These adorable, delicious, and easy-to-make strawberry shortcake cupcakes are perfect for so many occasions!
Celebrate Christmas, Valentine's day, or an anniversary with this sweet treat of a dessert!
★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
These Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes are filled with sweet strawberry goodness and are crowned with a generous swirl of velvety cream cheese frosting.
The highlight of these cupcakes is the luscious strawberry filling nestled within combined with the buttermilk-infused cake. The cream cheese also adds a layer of richness and tang that's out of this world!
Easy enough for novice bakers. Yet these cupcakes look impressive and will surely communicate that loving feeling to anyone you share these with.
Perfect for Special Occasions
Celebrate an anniversary, Valentine's Day, or any special occasion with these cute and tasty cupcakes.
This dessert is perfect to enjoy for date night in or enjoy these as a family to celebrate your love for each other.
This recipe makes 24 cupcakes so there's plenty of love to share. Made with healthy, fresh strawberries so you could even save some to eat for breakfast the next day if you're enjoying this dessert as a party of two.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
These cupcakes are made entirely from scratch; however, the ingredient list is not a mile long. You just need some trusty stand-by ingredients.
Here's everything you'll need:
- Cake batter essentials: all purpose flour, eggs, butter, baking soda, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. You can replace these with a cake mix if you prefer. If using a cake mix, use buttermilk in place of the water as directed on the back of the box.
- For the filling: you'll need fresh strawberries and strawberry preserves. Preserves have whole fruit and have a robust fruit flavor. You can substitute jelly or jam if you prefer.
- For the frosting: Cream cheese, unsalted butter, powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Make sure everything is softened to room temperature so that your frosting mixes well and does not become lumpy.
For the salt, you can use sea salt for added flavor if you prefer. I typically use a little bit less sea salt since it can be more powerful. If using sea salt, use a fine grain so you don't get big chunks of salt in your batter or frosting.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This recipe is quite simple to make.
Here's a quick look at what's involved:
- Combine the dry ingredients.
- Combine the wet ingredients.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ones to form batter.
- Spoon batter into cupcake liners.
- Bake then let cool.
- Combine fresh strawberries with preserves.
- Cut out a piece of each cupcake.
- Fill with strawberry filling.
- Replace cut-out piece.
- Combine frosting ingredients.
- Add frosting to a piping bag.
- Pipe frosting in layers alternating with fresh slices of strawberries.
That's all there is to it. Easy to make, yet they look stunning and taste amazing!
★ Tips & FAQS ★
Do I have to use buttermilk?
You don't have to, but buttermilk provides that classic, tangy shortcake taste. You can buy buttermilk at most grocery stores or you can make your own buttermilk from heavy cream. If making your own, allow several days to be able to achieve cultured buttermilk.
In a pinch you can make a faux buttermilk by adding vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk. Whole milk is best but if you prefer to use 1 or 2% that will work. You'll simply have a less rich flavor of cake.
What is the texture of these Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes?
The cupcakes are incredibly moist, light, and fluffy. Without a doubt, these cupcakes will simply melt in your mouth!
Can I add fresh strawberries to the cupcake batter?
You can add fresh strawberries to the cupcake batter. However, I would not recommend it, as we are already filling the cupcakes with the utterly delicious homemade strawberry filling in the center and the contrast between the yellow cake and red filling looking beautiful.
Could I use other fruit with this same recipe?
Yes, you can! Another wonderful option is to replace the strawberries with blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries.
Can the frosting be made without cream cheese?
Yes. If you prefer a less rich, lighter frosting, you can replace the cream cheese with whipped cream. I recommend whipping your own heavy cream and folding it into the buttercream frosting, to taste.
Storing these Cupcakes
To store cupcakes, cover loosely and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
These cupcakes are not freezer-friendly.
★ More Recipes You'll Love ★
More Things to Make for Your Sweetie
Browse all my Valentine's Day recipes and celebrate with homemade treats all month long!
These Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes were featured on South Your Mouth!
Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes
Equipment
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk room temperature
Strawberry Filling
- 1 cup fresh strawberries finely diced
- 2 tablespoon strawberry preserves
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
Garnish
- sliced fresh strawberries as desired for garnish
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Instructions
- Preheat oven 350˚F.Add cupcake liners to a 12-cup baking pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients—all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar.Beat in eggs, one at a time.Mix in vanilla extract. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, alternating with buttermilk.
- Mix just until ingredients are combined. Avoiding overmixing. Using an ice cream scooper, distribute the batter equally into the cupcake liners, filling them about ⅔rd full.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Avoid overbaking for moist cupcakes.
- Allow cupcakes to cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes. While they cool, prepare the strawberry filling. Heat the strawberry preserves in a microwave-safe bowl for 30-60 seconds, then combine it with diced strawberries.
- Once cupcakes are fully cooled, cut a small hole out of the top center of each cupcake. Use a piping tip to remove the piece of cake and set aside.Fill hole ¾ full with the strawberry mixture, then top with removed piece of cake. Repeat for the remaining cupcakes.
- For the cream cheese frosting, beat cream cheese in a medium bowl to fluff it.Add softened butter and beat until combined and fluffy. Scrape sides of the bowl and gradually add confectioner's sugar in batches, beating at low speed until fully incorporated. Transfer cream cheese frosting to a piping bag with a nozzle and pipe over each cupcake.
- Garnish with sliced strawberries and serve.
michelle perry says
If you don't have a chocolate cake mix but an angel food cake one can you make a yule log cake out of it like this one and use white frosting in it and on the top of it to make one?
Angela G. says
I haven't tried angel food cake mix, so I'm not 100% sure but I believe it would work. You can also just use plain white cake mix. And yes, white frosting for the inside and outside works great.