These strawberry cupcakes are based off the Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes recipe and with fresh strawberries in both the cake and the frosting, they’re packed with fruity flavor!
(This recipe for Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes was originally published in August 2010, but was updated with new photos in 2019).
I can’t remember the last time I was this tired. Like, if I hold a blink too long, I’ll instantly be out for the rest of the night. Every time I see a bed on a television show or commercial, I think “Awww doesn’t that look nice?” I just saw 3 different people on Twitter say something about hitting the sack, and I got insanely jealous. I’ll probably wake up tomorrow and think, “Oh no! I forgot to write a blog post!” And then I’ll run to my computer to check it out, only to see a whole post on cupcakes. It’s that kind of tired.
In case you haven’t noticed, cupcakes are my go-to, my support, my best friend and confidante. OK, that’s getting weird. But really.
I actually made these cupcakes for Chels’s birthday last week. She’s not super into chocolate and I wanted something more fun than vanilla. But Chels loves all things strawberry, so, when I spotted a recipe for strawberry cupcakes, I knew they would be perfect. And so pretty, too!
SPRINKLES STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES RECIPE
Allegedly, this recipe is the same as the one from Sprinkles. I’ve never actually had the pleasure of tasting Sprinkles strawberry cupcakes, but if someone wants to send me some, I’ll let you know. Until then, I’m trusting Martha Stewart’s opinion that they are, in fact, Sprinkles’ strawberry cupcakes. Because what Martha says goes. All I know is that I wanted a delicious strawberry cupcake recipe and these Sprinkles strawberry cupcakes ended up being winners!
My favorite thing about this Sprinkles strawberry cupcakes recipe is that it uses fresh strawberries! You could use frozen strawberries, too, but my point is, it doesn’t use strawberry flavoring… The flavor is really from the fruit! You’ll start by blending your strawberries into a puree. You’ll have enough here to use for both the cupcakes and the frosting and maybe a little bit leftover, too (to drink??).
Then, mix your dry ingredients together in a bowl. And in a smaller bowl, mix that strawberry puree with milk and vanilla.
Cream the butter in a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, gradually add the sugar and beat until it’s nice and fluffy. Slow the mixer to a medium speed and add in the egg and egg whites… Adding egg whites to your cupcakes makes them nice and extra fluffy! Alternate adding the flour mixture and the strawberry/milk mixture and blending until just combined. Be very careful not to over-mix as the cupcakes will be too dense if you do!
I wanted to go natural with these cupcakes, but ended up adding a couple drops of red food coloring to my batter because I wanted the cupcakes to be nice and red.
Divide the batter into cupcake papers in a tin and bake for 22-24 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
While the cupcakes were baking/cooling, you should make the strawberry frosting! It’s easy… Just beat the butter and salt in a stand mixer (or a large bowl with a hand mixer) on medium speed until light and fluffy. Then reduce the speed and add confectioners’ sugar and beat until well combined. The original recipe recommends using cold butter, but I didn’t find much of a difference in how the frosting turned out and cold butter is so much more difficult to work with.
Add vanilla and 3 Tbsp strawberry puree. If you feel like adding a 4th Tbsp, go for it! Martha claims the frosting should dense and creamy, like ice cream. I can totally see that.
Most recipes for strawberry frosting will have you either reducing the strawberry puree into more of a syrup, using an extract, or using freeze-dried strawberries. Doing any of those things will leave you with a stiffer more buttery buttercream. But they either take a lot of time (making and cooling the reduced puree), are artificial (using the extract), or require you to use ingredients you may not have on hand (using freeze-fried strawberries). Making the frosting with the simple strawberry puree is definitely the easiest way to do it; your frosting will just be a little runnier than the typical stiff buttercream.
It’s very important that you wait until the strawberry cupcakes are completely cool before frosting them with the strawberry frosting. I used a Wilton 1A pastry tip to easily pipe my frosting on. It’s my new favorite way to frost cupcakes… SO easy and it always looks nice. Of course, if you want to add sprinkles onto the cupcakes, too, go for it! Sprinkles strawberry cupcakes kind of deserve actual sprinkles, right??
And then it’s time to indulge. These cupcakes are incredibly moist and full of real strawberry flavor, in both the cake and the frosting. Plus, they’re pretty little guys, too. I know I added in some food coloring, but I absolutely love the color these cupcakes ended up being.
Now I’m just sad these are no longer sitting in my fridge. Especially since tomorrow is Friday and, well, Friday calls for cupcakes. Oh and yes, I do recommend keeping these cupcakes in a cool spot, mostly due to that frosting. I mean, that is, if you don’t eat them all in one sitting immediately after frosting them. And I can’t say I’d blame you if you did!
At least I now have a glorious weekend ahead of me with plenty of time to make some new cupcakes if I so desire. Seriously though, I haven’t looked forward to a weekend this much in a long, long time. This crazy week of work hasn’t allowed me enough time to do things like sleep. So, this weekend will be sleep, pool, relax, sun, cupcakes. You know the drill. And since tomorrow’s Friday night, that obviously calls for some red wine and Dateline (which, by the way, y’all made me feel so much better about my Friday night routine by saying you do basically the same thing).
And with that, I fall into bed and hope to have sweet dreams of cupcakes. Sprinkles strawberry cupcakes if I’m lucky. But waking up to Friday will certainly be sweet enough.
If you had to pick one, would you choose SLEEP or CUPCAKES?
