes
    Total Time 45 minutes
    YIELD 12 cupcakes or 30 mini cupcakes
    Author Stephanie @ Pretty.Simple.Sweet.

    Ingredients

    For the cupcakes:

    • 1 ⅓ cups (185 grams / 6.5 oz) all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • ½ cup (1 stick or 113 grams) butter, softened
    • 1 cup (200 grams or 7 oz) granulated sugar
    • 2 large eggs, room temperature
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ½ cup (120 ml) whole milk
    • 1 cup diced strawberries (first dice, then measure)

    For the strawberry whipped cream frosting:

    • 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
    • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
    • 3 tablespoons instant vanilla pudding mix
    • 6 tablespoons strawberry puree* see notes

    Instructions

    Make the cupcakes

    1. Preheat oven to 350℉/180℃. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake papers. Set aside.

    2. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

    3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as necessary.

    4. On medium speed, beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

    5. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients and beat just until combined. Add the milk and beat until combined. Add the other half of the dry ingredients and beat slowly or fold by hand just until combined. Do not overmix. The less you mix, the lighter the cake will be. Fold in diced strawberries.

    6. Divide the batter between 12 cupcake liners, filling them about ¾ full. Bake for 15-20 minutes (or 8-10 minutes if making mini cupcakes) until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack.

    Make the frosting

    1. In a mixer bowl, place the heavy cream, sugar and instant pudding mix. Beat until soft peaks form. Add the strawberry puree and beat just until stiff peaks form. Don’t overbeat. Frost cupcakes immediately after making the frosting. Decorate with more strawberries if desired.

    Recipe Notes

    *To make strawberry puree, put a few strawberries (about 5) in a food processor or blender and process them until they are pureed.

    Storing Instructions

    Store cupcakes in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.

    Unfrosted cupcakes can be kept tightly covered at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

    More Cupcakes

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      Orange Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
    • Cookies and cream cupcake split in half, topped with black cocoa cream cheese frosting and an oreo garnish.
      Cookies and Cream Cupcakes with Oreos
    • Gorgeous blue spirulina cream cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and sanding sugar.
      Blue Spirulina Cupcakes (artificial dye-free)
    • The most delicious Black bottom cupcakes cut in half to reveal the cheesecake centers with mini chocolate chips.
      Black Bottom Cupcakes

    Reader Interactions

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Winnie says

      May 12, 2014 at 4:59 pm

      אמאלהההההההההההה
      קצת (הרבה) מסוכן להיכנס לבלוג שלך. רק לראות את התמונות פה ואני נעשית רעבהההההה
      הקאפקייקס מדהימים ואין כמו קצפת ותותים (קינוח מאד רומנטי לדעתי)

      ואין ספק שקצפת עדיפה על קרם חמאה

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        May 12, 2014 at 8:54 pm

        I agree! Whipped cream is the best! Thank you Winnie! 🙂

        Reply
        • Tessa Thompson says

          April 29, 2019 at 11:16 pm

          Could I replace the vanilla pudding with something else? I don’t buy it because I cannot eat the gelatin in it.

          Reply
    2. dina says

      May 12, 2014 at 8:34 pm

      the frosting looks so creamy and delicious!

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        May 12, 2014 at 8:54 pm

        It is! 🙂

        Reply
    3. Nicole ~ Cooking for Keeps says

      May 12, 2014 at 9:16 pm

      I like you sharing your secrets! I have to give that a try!

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        May 12, 2014 at 9:49 pm

        Thanks Nicole! I love sharing my secrets with you 🙂

        Reply
    4. Anne says

      May 12, 2014 at 10:08 pm

      OMG!! Those look sooo good!!! Once I get my hands on some strawberries, I’ve got to try them.
      In case you were wondering… If you overbeat sweetened cream (in what was supposed to be whipped cream) you get really sweet buttermilk and plain butter. Just thought I’d pass it along…

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        May 13, 2014 at 8:39 am

        You should definitely try them Anne! And thanks for sharing the info with everyone 🙂

        Reply
    5. Cindy @ Pick Fresh Foods says

      May 14, 2014 at 4:05 am

      These look delicious! I love strawberries and cream, so in a cupcake it has got to be amazing! I love whipped frosting over butter cream. I like my sweet to not be super sweet so this sounds perfect for me. Pinning!

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        May 14, 2014 at 8:50 am

        Thanks Cindy! I’m glad you like it 🙂 I also prefer whipped cream over buttercream!

        Reply
    6. Pamela @ Brooklyn Farm Girl says

      May 14, 2014 at 7:41 pm

      I’m in sweetness heaven, this looks perfect for a treat!

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        May 15, 2014 at 7:26 am

        It is heaven! 🙂

        Reply
    7. Michelle says

      June 09, 2014 at 12:28 am

      I used both recipes and while the frosting came out delicious, the cupcakes came out awful. They were flat and pocked and stuck to the liner. The tops were crunchy like the sugar had crystallized. Any idea where I went wrong? I feel like I followed the recipe exactly.

