Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

4.50 from 14 votes

Easy vanilla cupcakes topped with strawberry cream cheese frosting are the perfect sweet treat for any occasion.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Candied Strawberry Slices Time2

Total Time2 30

Course: Cupcake recipes

Cuisine: American

Servings: cupcakes

Calories: 426kcal

Author: Cheryl Bennett

8 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature / 113g
8 ounces cream cheese room temperature / 226g
2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons ground freeze-dried strawberries 20g / *packed tablespoons / See note!
2 cups powdered sugar 240g
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 225°F.
In a small pot, combine sugar and water. Heat over medium, stirring frequently, until sugar has completely dissolved. (You just made a simple syrup)
Dip strawberry slices into simple syrup, let excess drip off, then place them on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat (Silpat) or parchment paper. *See note.
Bake for 2 hours. Remove, set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 325°F / 160°C.
Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar together for 5 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla, and beat just to combine.
Add 1/3 of the flour, half of the milk, beat on low to combine, followed by another third of the flour, the remaining milk and ending with flour.
Scrape bowl, making sure to get the bottom. Fold cupcake batter a few times to make sure everything is fully incorporated.
Line a cupcake pan with cupcake papers and fill 2/3 full. Bake for 20 - 24 minutes, or when tester comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
Remove from oven and let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

In a food processor (or spice grinder), grind freeze-dried strawberries until they are a fine powder. It's ok if there are a few pieces as long as they are not bigger than a small pea. Set aside.
Beat butter and cream cheese together. Add lemon juice, strawberry powder, powdered sugar and salt. Beat until fluffy (about 5 minutes)
Pipe frosting on cupcakes, or use a small knife or off-set spatula to frost. Garnish with candied strawberry slices, if desired.

Roughly 3/4 cup of freeze-dried strawberries will yield what you need for the frosting.
You can make strawberry slices a day ahead. I have made them on a silpat and on parchment. A few stuck on the parchment and had to be carefully peeled off, but it wasn't catastrophic. That being said, they didn't stick at all on the silpat.
Make sure the strawberries for the frosting are FREEZE DRIED. Not "dried" fruit, like raisins or dried cranberries. This will not work.
Save the simple syrup for iced tea, lemonade, cocktails, etc.