These delightful Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes are ALSO absolutely delicious! They consist of a soft vanilla cake, a creamy strawberry filling, and a light and fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting. As you were growing up, did your Mom ever buy Neapolitan ice cream? My Mom did and I was always a bit disappointed to see it in our freezer. For me, having three different flavors of ice cream in the same carton does not really qualify as a unique flavor. Typically, the chocolate would be gone first, followed by the vanilla, and finally the strawberry.
These strawberries and cream cupcakes deserved a post of their own because it turns out they are NOT the weakest player on the team.
While I never really understood the whole chocolate, vanilla, strawberry thing back then, I do now. These cupcakes make me think of that sad stripe of strawberry in the ice cream carton. It was always picked last as if it was the weakest player on the team.
When I am working on a recipe I show up at my friends’ houses with boxes of treats for them to try and provide feedback. One of these days they are going to see me coming and not answer their door. Both flavors were appreciated but the winner was the strawberries and cream cupcakes for sure. I totally agree. The neapolitan cupcakes are great and these are even better. You guys, I suggest you make one batch of cupcakes and one half of each frosting so you can also make both and do your own taste test.
And just in case you didn’t check out my post for the Neapolitan Cupcakes I say again this baking hack you have to try!
There are some very clever people out there and I am grateful for all of them. I really wish I had thought of this myself or at least stumbled on it sooner but we are going to go forward with a better late than never attitude here. The next time you bake cupcakes try this…
Try this too!!
When researching recipes this time, I found a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen where we do NOT focus on creaming the butter and sugar like we do in almost every other cake recipe I have ever baked. I thought to myslf NO WAY but it’s “America’s Test Kitchen” so it must work? It totally does. I am not saying that we never need to cream our butter and sugar again but this time around we are going to enjoy just how easy this cake batter comes together!
Ok, let’s do this thing….
Step by step directions for Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes.
Strawberry Cream Filling
Vanilla Butter Cream
Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes
Cupcake Ingredients and Directions
- 1 1/2 cups (180g) cake flour
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 large egg plus 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or extract)
Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare your cupcake pan by filling each well with uncooked rice and then a paper liner. Combine cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Next, add butter, sour cream, egg, egg yolks, vanilla and mix until well combined. Using a large ice cream scoop fill your cupcake liners and bake 22-24 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean in the center. Cool cupcakes on a rack, remove the “core” with an apple corer.
Strawberry Cream Ingredients and Directions
- 4oz white chocolate wafers
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup dried strawberries
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon strawberry extract
Bring cream to a boil in a saucepan on the stove. Pour over the white chocolate and cover with foil for 5 minutes (chocolate will melt). Stir white chocolate until it is smooth. Using a small food processor or a rolling pin, pulverize the dried strawberries and powdered sugar together. Add strawberry sugar and strawberry extract to melted chocolate. Combine well and chill for an hour. Then using a hand mixer beat strawberry cream until light and fluffy. Fill a sandwich baggie with the cream, cut off a corner and fill the cored cupcakes.
Vanilla Buttercream Ingredients and Directions
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 tablespoons of whole milk
- 1 egg white
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
Beat butter and shortening together until fluffy. Add milk, egg white, vanilla, salt and two cups of confectioners sugar. Combine until well mixed. Add remaining sugar and beat on high for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Frost your cupcakes and enjoy!
