Moist Strawberry Cupcakes with Fresh Strawberry Frosting

These moist Strawberry Cupcakes are ideal for any celebration, offering bright strawberry flavor and a tender crumb.

If you want a light, fluffy, and delicious strawberry cupcake made from scratch, this recipe delivers.

Key Ingredients

Below are the featured ingredients that give these cupcakes their flavor and texture. The full, printable recipe and ingredient list appear later in this post.

• Strawberry Puree – Fresh or thawed frozen strawberries work well. No cooking required; simply puree in a blender or food processor.
• Strawberry Extract or Powdered Strawberry Jello – Use 2 teaspoons of extract or 2 tablespoons of powdered strawberry gelatin for a stronger strawberry profile.
• Cake Flour – Lower protein than all-purpose flour, cake flour yields a softer, more tender crumb.
• Unsalted Butter – Use softened unsalted butter so you can control the salt level. The butter should dent easily when pressed.
• Sour Cream – Adds moisture and richness without thinning the batter.

How to Make Strawberry Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cupcake pan with liners.
• In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients: sour cream, strawberry puree, strawberry extract (or powdered jello), and vegetable oil. Stir and set aside.
• In the mixer bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Gradually add sugar and beat on medium speed for 3–5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add pink gel coloring if desired.
• Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each until incorporated.
• On low speed, add the flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (three additions of dry, two of wet).
• Mix the batter just until combined; do not overmix.

• Scoop the batter into prepared liners, about 1/4 cup of batter per cupcake.
• Bake at 350°F for 16–18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Remove from the oven, then cool on a wire rack.

Decorating the Cupcakes

Once the cupcakes are completely cool, frost and decorate. We used a classic vanilla buttercream made from butter, confectioners’ sugar, a pinch of salt, vanilla extract, and milk or cream.

Pipe a thin spiral of frosting from the center outward using a star tip (we used tip 21) to cover the top. For accents, pipe small pink daisies (round tip 3 for petals and leaves) or ribbon roses with a petal tip (104).

For ribbon roses, pipe each rose onto a small square of wax paper using a rose nail, freeze for 10–15 minutes to firm, then transfer to the cupcakes.

Recipe FAQs

More Strawberry Cakes

If you enjoy this recipe, explore additional cupcake and cake recipes for more inspiration. We’ve developed a variety of strawberry desserts over the years, including strawberry pound cake, strawberry shortcake with pound cake, and a homemade strawberry layer cake.

Thanks for reading! If you’d like to learn more decorating techniques or explore additional cake recipes, there are many tutorials and recipes available to help you expand your baking skills.

Strawberry Cupcakes

These moist strawberry cupcakes from scratch are flavorful and perfect for special occasions.

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 17 mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 24

Ingredients

For the Strawberry Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (170g)
• 2 cups white sugar (400g)
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 3 cups cake flour (342g)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (8g)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (3g)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (3g)
• 1 cup full-fat sour cream (227g)
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons strawberry puree (161g)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (68g)
• 2 teaspoons strawberry extract (or 2 tbsp powdered strawberry jello)
• *Pink coloring gel (optional)

For the Vanilla Buttercream

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (226g)
• 5–6 cups confectioners’ sugar (adjust to taste)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup milk or cream (adjust for consistency)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

For the Strawberry Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line cupcake pans with liners.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Combine sour cream, strawberry puree, strawberry extract, and oil in a separate bowl; set aside.
4. Beat butter until smooth. Gradually add sugar and beat 3–5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add coloring if desired.
5. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each.
6. On low speed, add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
7. Mix until just combined. Scoop about 1/4 cup of batter into each cupcake liner.
8. Bake at 350°F for 16–18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Vanilla Buttercream

1. Cream the softened butter until smooth; blend in vanilla.
2. Add half the powdered sugar and most of the milk; beat to combine.
3. Add remaining sugar and milk; beat 3–4 minutes, scraping the bowl. Then mix on very low speed 1–2 minutes to remove air pockets for a smooth texture.

Notes

Substitution for cake flour: For each cup of cake flour, measure 1 cup all-purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons, and replace with 2 tablespoons cornstarch. For this recipe (3 cups cake flour), remove 6 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and replace with 6 tablespoons cornstarch, then whisk to combine.

This recipe makes about 7 cups of batter—approximately 28 cupcakes.

Fresh or frozen strawberries may be used for the puree.