Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
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Cupcakes are the perfect treat to combine the fresh, bright flavors of strawberry and lemon. Fill them with lemon curd for an extra level of deliciousness! I’m sharing these to celebrate a virtual baby shower for Katherine – be sure to check out her blog and the rest of the amazing recipes linked below!
Strawberry lemonade, without a doubt, is a flavor combination meant to channel the freshness and lightness of spring. And, as good as the drink itself might be, is there anything better than taking a great combination and turning it into a cupcake? Obviously not. 🙂
To make this fabulous dessert, we start with moist lemon cupcakes. You could definitely leave it at that, or, if you want to take things to the next level, it’s a pretty simple matter to fill each cupcake with a spoonful of smooth, creamy, bright lemon curd.
Store-bought lemon curd would certainly work, but you can also make your own at home, a lot more quickly and easily than you probably think, and the flavor and texture absolutely can’t be beat. I mean, just look!
This is the same lemon cupcake and lemon curd recipe that is used in these filled lemon cupcakes with cream cheese poppy seed frosting, which have always been one of the most popular recipes on the site!
So, when I was brainstorming recipes to celebrate the lovely Katherine, it was only a matter of minutes until my mind turned here.
Filling Cupcakes, Step-by-Step
If you haven’t filled cupcakes before, it might seem complicated or as though it would require some special equipment – I know I thought so before I had tried it a couple of times! But the happy reality is that it couldn’t be simpler. Just follow the illustrated steps below.
- Start with your baked cupcakes, fully cooled.
- Using a small paring knife, carve out a small inverted cone-shaped area from the center of each cupcake, so each one has a small well. Now it’s easy – using a small spoon or pair of spoons, fill each well with your filling of choice!
- Now you have a couple of options – for simplicity, you could just pipe or spread frosting directly on top. Or, if you want a slightly smoother base, slice the very top off of each cone that you removed from the cupcakes, and place the thin top layer back on top of the curd.
- Now, frost as desired!
And here’s where the strawberry comes into play! Even though lemon gets a double chance to shine in these cupcakes, honestly, this frosting is my favorite component of them all.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Seeking a flash of spring? Take a peek at these strawberry lemonade cupcakes – the best fresh, light flavors wrapped up in a sweet dessert treat!” quote=”Seeking a flash of spring? Take a peek at these strawberry lemonade cupcakes – the best fresh, light flavors wrapped up in a sweet dessert treat!”]
Now, I know I emphasized just the other day in the post for these strawberry-frosted chocolate sugar cookies the merits of using freeze-dried strawberries in frosting, and believe me, I still believe in those fully!
But, I found a teeny tiny problem when using that frosting for cakes and cupcakes. It’s very difficult, at least for me and my food processor, to pulverize every last tiny little chunk of strawberry down into a fine powder, which meant tiny bits and pieces that got jammed in the tip of my frosting bag. A small but frustrating issue. So, back to the drawing board, and here we are with another type of strawberry frosting – one that relies on fresh strawberries to get that beautiful flavor and color.
Because you’re using fresh strawberries, it does take an extra couple of steps to get the consistency right, but I assure you the result is 100% worthwhile!
These cupcakes provided the perfect burst of spring-like sunshine to my life, and I am imagining them being all sorts of wonderful for a spring or summer party, or any baby shower, bridal shower, little girl’s birthday, etc. Not to be overly gendered – just any occasion that calls for bright, beautiful flavors and lots of pink!
Enjoy, and don’t forget to scroll past the recipe to check out the many other beautiful pink dishes prepared by other bloggers for our virtual party! ♥
Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick; 115 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) white sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) whole milk
- zest and juice of two medium lemons
For the filling:
- 1/2 cup lemon curd (homemade or store-bought)
For the frosting:
- 8 ounces fresh strawberries
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks; 173 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3-4 cups (340-450 grams) powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 C). Prepare a 12-count muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat again on medium-high speed until mixture is well-combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture in three batches, beating on low speed after each addition. Mix in the milk, lemon zest, and juice, and beat again on low speed just until combined. Do not overmix!
- Divide batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners, and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of cupcakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven, allow to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting.
- To fill the cupcakes, use a small paring knife to cut a small cone out of the center of each cupcake, making a well about 1-1 1/2 inches deep. Spoon a small amount of lemon curd into the well. If you like, you can slice each cone you removed and replace just the top edge, so the top of the cupcake still has a smooth surface of cake with the curd underneath. (This is definitely not necessary, but is pretty quick and easy and can make the cupcakes slightly easier to frost.)
- To make the frosting, slice green tops from the strawberries, then puree in a food processor or blender until smooth. Strain puree through a wire sieve to remove seeds; you should have about 3/4 cup of puree.
- Transfer puree to a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Allow the mixture to boil gently for 15-20 minutes, until the mixture has reduced to about 1/4 cup. Remove from the heat and place mixture in the fridge to cool.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium-high speed until fluffy, then beat in 1 1/2 cups of the powdered sugar. Turn mixer down to low and beat in 2-3 tablespoons of the chilled, reduced strawberry puree. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is thick and creamy.
- Frost cupcakes as desired - I used a Wilton 1M tip. Enjoy!
Notes
- This makes enough frosting to decorate at least 1 dozen cupcakes. Depending on how generously you frost your batch, you may have extra. (What a shame!)
- Cupcakes adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction, frosting slightly adapted from Lil' Luna.
Nutrition Estimate
And now, meet our guest of honor: Katherine! Katherine blogs over at Love In My Oven and is the proud momma to two boys and a soon-to-arrive baby girl!!
You don’t need to know Katherine to join in the fun, just enjoy all of the pink themed recipes the bloggers are bringing to the party! Scroll down to see what the bloggers are sharing, and click on the links to hop over to their blogs to check their recipe out.
