I have been meaning to make this recipe ever since I received the Summer 2011 issue of The Baking Sheet, King Arthur Flour’s newsletter. I’ve been searching for the perfect strawberry cupcake recipe and I’ve tried several, but haven’t found one I truly love.
All of the recipes I’ve tried call for fresh or frozen strawberries or strawberry puree, which I adore, but the problem I most often have is that the cupcakes tend to turn a bit grey when baked. Not the most appetizing looking cupcake, if you ask me. This recipe definitely takes away the grey factor and brings in the pink factor, as you can see from the photo. No food coloring was added to these babies!
If you are looking for a moist and delicious cupcake to satisfy your strawberry sweet tooth, this is your recipe. I paired mine with a scrumptious white chocolate buttercream frosting. It was perfect and complimented the cupcakes well. It was light and creamy and didn’t overpower the strawberry flavor of the cupcakes. And to make them even more decadent, I added a white chocolate and milk chocolate dipped strawberry, for The Ultimate Strawberry Cupcake!
February 11th, 2012
Strawberry Cupcakes
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup strawberry Nesquik powder
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 large egg whites
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup strawberry applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line 28 muffin cups with cupcakes liners. Set aside. Combine the flour, sugar, strawberry Nesquik, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric stand mixer and whisk to remove any lumps. Next, add the softened butter and mix until mixture becomes crumbly. Increase the speed of the mixer and continue to mix until the crumbs start to cling together. The mixture may or may not completely combine to form a paste and that's okay. Mine did not.
Add the eggs and egg whites, one at a time, mixing well after each addition, being sure to scrape the bowl as you work. Next, beat in the sour cream, applesauce, and vanilla. Mix until fluffy, but do not over m
ix.
Using a medium to large cookie scoop, place batter into lined muffin tins. Bake in 350° oven for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes before removing from cupcake pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Once cooled, frost with white chocolate buttercream and top with chocolate covered strawberry, if desired.
White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (Adapted from Food.com)
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
6 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled
White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. I use 30 second intervals at 50% power and my chocolate is usually melted in about a minute. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, cream the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add the cooled white chocolate and mix until frosting is smooth and creamy.
Adapted from King Arthur Flour's, The Baking Sheet
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
one word: YES
other words: this needs to happen in my life right away. chocolate covered strawberries might be the best invention ever, and then to have a cupcake to devour afterwards?? insanity. this looks great!
Ooooo this looks yummy. I’ve never seen a strawberry cupcake with both nesquik and applesauce in it before. I bet it really ups the anty!
And that buttercream looks divine. This one’s definitely dangerous. I highly doubt it would make it to the cupcakes with me around hehe.
xoxo
- Eve
I hadn’t either, but was intrigued! They really were very moist and delicious and everyone who tried them loved them! And they were so perfectly pink!
WOW..These are beautiful!!! Does the Nesquick take you back to when you were a little girl and drank ONLY strawberry milk??? I remember those days well
.
Yes! I’ve been trying really hard not to drink it.
Good thing I learned to like plain milk! Love you Mom!!!
Do you think this would work as a cake?
Absolutely. The original recipe was actually a cake, so it would definitely work. Happy Baking!
This is a must try, will try with the nesquick but wondering if there is something that could be improvise..
Guess will be the secret ingredient.
I want to make these for a dinner party. But I don’t have the time to bake them on the day. So I was thinking of making the cakes 2 days before and also icing them complete with the chocolate covered strawberry.
Do you think this would keep? Also how should I store them, in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge?
Thanks!
Hi Ana,
Unfortunately, I don’t think fully decorating them ahead of time will work. The leftovers I had began to weep and it really compromised their overall appearance. (This was due to the chocolate covered strawberries.) Here are a few suggestions for you though: The cupcakes can be baked and frozen ahead of time. I would opt for this and just take them out to thaw 30-45 minutes before you plan to decorate them. Next, you could also make your frosting ahead of time and just keep it in the refrigerator. You will need to allow it to come to room temperature before you try to frost the cupcakes as it will become very firm in the refrigerator. (You could frost the cupcakes the day before your party and I think they would still be fine.)
As far as the strawberries go, I would probably only dip them the night before your party and add them to the cupcakes the same day you want to serve them. Mine wept juice out onto the frosting the next day…I’m sorry, I can’t remember if they were in an airtight container on the counter or in the refrigerator. (My guess would be the counter, but I’m not 100% on that.) Regardless, for the best look of your cupcakes, I would wait to add them until the day of the party and probably only a few hours ahead, if at all possible. Hope this helps!
I tried these cupcakes and they were wonderful!! I did change one thing though. Instead of using strawberry nesquick I used strawberry Jell-o a 3oz package to give it more of a pink color and I did use a 1/2 c of pureed strawberries instead of the apple sauce.
Mmmm…sounds delicious! I’ll have to try your version too!
OMG! I made them yesterday and they turned SUPER DELICIOUS!!! I never made cupcakes in my life nor was i a big fan of them. I am originally from Russia and we dont have these treats over there. I am going to a big party next week so i was thinking to make strawberries cupcakes to bring some freshness of summer to it. So i found ur recipe and tried my first draft. And it was perfect! My boyfriend who is american said that it was the best cupcake he ever tried! And he is not my best fan of my cooking:)
First i thought that the frosting was the way too much but when i put everything together and i had the first i realized that from that very moment strawberry cupcake is one of my favorite desserts!
I dint change anything in a recipe and did everything you said. I even made those strawberries dipped in chocalate:)
Thank you, Amy! Cant wait to try more of your recipes. Like old fashioned peach cobbler:)
Have a good day!
I’m so glad you liked them, Olga!
It’s always fun to try new recipes, so I’m glad you took the plunge to try these cupcakes! 
Happy baking! 