If you’re looking for more fruity cupcakes, check out my recipes for Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry Cupcakes and Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes. I also love this recipe for Blood Orange Chardonnay Cupcakes from Tara’s Multicultural Table!
Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries (if frozen, make sure to thaw)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted buter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2-4 drops red food coloring, optional
- 1 batch strawberry frosting (recipe below)
Strawberry Frosting
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted buter, room temperature
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 4-5 Tbsp strawberry puree (from cupcake recipe)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cavity cupcake tin with cupcake papers.
- Place strawberries in a food processor or blender and process until pureed.
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and 1/3 C of the strawberry puree.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream butter on medium-high speed until it's light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well-combined and fluffy. Add the egg and egg whites one by one, mixing on medium speed after each addition.
- With the mixture on low, add half the flour mixture and mix until just blended. Add milk/strawberry mixture and mix until just blended. Continue with the rest of the flour, mixing until just combined, taking care not to over-mix. If you want your cupcakes to be a bit more red, add food coloring here, too.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake tin.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
- Once completely cooled, frost cupcakes with strawberry frosting. I used a Wilton 1A tip to frost mine.
Strawberry Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Reduce mixer speed and add confectioners’ sugar one cup at a time, and beat until well combined.
- Add vanilla and 4 Tbsp strawberry puree, taking care not to over-mix. Depending on consistency of frosting, you may want to add another Tbsp of strawberry puree.
- Keep frosting refrigerated until ready to use.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart and Sprinkles Bakery
These are so beautiful! I love strawberry flavored anything. I hope you got lots and lots of sleep. And that you stop somewhere and pickup a cupcake tomorrow :).
those cupcakes look great! I hope you get some good rest soon! 🙂
ooh, ginger vodka? interesting. i just started watching glee this summer, too 🙂 i don’t know why i waited so long either!
A few friends and I just discovered Rain Organics Vodka! They come in a lot of different fun flavors (like cucumber, orange etc) and we have been having a Rain Organics flavor night to try out all the different ones! Oh and we watch old but still awesome disney movies too. This weekend its Lion King 2 🙂
The cupcakes took delicious! Will have to try them out soon!!
I hope you get all the sleep you need this weekend! I’m running on low this week too and stressing out about leaving for Maine tomorrow so I’m hoping that some red wine will knock me out tonight. BTW, the ginger vodka looks really interesting and those strawberry cupcakes are adorable!
Eek, get some rest, girlie!! Maybe there are ginger vodka cupcakes in your future 😉
Sues, I second Elina’s motion for ginger vodka cupcakes. I will home around 5:30 (just saying) 🙂
these look so delish and pretty in pink! my husband thinks cupcakes are super girly though… (seriously- he says men don’t eat cupcakes. ummmm we had cupcakes at our wedding & he ate them there!!!) guess i’ll have to make them for the girls! yum 🙂
I love how pretty your cupcake batter is with the pink touch from the strawberries, yum!
It depends on the weather, but with the cooler nights I like a glass of Syrah on a Friday. . . or any night! I have never heard of ginger vodka, but being a lover of all things ginger must try it!
Beautiful pink cupcakes, they look delightful!
Strawberry cupcakes sound so good right now. I’ve never actually had one (the horror!) because I always end up picking chocolate or vanilla or carrot or red velvet (okay, I have to stop now before I start drooling) but I did have an awesome strawberry cake at… my bf’s birthday. hehe. Apparently he loved it when he was a kid, so his aunt made him some. I might just make him some of these strawberry cupcakes soon, thanks for the recipe. Hope you get your much needed rest this weekend!
The cupcakes look amazing! Bookmarked, I think I’ll make these for my daughter’s b-day. I hope you can get a good night of sleep soon.
The cupcakes look so pretty, nice job Sues!
How pretty in pink those cupcakes are 🙂 Whatever gets you through the day, right? Baking is one of the most relaxing things I can do for myself.
I hope you catch up on sleep this weekend!!
I feel the same way about cupcakes! Never tried strawberry ones tho, will be saving this recipe for later!
What fun these would be for a birthday party or shower. I love that the recipe makes only 12 cakes. That makes it easier for those of us who have small families. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings…Mary
I have never had strawberry cupcakes and I was in the mood for making cupcakes tonight to take to a wine tasting/making tomorrow with the girls.. I think I will make these. Thanks for the awesome recipe Sues! Now get some rest 🙂
YUM!
There is a bakery here in DC that makes strawberry cupcakes with strawberries sliced right into the batter! SO good!
I’ve been into Firefly sweet tea vodka with lemonade lately!
Beautiful strawberry cupcakes! I can almost taste that fresh, strawberry flavor. Friday night is usually Margaritas and Mexican food at our favorite restaurant.
Such pretty strawberry cupcakes!
those cupcakes look so very very good!! all that strawberry goodness, and your right cupcakes do cheer you up!
The vodka sounds interesting, I would love to give it a try!
I so want a cupcake right now!! Those are screaming my name…even more so because they are pink 🙂
I love making strawberry cupcakes for baby showers when it’s a girl – your version looks yummy!
Mmmm…these look great! I might need to try and make them while strawberries are still in season!
I’ve been drinking Skyy’s Ginger Vodka mixed with ginger ale lately, and WOW is it ever delicious. It’s also good with ginger beer, if you prefer less sweetness….
And I also enjoy the idea of a ginger vodka cupcake recipe, especially after those margarita cupcakes you did a while back!