Pink Strawberry Cupcakes (3-Layered Strawberry Cake)

Whether you want to wow your guests with an elegant 3-tier strawberry cake, or if you want to impress your little princess with beautiful pink strawberry cupcakes, this recipe is sure to please everyone!

What happened to my pretty princess? She has grown up so fast. My youngest turns five tomorrow and I am sad. She is in kindergarten full time now. She’s my happy joyful girl.

For her birthday, she wanted pretty pink cupcakes, because you know, pink is her favorite color. So I made her these very delicious (and yes PINK) strawberry cupcakes.

What makes this a great recipe

For each of my three kids, I always bake them a cake for their birthday. It’s my special way of showing them how much I love them. And of course, we get to enjoy a delicious cake!

To celebrate her birthday with her friends at school, I made strawberry cupcakes. And for the family party, I made a strawberry cake. The recipe makes enough batter to make 36 cupcakes or a generous 3-layer cake.

This recipe is so delicious and full of strawberry flavor. The cake batter uses puréed strawberries, no oils or essence to give off that fake strawberry after taste.

The strawberry frosting has crushed dehydrated strawberries in it for even MORE fabulous strawberry flavor. I do add a tad bit of red food coloring to up the pink color, but how much you use is totally up to you.

So if you have a strawberry lover you are baking for, or just love all things PINK, then this is the cake you must bake!

Ingredients you need

Strawberry Cake Ingredients

• Cake Flour: Cake flour has less gluten than all purpose flour and will produce a lighter, fluffier cake. You can substitute each cup of cake flour by measuring out 1-cup of all purpose flour, remove one tablespoon of flour and add 1 tablespoon of corn starch.
• Butter: The base fat for this cake is unsalted butter. Make sure it is softened to room temperature before mixing.
• Frozen Strawberries: This cake gets it wonderful flavor from frozen strawberries. Just thaw them first and then purée in the blender until smooth.
• Egg Whites: By using egg whites instead of whole eggs, you will have a lighter and fluffier cake. You will need 8 egg whites for this recipe.
• Milk: I used whole milk in my recipe.
• Red Food Coloring: It is optional to add red food coloring to your cake batter. The strawberries provide a light pink color. I just add a couple drops of red to make the pink more vibrant.
• Pantry Staples: granulated sugar, baking powder, salt

Strawberry Frosting Ingredients

• Butter and Cream Cheese: The base of this frosting is a nice combination of butter and cream cheese. You can make it all butter if you do not like the cream cheese flavor.
• Powdered Sugar: As with most frostings, powdered sugar is used instead of regular granulated sugar. It mixes into the fat more easily and has not grittiness.
• Dehydrated Strawberries: Whoever developed dehydrated strawberries gets my adoration! I love using this stuff. Just crush and mix into your frosting or even pie dough.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla adds a base flavor to the strawberry frosting.
• Heavy Cream: By adding heavy cream, you can thin the consistency of your frosting to your own personal preference. You can also use whole milk but it isn’t as thick as cream, so use less.

Recipe step-by-step directions

1. Add strawberries to a blender and purée. You will need 1 ½ cups of purée.

2. Using a stand mixer cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. You can use the paddle or whisk attachment. You can also use a hand mixer.

3. Add strawberry purée and using the whisk attachment, whisk until thoroughly combined.

4. In another bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder and salt.

5. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until fully incorporated. Do not over mix as this will produce a tough cake.

6. In small bowl whisk together egg whites, milk and red food coloring, if using. I only added a couple drops of red food coloring to make the pink color pop more.

7. Add half of the milk mixture to the rest of the batter and mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the remaining half and mix for another 30 seconds.

8. Apply non-stick spray to three 9-inch round or 8-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper. For cupcakes, place liners in a 36-cup baking pan. Divide the batter among the prepared pans. If baking cupcakes, only fill about two thirds full.

9. Bake the cakes in a 350ºF oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If making cupcakes, bake for 12-18 minutes.

10. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert and turn cakes out onto cooling rack and peel off the paper liners. Cakes and cupcakes need to completely cooled before frosting, at least one hour.

