This recipe was inspired my two things: 1. The abundance of strawberries AND strawberry recipes right now and 2. my brand spankin’ new cupcake carrier! That’s right, I FINALLY am the proud owner of a collapsible cupcake carrier (yes, I had to improvise for quite awhile to transport them!) all thanks to my boss. A couple of weeks ago it was Administrative Assistant’s Day and my boss was out of town so obviously I knew I wouldn’t get anything and it wasn’t a big deal to me. But he got back the Friday of that week and when I came back from lunch, this beauty was sitting on my desk. Ain’t she purty? And can I just say this thing ROCKS?? It’s both a cake and a cupcake carrier. I was a little skeptical it would work, but it totally does and I highly recommend getting one if you don’t have one yet!
As for the recipe, do you know how hard it is to find a strawberry cake recipe that doesn’t call for strawberry Jello and a white cake mix? It’s dang near impossible! But a couple of years ago and did manage to find one and for the life of me I can’t remember the website I got the recipe from but all I know is it’s titled Katie’s Strawberry Cake, so whoever Katie is, thank you!! I was so happy when I found the recipe that I made it three times within two weeks…yes, it’s that good.
The method of this cake is a little different because you beat the butter into the dry ingredients and then add the liquid but have no doubt, it totally works. I absolutely loved these cupcakes…there were small pieces of fresh strawberry in every other bite and the chocolate cream cheese frosting was to-die-for. The only thing I’d do different is maybe just leave the chocolate out of the frosting next time and do a plain, vanilla cream cheese frosting, as the strawberry cake is such a delicate flavor it almost overpowers it. But it’s still delicious.
If you are looking for a true “from scratch” strawberry cake, look no further! This one definitely fits the bill.
- 1 c. Strawberry Puree, room temperature (see below for recipe)
- ¼ c. Whole Milk, room temperature
- 6 Large Egg Whites, room temperature
- 1 T. Pure Vanilla Extract
- 2¼ c. Cake Flour
- 1¾ c. Granulated Sugar
- 4 t. Baking Powder
- 1 t. Salt
- 12 T. (1½ sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened and cut into 1" chunks
- 2 c. Sliced Strawberries
- 2 T. Granulated Sugar
- 1 Stick Unsalted Butter, softened
- 1, 8 oz. Cream Cheese, cold
- ¼ c. Crisco
- ¼ t. Salt
- 3 T. Pure Vanilla Extract
- 5 c. Powdered Sugar
- 4 oz. Unsweetened Chocolate, melted
- Place strawberries and sugar in food processor or blender and puree.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with 24 cupcake liners.
- In a small bowl, combine the strawberry puree, milk, egg, vanilla and whisk well. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk thoroughly. Beat the butter into the dry ingredients on low speed and mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.
- Add liquids to the butter/flour mixture and beat a medium speed for about one minutes or until evenly combined. Stop mixer, scrape down sides of bowl and beat for 30 more seconds. Place three tablespoons of batter into each muffin tin.
- Bake cupcakes for 18-20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for a few minutes and then remove from pans and let cool completely.
- Cream the butter, shortening, cream cheese, salt and extracts on medium speed until combined. Beat in the powdered sugar and then the melted chocolate and beat until combined (do NOT overbeat or the cream cheese will break down). Frost cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting.
