Inspiration for yesterday’s scratch best yellow cupcake recipe was Mela, who emailed me saying she was having a hard time finding a good yellow cake. I told her about this one, and after trying the recipe she emailed to say she loved it. Plus, she shared her strawberry frosting recipe!
Tiny Batch Strawberry Frosting Recipe
For those of you interested in a frosting with fresh strawberries and cream cheese, here’s the recipe courtesy of Mela. I made ¼ of the recipe and used 1 fresh strawberry and about a teaspoon of Orchard's Finest strawberry preserves. Rather than puree the strawberry, I just chopped it up, put it in with the butter and cream cheese, and crushed it with the friction of the stand mixer. It was fun watching the icing turn pink! I also added a small dash of vanilla because I like how vanilla tastes with strawberry. I might try mixing in a little malt to give it a strawberry malted milkshake flavor. Thanks, Mela!
Update
I've tested a few of the ground freeze dried strawberry frosting recipes, and while they are pretty, I don't love the flavor. This one's still my personal favorite. I big part of what makes it taste good is the cream cheese, which works so well with the fresh strawberries. I may try adding a small amount of ground freeze dried strawberries to this one, but right now I still prefer the fresh ones combined with a little jam.
Recipe
Strawberry Frosting
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened (114 grams)
- 8 ounces cream cheese (230 grams)
- 2-½ cups powdered sugar
- 3 large strawberries (you can increase or decrease slightly
- 2-3 tsp. strawberry jam or preserves
- pinch of salt optional
Instructions
- Cream butter and cream cheese for about 2 minutes.
- Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add in jam and slowly add pureed strawberry until you get the desired consistency.
- Chill before frosting your cupcakes.
Anna says
Thanks for trying it and thanks for the tip!
Katie says
Just wanted to say that I doubled this recipe to make frosting for a Neapolitan cake, and it is delicious! It tastes a bit like melted strawberry ice cream to me, and I mean that as a compliment. Definitely allot some time for it to firm up in the fridge before using, however.
Liz says
Oh, these are just stunning!! This will be a must try when our local strawberries are ripe! Thanks to Mela for the fabulous inspiration...and to you for the great cake recipe~
KAnn says
Oh! This would have been a good choice for the strawberry cake I baked (by special request) for a friend a few years ago...it was a challenge to find a strawberry cake that did NOT use jello but I found a recipe and it was a hit. I frosted it with a plain cream cheese icing-this looks great!
Gloria says
That frosting looks so good-the color is eye-pleasing! Does the frosting get hard when it is cold?
Mela says
Anna, thank you so much for posting my photo and frosting recipe.
Darlene says
Perfect ratio of frosting to cupcake for me!
Vanillasugarblog says
I always forget to add the jam. Stealing this one
Lisa Ernst says
Beautiful! With the sweet, fresh strawberries coming to market now, this is a perfect time for trying strawberry frosting!