11. While cake cools, make the frosting. Place dehydrated strawberries in a resealable bag, remove air and crush into crumbs. You can also crush strawberries in a food processor.

12. Using a stand mixer with whisk attachment mix cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy about 1-2 minutes.

13. Add crushed strawberries, powdered sugar and vanilla extract and whisk until well combined.

14. Mix in 1-2 TBS of heavy cream until desired consistency is reached. Keep frosting in the refrigerator until ready to use. If refrigerated, bring to room temperature before frosting the cake.

15. Once cake is cooled, spread a generous heap of frosting between each cake layer.

16. Spread frosting over top layer then use remaining frosting equally around the sides of the cake and add any extra on top for decorating. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Expert Tips and Recipe FAQS

I am a strawberry lover and I really love this cake because it celebrates our favorite berry. I have made it as cupcakes and as a three layered cake, and it is always a big hit with my guests.

• You can bake the cake/cupcakes the day before you are serving the cake. Just keep covered with plastic wrap or foil so it doesn’t dry out.
• You can also prepare the frosting a day before, just keep in an air tight container in the refrigerator. The frosting will need to soften to room temperature before applying to the cake.
• You can also prepare the frosting without the strawberry crumbs for a simple white cream cheese frosting.

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Yield: 36 cupcakes or 3-layer 9-inch cake

Pink Strawberry Cupcakes (3-Layered Strawberry Cake)

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Whether you want to wow your guests with an elegant 3-tier strawberry cake, or if you want to impress your little princess with beautiful pink strawberry cupcakes, this recipe is sure to please everyone!

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 35 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

Strawberry Cake Ingredients

• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 12 oz butter, unsalted, softened
• 1 ½ cup puréed strawberries (approximately 1-pound of frozen strawberries)
• 4 ½ cup cake flour
• 5 ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp salt
• 8 egg whites
• ⅔ cup milk
• 2 drops red food coloring, (optional)

Strawberry Frosting Ingredients

• 12 oz butter
• 16 oz cream cheese, softened
• 4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 oz dehydrated strawberries
• 2 TBS heavy cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Apply non-stick spray to three 9-inch round or 8-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper. For cupcakes, place liners in a 36-cup baking pan .
3. Add strawberries to a blender and purée until you have 1 ½ cups.
4. Using a stand mixer cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
5. Add strawberry purée and whisk until thoroughly combined.
6. In another bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
7. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
8. In small bowl whisk together egg whites, milk and red food coloring, if using.
9. Add half of the milk mixture to the rest of the batter and mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the remaining half and mix for another 30 seconds.
10. Divide the batter among the prepared pans.
11. Bake the cakes for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If making cupcakes, bake for 12-18 minutes.
12. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert and turn cakes out onto cooling rack and peel off the paper liners. Cakes and cupcakes need to completely cooled before frosting, at least one hour.
13. While cake cools, make the frosting.
14. Place dehydrated strawberries in a resealable bag, remove air and crush into crumbs. You can also crush strawberries in a food processor.
15. Using a stand mixer with whisk attachment mix cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy about 1-2 minutes.
16. Add crushed strawberries, powdered sugar and vanilla extract and whisk until well combined.
17. Mix in 1-2 TBS of heavy cream until desired consistency is reached. Keep frosting in the refrigerator until ready to use. If refrigerated, bring to room temperature before frosting the cake.
18. Once cake is cooled, spread ½ cup frosting between each cake layer.
19. Spread ½ cup frosting over top layer then use remaining frosting equally around the sides of the cake and add any extra on top for decorating. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Notes

Frozen strawberries are used instead of fresh. If you want to use fresh strawberries, freeze them first and then use. This will dry the strawberries enough to prevent a soggy cake. You can also try this with frozen raspberries, but it will yield more of purplish-color cake.

You can omit the dehydrated strawberries in the frosting to make cream cheese frosting. Just add an additional cup of powdered sugar instead.

For even more strawberry goodness, add strawberry slices in between the layers or garnish with fresh strawberries.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

36

Serving Size:

1 cupcake
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 366Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 55mgSodium: 237mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 0gSugar: 30gProtein: 3g

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