7-UP RASPBERRY PINK PUNCH from Kelly Lynn’s Sweets and Treats
BEET GOAT CHEESE PHYLLO ROLLS from Looney For Food
YUM YUM SHRIMP WONTON CUPS from Give it Some Thyme
ROASTED BEET AND GOAT CHEESE PASTA from Robust Recipes
PRETTY IN PINK PARTY MIX from Tiny Kitchen Capers
ROASTED BEET AND WHITE BEAN HUMMUS from Crumb Top Baking
IT’S A GIRL BABY SHOWER CAKE from The Sugar Coated Cottage
MELTING MOMENTS COOKIES WITH RASPBERRY BUTTERCREAM from Sugar Salt Magic
STRAWBERRY MOUSSE CUPS from The Beach House Kitchen
ROSE RASPBERRY LYCHEE CUPCAKES from Sift & Simmer
VANILLA GLAZED BAKED DONUTS from Girl Heart Food
CHOCOLATE ROSE TRUFFLES from The Love of Cakes
PRETTY IN PINK PARFAITS from Six Snippets
STRAWBERRY CREAM PUFFS from The Itsy-Bitsy Kitchen
STRAWBERRY ROSE CAKE DONUTS from Ben’s Havoc in the Kitchen
NO CHURN STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM from Kitchen@Hoskins
STRAWBERRY SCONES from 31 Daily
RASPBERRY MOUSSE BROWNIE TRIFLE from Better With Biscuits
VANILLA DONUTS WITH PINK GLAZE from Little Sweet Baker
STRAWBERRY SOUFFLÉS WITH FRESH STRAWBERRIES from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
NO CHURN STRAWBERRY SHORT CAKE ICE CREAM from The Baking Chocolatess
Thanks for joining the party and I hope you enjoyed all of these fun recipes!
Just made these cupcakes and frosting and my family loved them. So delicious and such a good recipe! The cupcakes are moist and have a perfect lemony taste. I did change the filling a bit, because I was aiming for a strawberry lemonade exactness, and here’s what I found: with the lemon curd filling, the cupcakes had an overpowering lemon flavor, and the strawberry taste was lost in the frosting. With strawberry jam filling, it struck a good balance. You could taste both strawberry and lemon equally. But if you want a really strawberry lemonade taste equally, what worked for me is a little bit of lemon curd mixed with a little strawberry jam in the middle of these cupcakes. All the variations tasted delicious though – just depends on what taste you want most pronounced! Another thing is my frosting didn’t come out as bright as yours; it was more like a pale pink after the strawberries. I think next time I will add less powdered sugar since the frosting was overly sweet with all the sugar above. All in all, this came out great! I sprinkled freeze dried strawberries on top for a pretty look. Thanks for this recipe!
I just made the frosting. I used tons more strawberries but in the straining process I lost probabley lost a lot of good strawberry. Had maybe 3 tablespoons worth. It is a pretty petal pink and tastes amazing so don’t want to ruin it by trying to fix it! Tomorrow I make the cupcakes and frost them. I’m afraid I’ll run out because I tried to do 150% but failed…I’ve never made my own frosting. My daughter is turning 3 and she loves strawberry and lemon!
I’m so excited to hear how these turn out! They will be wonderful I’m sure! Happy birthday to your sweet little girl!!
I had to make mini cupcakes because the paper for the regular size smelled awful. I just tried the tiniest one of them and it everything I wanted it to be light and fluffy and oh so very lemony. My lemons were sooo juicy so my guess it may have been extra. The frosting I stored in the fridge over night became brittle. I hope it will soften If I leave out over night. It wasn’t airtight in the fridge, woops. I have barely baked for 20 years. I have enough stuff to make it again if need be tomorrow.
So they were very pretty and extremely tasty. I facedcmy fear with making and decorating with frosting. Everyone found them exceptional. Because mini did not do the lemon curd. Wish I could post a pic because they are on a pretty turquoise pottery platter.
Made these cupcakes tonight with my own strawberry cream cheese icing. The cupcakes were perfect!! I got a bit worried because the batter looked like it was separating a little or starting to cuddle like when I was filling the cupcakes but they turned out delicious. Will definitely keep this recipe and probably just omit the lemon ingredients for a basic vanilla cake recipe. It was moist, held together nicely when you bite into it, texture was perfect!
Oh, Cat, your comment made my day – I’m so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, and really appreciate the feedback!
OMG these look amazing!!! Love the flavor combo. Perfect recipe to bring to a baby shower!
Thanks so much, Emily!
These are the prettiest cupcakes, Monica! I absolutely LOVE lemon curd! When I make it, I legit can eat it straight up! The colour always amazes me….so bright and ‘happy’. Wish I had a couple of these right now!! Hope you have a lovely weekend!
Talk about a perfect spring dessert! These have me so excited for sunny days and picnics! They’re just gorgeous, Monica 🙂
These cupcakes are beyond pretty!! Strawberry lemonade is one of my favorite drinks for summer…And these cupcakes combine that flavor in a beautiful looking cupcake! Love 🙂
I’m drooling over these cupcakes!! That lemon curd?!?! YUM!! Thanks for joining the baby shower and sharing this recipe 🙂 XOXO
So adorable and obviously incredibly delicious!! The flavors are a natural combo and your photos make me want to eat a plateful!! 🙂
These are so, so perfect for spring! Strawberry Lemonade … and lemon curd. Amazingly pretty and look so delicious!
These are simply beautiful and I love the strawberry lemonade combination!! Perfect for a baby shower or my late night craving I’m having right now!
These are just beautiful Monica and I’m totally on the filled cupcakes wagon. I actually have a hard time not filling cupcakes LOL 🙂