This is the second time in a few weeks that I’ve made these cupcakes. The first time I made them I think I had one or maybe two, and the rest were given away. I’ve been wanting another ever since, so I just had to make them again! The chunks of fresh strawberry throughout the cake and strawberry puree in the frosting give them a wonderful real strawberry flavor. These really beat the pants off the strawberry cupcakes I used to make! During my first attempt at these the frosting came out nothing like the way I think it was supposed to, even though I followed the recipe exactly. This time I made my own modifications and I was much more pleased with the result. Pink frosting with a great strawberry flavor but firm enough to be able to pipe onto the cupcakes. Success! The frosting is quite a bit more pink in real life than in these pics, but feel free to add a little food coloring to achieve your desired “pinkness” 
Strawberry Cupcakes
Yield: about 18 cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup unsalted butter
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk
¼ cup oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups chopped strawberries
For the frosting:
½ c. strawberries
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¾ cups powdered sugar, sifted
½ tsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
Sift flour, salt and baking soda into a medium bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until combined. Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in chopped strawberries. Fill cupcake wells ¾ full with batter. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
For the frosting, puree strawberries in food processor. Strain through a mesh sieve to remove seeds, and set aside. Beat the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add lemon juice, vanilla and strawberry puree. Adjust the amount of puree to achieve your desired consistency. Frost cupcakes when completely cool.
Source: adapted from Good Things Catered
I just found your blog, and I plan on looking through it to glean your recipes! First up will be the strawberry cupcakes!
These sound so good! They look wonderful.
I adore the idea of chunks of strawberries in these cupcakes and that you made them again is telling. This would be a fantastic submission to the Tried Tested and True roundup.
Beautiful cupcakes, Annie! When I feel like a summery cupcake, I will turn to this recipe. I’m already anticipating the chunks of strawberries.
I’ve tagged you for a little game, Six Word Memoir. If you feel like playing, check out my post:
http://gigicakes.blogspot.com/
Whoops! I accidentally pasted the wrong link into my comment. If you feel like playing the game with us, check out this post:
http://sarah-cooking.blogspot.com/2008/04/six-word-memoir.html
Sorry for that!
These look great! I’m glad you got the right modifications on the icing to work for you. I need to make some of these again. Mmm…
These look incredible!! I love anything with strawberries in it. I can’t wait to make these myself.
Had to “delurk” to tell you how absolutely delicious these look! Lately I can’t get enough of everything strawberry, so I may need to make these TONIGHT.
Strawberry puree in the frosting sounds like just the right touch. These are so pretty!
these are adorable! i’ve had my eye on them ever since katie made them
OMG Annie! I made these this weekend for Ben’s graduation party and they were SUCH A HIT! My MIL helped me with the frosting and ended up melting the cream cheese so the frosting was very runny. So, I added more powdered sugar, but it was still really good.
(I had one for breakfast this morning)