Strawberry Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting

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Hi Bold Bakers!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: My bakery-style Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are as delicious as they are beautiful! Real strawberry purée gives these adorable treats their fresh flavor and pink color. 

• Real strawberries: Luscious berries in both the cupcake batter and frosting mean these treats are bursting with natural flavor.
• Tender cake, dreamy frosting! You’ll adore the soft crumb, and the cream cheese frosting is rich, tangy, and perfectly balanced.
• Budget-friendly: While bakery cupcakes can cost several dollars each, making these at home comes out to about a dollar per cupcake—without sacrificing flavor or quality.
• No-fuss decoration: Their lovely pink color makes them naturally celebration-ready—garnish with sprinkles if you want some extra flair.
• Perfect for spring: These rosy cupcakes capture the flavor and charm of peak strawberry season.

Even though I’m a professional chef and I’m baking all the time, I still get tempted by an adorable cupcake in a bakery window. Sometimes they’re absolutely great, but other times they look better than they taste, with an artificial, overly sweet flavor. I set out to change that with this recipe. Now you can have a pretty pink cupcake and one that tastes delicious!

My top tip: don’t skip reducing the strawberry puree for the frosting. Simmering it concentrates the flavor and removes excess moisture, giving you a thick, easy-to-work-with frosting with deep strawberry flavor. You’ll love the fresh flavor strawberry puree gives to my other recipes like Neapolitan Cake, Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream, and No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake.

Bold Bakers Loved This!

“The cupcakes were a BIG hit at the birthday party! The frosting is so delicious!”—Libby

“I just want to tell you these fresh strawberry cupcakes are the best. They have a lovely texture and pure strawberry flavor. I even made my own cream cheese and powdered frosting for these with your recipes!—Mné

“These are amazingly soft, tender strawberry cupcakes! Lovely!”—Sunny 

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was imporoved and updated on 5/24/2026, to include explanations and substitutes of key ingredients, make-ahead and storage insructions, answers to the most frequently asked questions, and Pro Chef Tips. 

Table of Contents

• Tools You Need
• Key Ingredients and Substitutes
• How to Make Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
• Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
• FAQs
• More Cupcake Recipes

Tools You Need

• Mixing bowls
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring cup 
• Glass measuring jug
• Kitchen scale (optional)
• 12-cup cupcake pan
• Paper cupcake liners
• Whisk
• Spoon
• Blender or food processor
• Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
• Small saucepan
• Piping bag and tips (optional)

Key Ingredients and Substitutes

For the Strawberry Puree

Fresh strawberries

• Using fresh strawberries contributes sweet-tart real strawberry flavor.
• Pureeing the strawberries first makes it easy to blend them into the batter and the frosting.
• Substitute: You can use the same amount of frozen strawberries, but thaw and drain them first so they’re not too watery.

For the Strawberry Cake

Strawberry purée

• Strawberry purée gives the cupcakes natural flavor and color.
• Additionally, the purée contributes moisture.

Cake flour

• Cake flour, with a lower protein content than all-purpose flour, develops less gluten and creates a tender strawberry cream cheese cupcake.
• Substitute: If you don’t have cake flour, no worries. You can quickly make your own cake flour with my recipe.

Baking powder

• Baking powder helps the cupcakes rise.
• Baking powder is “double acting,” meaning it creates carbon bubbles when mixed with liquid, and then again when heated in the oven.

Baking soda

• Baking soda gives the strawberry cupcakes additional lift by reacting with the acid in the buttermilk.

Salt

• Salt keeps the cupcakes from tasting flat.

Sour cream 

• Sour cream coats the flour proteins, which inhibits gluten development and contributes to a soft texture.
• Importantly, sour cream also adds moisture and richness.
• Additionally, sour cream helps counteract the moisture from the berries, keeping them from being soggy.

Butter

• Butter contributes moisture and richness.
• Additionally, butter adds luxurious flavor.
• You can use salted butter or unsalted butter.
• Substitute: You can use solid coconut oil instead of butter.
  • Since coconut oil is 100% fat, while butter contains water, use less solid coconut oil (1 1/2 tablespoons).

Vegetable oil

• Using vegetable oil creates a moister texture than using only butter.
• Importantly, vegetable oil retains the most moisture and keeps the cupcakes from drying out quickly.

Granulated Sugar

• Granulated sugar sweetens the cupcakes.
• Additionally, sugar helps keep the cupcakes moist.
• Substitute: Use an equal amount of light brown sugar.

Eggs

• Eggs emulsify the liquid and fat ingredients, creating a smooth, cohesive mixture.
• Substitute: Instead of 2 eggs, you can use 1/2 cup (4.25 oz/120 g) of full-fat plain yogurt or Greek yogurt.
  • For more ideas, check out my 12 Best Egg Substitutes for Baking Recipes guide.

Egg yolk

• Using an additional egg yolk in this strawberry cupcakes recipe gives the cupcakes a velvety mouthfeel.
• Substitute: In place of an egg yolk, you can use an additional 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

Vanilla extract

• Vanilla is the primary flavor of these homemade strawberry cupcakes, and the creamy, warmly sweet flavor complements the berry filling and tangy frosting perfectly.
• Substitute: Instead of pure vanilla extract, you can use an equal amount of Vanilla Bean Paste.

Gel food coloring (optional)

• If you want to boost the pink color in these strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing, add 1 or 2 drops of red gel food coloring.

