Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

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These Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting make for the ultimate chocolate dessert. These cupcakes are topped with a delicious strawberry frosting made with fresh strawberries!

Chocolate Cupcakes topped with fresh strawberry frosting. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com

With Valentine’s Day coming up here soon, what better way to express your love to someone than with a cupcake that tastes just like a chocolate dipped strawberry? These Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting are just that!

I think we can all agree that chocolate and strawberries are one of the best combos out there. Rich chocolate paired with sweet, juicy and fresh strawberries? Now that’s just a flavor pairing made in food heaven!

These cupcakes are made with a simple and delicious homemade chocolate batter that bakes into the most light, moist and luscious cupcake.

It’s then topped with a creamy strawberry frosting that is made with fresh strawberries. Using fresh strawberries makes it burst with an abundance of sweet strawberry flavor. 🙂 

Chocolate Cupcakes topped with fresh strawberry frosting. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com

As with every recipe of mine, there’s some variants that come with these cupcakes! If you’re not much of a baker and rather keep things simpler for yourself, you can easily swap out the homemade cupcake batter for a boxed mix! No judgement here.

You could even make a simple vanilla frosting and just flavor it with some strawberry extract. Seriously! But to really get all those luscious flavors and make the cupcake taste like you’ve just bitten into a freshly dipped chocolate strawberry, I’d recommend sticking to the recipe.

Chocolate Cupcakes topped with fresh strawberry frosting. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH STRAWBERRY FROSTING

These cupcakes are made from a simple homemade chocolate cupcake batter and an even simpler strawberry frosting!

For the cupcake:

In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (dry ingredients).

Add in eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Slowly stir in boiling water (yes, the batter will become thin)

Take a muffin tin and fill each cup with baking cups. Fill each cup about ⅔ full with batter.

Bake at 350℉ for 20-22 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.

Allow cupcakes to cool before frosting.

For the frosting:

Blend strawberries into a nice purée in the blender. Place puree in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir constantly until puree has reduced and thickened. 

In a large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add in powdered sugar, strawberry purée, extract and milk. 

Place frosting in a piping bag with a piping tip (or just use a knife) and frost the cupcakes! 

HOW TO STORE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH STRAWBERRY FROSTING

Cupcakes can sit at room temperature for no longer than a day. After a day, either discard or place them in the fridge. If refrigerating, they’ll last up to 3 days, but keep in mind that they’ll dry out as the days go by. 

CAN YOU FREEZE THESE CUPCAKES?

Yes, you can! You can freeze the cupcake and frosting already assembled or in separate containers depending on your preference. Either way, ensure that they are in an airtight container and they should last up to 1 month.

FROSTING TIPS

You can frost these cupcakes one of two ways:

Piping bag and tip: place the frosting into a piping bag, add the tip, and frost away! You can use whatever piping tip you’d like depending on the look you’re going for. This is the best method if you’re going for a nice presentation.

Knife: this is a great option if you’re not the biggest fan of frosting. Simply take a knife and spread a layer of frosting over the top of the cupcakes to your desired thickness. This is a good option if you’re not going so much for presentation, but rather for an easy way to get to the end result!

A COUPLE ALTERNATIVES

As always, there’s a couple different ways to go about making these cupcakes!

For the frosting:

Strawberries:

Frozen: if you don’t want to use fresh strawberries, you can also use frozen berries. Just make sure that if you do, they aren’t packed in sugar or syrup.

Strawberry extract: in place of the strawberries you can also just use some strawberry extract. The flavoring won’t be as bold and refreshing, but you’ll still get a strawberry flavored frosting.

Another tip for ensuring the smoothest strawberry frosting possible is to take out all of the seeds. While this will take a long time and energy, the end result is the most luscious and creamy frosting, meaning it is very much worth it.

For the cupcake:

Batter: while I prefer to make a homemade chocolate cupcake batter, if you want to save yourself some time and make things easier, a boxed mix would work just as well.

MORE RECIPES YOU HAVE TO TRY!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Oreo Buttercream

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

Ingredients

  • FOR CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES:
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup milk (I use 2%)
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • FOR STRAWBERRY FROSTING:
  • 2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
  • 3/4 cup salted butter, room temperature
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 4 Tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract OR strawberry extract

Instructions

  • FOR CUPCAKES: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 30 muffin cups with paper baking cups, set aside.
    Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa powder , baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
    Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin) Fill cups 2/3 full with batter.
    Bake 20 to 22 minutes, or until tooth-pick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.
  • FOR STRAWBERRY FROSTING:
    Place the freshly chopped 2 cups of strawberries in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
    Place puree in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat. Stir constantly while mixture slowly comes to a boil. Continue to stir constantly while puree thickens and reduces to 2/3 cup. This will take about 10 minutes or less.
    Pour reduced puree into a measuring cup. You should have 2/3 cup of puree. Let stand until it cools and comes to room temperature.
  • In a large bowl, add the room temperature butter. Using a hand-held mixer, beat until butter is smooth. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and the 2/3 cup of strawberry puree.
    Mix until frosting becomes smooth. Gradually mix in the remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar and the extract.
    Add in milk, as needed, for desired thickness of frosting.
    Top cupcakes with fresh strawberry frosting. Serve and enjoy!

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Chocolate Cupcakes topped with fresh strawberry frosting. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com
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