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        June 09, 2014 at 7:08 am

        Hi Michelle! I’m sorry the recipe didn’t work for you. It’s hard for me to know what exactly went wrong, because every little thing in the process can affect the end result. Did you use room temperature butter and eggs? Did you try not to overmix the batter after adding the flour? If the tops of the muffins were crunchy maybe you overbaked them, or maybe the oven temperature wasn’t precise . Do you use thermometer? Or did you wait for at least 30 minutes until the oven was hot enough? This is a basic cake batter recipe, and I’ve used it for years now, and never had any problems with it. It is supposed to look quite flat though – to make it easy to frost on top of it. If you have any more questions, please let me know! I’ll be happy to help 🙂 Hope that next time you try it, it’ll be as yummy as it should be!

        Reply
    8. Maria says

      April 22, 2015 at 10:03 pm

      Just tried out this recipe, and I’ve got to say: Ahhhhh-mazing!

      I was a bit hesitant about putting strawberry chunks in the batter, but wow. It’s amazing-ly good. You ma’am, are a genius of many sorts.

      The frosting didn’t come out so well for me… probably to do with the fact that I didn’t have any instant pudding mix so I tried to substitute with gelatine… it actually came out alright, just not as ‘stiff’ as I was hoping for it. but maybe refrigerating it overnight will help it a bit for tomorrow morning =)

      Honestly though, I can/will/and have eat the cupcakes without the whipped cream frosting because it really is THAT GOOD.

      I did make a small change to the batter recipe: instead of adding only white sugar, I mixed in a taaaad bit of golden brown sugar with the white sugar.
      I also used pure vanilla extract from Mexico (EVERY BAKER SHOULD OWN THIS, its nothing like the vanilla extract you get in the grocery stores here) Not sure how big of the difference it made, but it came out really well so I can’t complain!

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        April 26, 2015 at 10:19 am

        That’s so sweet of you, Maria, thank you so much! 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the cupcakes! My family really loves them, too. About the frosting – whipped cream is a bit tricky to make, and if over whipped it can get gritty or start to separate. Even when adding gelatin or pudding mix, it won’t be as stiff as buttercream. You can read more about whipped cream here. Thanks again 🙂

        Reply
    9. katie says

      June 16, 2015 at 8:30 pm

      Hello, I am making this one day prior to serving them…do I add the topping and refrigerate or can I make, store over night and then add topping the next day?

      Thanks so much!

      katie

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        June 18, 2015 at 5:33 am

        Hi Katie! Since the frosting isn’t a stiff buttercream but rather whipped cream, I recommend making it the same day. You can make the cupcakes without the frosting a day before. Once you frost them, keep them in the fridge, and preferably serve at the same day.

        Reply
        • katie says

          June 18, 2015 at 6:24 am

          Oh thank you so much! Thats a great help. (Its my little girls 1st bday so Im really obsessing over every detail. I dream of cupcakes nightly at the moment!). Thanks again and would love to let you know how it goes.

          Reply
    10. katie says

      June 18, 2015 at 6:30 am

      I realise this might be an impossibility but I was hoping to write (somehow!) ‘ Happy birthday; etc, on the cupcakes. One cupcake per letter. Is there a way you can suggest considering that the cream is not a stiff buttercream? I do have individual candles that spell the words but thought be more impressive if I could get on to the actual cakes! Thanks again!

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        June 18, 2015 at 12:46 pm

        I’m glad to help 🙂 If you want a stiff frosting you can use one of these recipes instead of the whipped cream: vanilla buttercream, Swiss meringue buttercream (and there’s also a cream cheese frosting recipe on the blog). The classic buttercream would be an easy and great choice. You can add strawberry puree until the desired taste. Happy birthday to your sweet little girl!

        Reply
    11. Steffi Seetric says

      June 28, 2016 at 4:13 am

      Hi,
      You are a total genius,amazing blog I have…just a few quick doubts…what happens if they are left in fridge uncovered and can bluebeeries be substituted instead of strawberries?

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        June 28, 2016 at 4:55 am

        Thank you so much for the sweet words 🙂 It’s always better to wrap cakes or place them in an airtight container to keep them fresh. You want to protect it from drying out or absorb smells from the fridge. You can use blueberries in the cake batter for sure. For the frosting, I suggest to start with a few tablespoons of puree, and add more, until desired taste and texture. It should have a mellow berry flavor.

        Reply
    12. Katlyn says

      April 19, 2018 at 8:12 pm

      I love these just made them and haven’t frosted and taste amazing! I wanted to know I’m having them for my sons 1st bday which is tomorrow and we are going to a park! Can I whip up the frosting tonight and take it in the frosting bag to the place then frost? Also can I make the frosting tonight and put in fridge if not on cupcakes?

      Reply
      • Shiran says

        April 20, 2018 at 2:57 am

        Hi Katlyn, it’s better to keep the cupcakes in the fridge because of the whipped cream frosting. Whipped cream is different than buttercream and is softer, but if it’s not too hot outside, the cupcakes should hold fine at room temperature. You need to frost them right away after making the whipped cream and keep them in the fridge. You can also make buttercream or cream cheese frosting instead, and add some strawberry puree. Happy birthday!

        Reply

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