For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese

• Cream cheese gives the frosting a thick, rich texture.
• Importantly, cream cheese adds a lovely, tangy flavor.
• Be sure to use full-fat brick-style cream cheese (not tub-style cream cheese, which is too soft)
• Before starting the cream cheese, make sure it’s at room temperature. This will make mixing easy and will give you a lump-free frosting.

Butter

• Butter gives the strawberry cupcake frosting silky smoothness.
• Additionally, butter adds rich flavor.
• You can use either salted or unsalted butter.
• Make sure your butter is at room temperature before you start so that it will whip up light and fluffy.
• To see if butter is at the right temperature, push into it with a finger. If your finger makes an indent, but doesn’t easily squish right through.

Powdered sugar

• Powdered sugar sweetens the frosting.
• Importantly, powdered sugar makes the cream cheese frosting thick enough to spread.

Reduced strawberry puree

• Reduced strawberry puree gives the frosting a deep berry flavor without watering it down.
• Additionally, the puree adds beautiful color.

Strawberry extract (optional)

• Use 1 teaspoon of strawberry extract if you want to boost flavor.

Red gel food coloring (optional)

• 1 drop of optional red gel food coloring gives a richer pink color.

Sprinkles (optional)

• Sprinkles give the final happy, colorful finishing touch.
• Substitutes: you can also use sliced or chopped strawberries, white chocolate curls, mini white chocolate chips, mint leaves, or edible flowers.

How to Make Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

For the Strawberry Puree

1. Blend the strawberries. To make the strawberry puree, in a blender or food processor, puree the strawberries until smooth. Use as-is or pass through a sieve to remove the seeds.

For the Strawberry Cupcakes

2. Prepare to bake. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a 12-cup muffin tin.
3. Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
4. Mix puree with sour cream. In a measuring jug, add the strawberry puree and sour cream and whisk until combined. Set aside.
5. Cream butter, sugar, and oil. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using an electric hand mixer), mix the butter, sugar, and oil on medium speed for 1 minute.
6. Add remaining wet ingredients. Add egg and yolks one at a time and mix for another minute. Then add the vanilla and food coloring and mix until incorporated.
7. Finish the batter. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the puree mixture. Mix until combined.
8. Add to pan. Divide batter evenly among the 12 cupcake liners.
9. Bake cupcakes. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
10. Cool. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool completely before frosting.

For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

11. Reduce puree and cool. In a small saucepan over low heat, add the strawberry puree and let it simmer, stirring constantly, for 3-5 minutes or until reduced by half. Let it cool completely before proceeding.
12. Cream the butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer) cream the butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
13. Add puree. Add in the cooled strawberry puree and strawberry extract (optional) and mix until incorporated. (If a deeper pink color is desired, add a drop of food coloring.

To Frost the Strawberry Cupcakes

14. Frost and decorate the cupcakes. Pipe or spread the frosting onto the cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles.

FULL (PRINTABLE) RECIPE BELOW!

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips

• Cook carefully. When cooking the strawberries, be sure to stir frequently and keep the heat low so the berries don’t burn.
• Have your cupcake ingredients at room temperature. This will make the smoothest batter and produce the best rise!
• Make your own Homemade Cake Flour.  It’s easy with my 2-ingredient recipe.
• DIY! You can easily make Sour Cream and Cream Cheese for a true homemade experience.
• Soften correctly. The butter and cream cheese need to be softened to make the best frosting, but still be cool to the touch.
• Intensify the frosting flavor. You can pulse a cup or two of freeze-dried strawberries and mix into the frosting to add even more strawberry goodness.

Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions

Make-ahead tips

• These strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting can be baked, cooled, and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days.
• For longer storage, unfrosted cupcakes can be baked, cooled, wrapped well, placed in a freezer bag, and frozen for up to a month.
• Defrost on your counter at room temperature for two hours.

How to store leftovers

• Store frosted leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two days.
• Bring to room temperature before serving.

FAQs

Can I make these strawberry cream cheese cupcakes gluten-free?

• Yes, you can make these vanilla strawberry shortcake cupcakes gluten-free.
• Replace the regular cake flour with 75% gluten-free baking mix and 25% cornstarch.
• In this recipe, use 1 cup and 1.2 tablespoons (5.25 oz/150 g) of a gluten-free baking mix like my Easy Almond Flour Baking Mix, plus 5 1/2 tablespoons (1.75 oz/50 g) of cornstarch.

Can I make these strawberry cupcakes without eggs?

• Yes, it’s possible to make these cupcakes strawberry recipe without eggs.
• In place of the two eggs, you can use 1/2 cup (4.25 oz/120 g) of full-fat plain yogurt or Greek yogurt.
• In place of the additional egg yolk, you can use an additional 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
• For other substitute suggestions, check out my guide, 12 Best Egg Substitutes for Baking Recipes.

What’s the easiest way to fill the cupcake liner?

• Pour the batter from a jug with a spout.
• Alternatively, pipe the batter using a piping bag or a resealable plastic bag with a corner cut off.
• You can also use a funnel to direct the batter into the liners.

What other frostings could you use for these strawberry cupcakes?

Some other delicious options include:

• Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
• Strawberry Buttercream
• Swiss Buttercream Frosting
• Funfetti Frosting
• Lemon Frosting

More Cupcake Recipes

• Lemon Cupcakes
• Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting
• Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes
• Red Velvet Cupcakes
• Carrot Cake Cupcakes

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was imporoved and updated on 5/24/2026, to include explanations and substitutes of key ingredients, make-ahead and storage insructions, answers to the most frequently asked questions, and Pro Chef Tips. 

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