Strawberry Filled Cupcakes

Seasonal fruits are a nice addition to baked goods, and these strawberry filled cupcakes are proof. Like my raspberry and white chocolate loaf cake, this dessert is full of berry flavor, thanks to roasting fresh strawberries. This easy dessert recipe gives you the steps you need for making a marbled cream cheese frosting (similar to my raspberry frosting recipe) and strawberry filling for cupcakes. The cupcake recipe comes from my moist vanilla cupcake post and – combined with strawberries here – is reminiscent of strawberry shortcake.

Strawberry Filled Cupcakes with Oil and Butter

When I was developing my small batch chocolate chip muffin recipe, I wanted to learn more about baking with oil versus butter.

I wrote a short post on my blog about baking with each of these fats, and this recipe is another where I use both.

The butter gives these vanilla cupcakes with strawberry filling a classic flavor, while the oil helps make cupcakes super moist and tender.

Ingredients for this Recipe

In the recipe card below, you’ll find all the ingredients you need for these fruit filled cupcakes. I highlight a few of the key ones and why they’re important.

• Fresh strawberry filling – By roasting strawberries, we soften their texture and release some of their water, leaving us with lots of strawberry flavor. The end result makes for an excellent cupcake filling here. You could also think of these as strawberry shortcake cupcakes due to all the flavors involved.
• Unsalted room temperature butter – Butter is a fat, and fat equals flavor! Mixing butter and granulated sugar incorporates air into the batter. This process helps your cupcakes rise in the oven.
• Vanilla extract – In an online baking class I took once, Christina Tosi of Milk Bar taught us that you don’t need fancy and expensive vanilla extract for good flavor. So the extract from your local grocery store is perfectly fine for these cupcakes. I never taste much difference between pricier extracts and more basic ones.
• Almond extract – The combination of almond and strawberry is a good one. While not a requirement, almond nicely complements these berry-filled cupcakes. This extract also makes an appearance in the delicious strawberry frosting.
• Freeze dried strawberries – This was my first recipe using freeze dried fruit, and I’m a convert! Freeze dried strawberries have a concentrated, more intense flavor than fresh or even dried fruits. They work well in frosting because they don’t add any excess moisture.

Steps for Moist Strawberry Cupcakes

About an hour before beginning this recipe, bring your eggs, butter, buttermilk, and full-fat Greek yogurt (or sour cream) out of the refrigerator. Place them on your counter so they reach room temperature.

Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

To a large bowl, add and whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Set aside.  

Using the paddle attachment in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream your unsalted room temperature butter, vanilla and almond (if using) extract, and granulated sugar together on medium speed for 4 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the two eggs and beat again for 1 minute.

Add half of your dry ingredients and all buttermilk to your mixing bowl. Mix on low for about 45 seconds and scrape the bowl’s sides again so all ingredients are evenly incorporated.

Add the remaining flour, along with your Greek yogurt and oil. Mix on low speed until mostly incorporated. Stop mixer and fully incorporate by hand with a spatula for another minute or two to avoid over-mixing. 

Pour and evenly spread the batter into your prepared cupcake liners (about 50 grams in each cavity). Bake for 14-16 minutes or until cupcakes appear buttery and dense but bounce back at the touch of your finger.

Let cupcakes cool in pan about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before inserting the roasted strawberry filling. 

Roasting Strawberries for Strawberry Filling Recipe

Preheat oven to 375°F.

To create your strawberry cupcake filling, toss fresh strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, and salt in a bowl before spreading berries out into an aluminum or metal pan to bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping berries halfway through.

Bake time varies depending on the baking vessel and how it conducts heat – metal will be faster than glass, for instance.

Once they have a syrupy consistency, remove from oven and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Let cool in refrigerator. I like to roast the strawberries one day and assemble cupcakes the following with this strawberry filling recipe.

Marbled Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting Instructions

This frosting is a hybrid buttercream frosting. It combines unsalted butter with cream cheese for a bit of tanginess.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment — or in a large mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer — beat the cream cheese until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the butter and mix for another 1 minute or until fully combined.

Turn off mixer and add salt, powdered sugar, and almond and vanilla extracts to bowl. Mix on low setting to slowly incorporate powdered sugar before increasing to high setting for another 2-3 minutes. Add lemon juice if needed to cut sweetness (personal preference).

To marbled frosting, remove half of it and set aside in another bowl. Then add finely ground freeze dried strawberries to mixing bowl and mix until well-combined. 

Spread out the white and pink frostings in two lines on a piece of plastic wrap. Roll that up and place in piping bag fitted with a tip of your choice (2D forever!).

How to Make Strawberry Filled Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

If you have a cupcake corer to add fresh strawberry filling to your cupcakes, great! I do not, but no problem.

Instead, I used the wider end of a large piping tip (like the size of 1M, 2D, etc). Make a hole in the center of your cupcakes and go about 3/4 of the way down into it.

Scoop about 2 teaspoons of cooled, diced and roasted strawberries into the hole of each cupcake. Firmly pack it down for more strawberry flavor!

Cover each hole by using your piping bag filled with frosting to swirl frosting directly onto tops of cupcakes. Garnish with white sprinkles, fresh strawberry slices, or leave as is. 

FAQ for Strawberry Stuffed Cupcakes

Tips for Perfecting this Recipe

• Don’t overmix your batter! Overmixing batter can yield a denser cupcake, the opposite of a soft and fluffy baked good. Pay attention to the photos in this recipe for visual cues on how your cupcake batter should look before baking.
• Let your cupcakes cool before assembling them. If your cupcakes are still warm when you pipe frosting onto them or try to add the strawberry filling, you’ll regret it. The frosting may melt, and the warm cupcake’s texture won’t be quite sturdy enough to hold the strawberry filling well.
• For a more flavorful cupcake, eat it the next day. The added time allows the flavors to meld together longer, resulting in a stronger taste.

More Dessert Recipes

If you’re looking for more classic recipes, then I bet you’ll love these big batch chocolate chip cookies. They’re made with brown butter, oatmeal, and are basically my favorite cookie recipe of all time.

Or check out this carrot cake recipe! It’s moist and sweet, due in part to the pineapple juice inside it.

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