Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Vanilla Buttercream

Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes
with Strawberry Buttercream

This recipe was inspired by the white wedding cake cupcakes on Recipe Girl's blog.  While grocery shopping, I saw how beautiful the strawberries looked (they are in season right now) and immediately started thinking about what kind of cupcake I could make with those.  So, I used the wedding cake recipe I found on Pinterest which is delicious by itself, and just cranked it up a notch.  I also make a couple healthier swaps in the recipe without making it taste nasty.



I will hold your hand through this process using the photos below, then you can print out the recipe card with ingredient amounts.  This recipe makes about 36 cupcakes and took about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish (including cleaning up as I went because the only thing better than enjoying a freshly baked cupcake is savoring it in your sparkling clean kitchen).  Some tools or techniques will be explained in more detail on our glossary page.  When you see a link on this page, just click it for more information or where to purchase it.

Step 1:
Preheat oven to 325 and line muffin tins.

Step 2:
Measure out flour and sugar by weight. Click here to learn about why this method is better than using measuring cups.

Step 3:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (mine is a cool new paddle with silicone scrapers on the sides that scrape the bowl with every turn so you don't have to stop.  Mine is for a lift mixer, so if you use the link above, you may need the tilt head mixer version available on the same page), add cake mix, flour, sugar and salt.  Mix for about 10 seconds on low speed to combine the ingredients and aerate the flour to make it easier for the wet ingredients to blend with it.

Step 4:
Add water, Greek yogurt, egg whites, oil, vanilla and almond extract.  Mix on low speed for 10 seconds, then turn it up to  medium speed for 2 minutes.  When it is done it should be smooth and look like the picture above.

Step 5:
I use a 2 oz scoop filling it about 3/4 full so the cupcakes don't overflow with batter.

Step 5 (continued):
Scoop batter into prepared pans.

Step 6:
Grate the white chocolate bar into large pieces.

Step 7:
Place one small spoonful of chocolate on top of each cupcake.  In retrospect, I wish I would have just mixed the chocolate into the batter after step 4.  I think it would have given it more chocolate flavor and saved a step later.  If you do this, make sure you reserve about 2 tablespoons for the garnish.

Step 8:
Using the same small spoon, place a dollop of strawberry preserves on each cupcake.  I spread some batter over the preserves, but this resulted in the strawberries being near the bottom of the cupcake.  If you prefer, you could skip the step of covering the preserves.

Step 9:
Bake for 16 minutes and check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into a center cupcake.  If there is wet batter on it, cook an additional 2 minutes.  Remove from the pan onto a wire rack and cool completely.  If you frost them while they are even a little bit warm, the frosting will melt.

Step 10:

I forgot to take pictures of the frosting, but it is so easy, I don't think you will need them.  While the cupcakes are baking, use your stand mixer again fitted with the whisk attachment and beat the butter on high speed until it lightens in color and looks fluffy.  Please use real butter instead of margarine.  Using margarine in a special treat like this would be like buying a mansion in Beverly Hills and furnishing it with furniture from Walmart.  Back to the recipe, add vanilla, almond extract and the rest of the jar of strawberry preserves and beat on high for 10 seconds.  Add powdered sugar a little bit at a time, mixing on low speed so it doesn't fly everywhere.  Once all sugar is incorporated, beat on high for 1 minute.  Add whipping cream and beat an additional one minute.  If you want your frosting to be more pink (like in the photo below) add a couple drops of red food coloring.  This frosting has a very subtle strawberry taste that pairs nicely with the fresh strawberry garnish.

I piped my frosting using a pastry bag fitted with a 1M Wilton star tip then sprinkled chocolate flakes and topped them with a strawberry that had been hulled (cut the stem off) and cut in half lengthwise.

To print this 4x6 photo with best results, click on the image to open a full-size preview of it then right click on the image and choose "save image as" then you can print it the way you normally print photos, or pull it up as a picture in Word and resize it, if desired.  This is a new feature for us that can be a little buggy depending on your browser.  Please let me know if you have any problems, so we can fix it.