I purchased a bunch of really great strawberries from the market and I wanted to do something with them before they were past their prime. I did a little googling and came across a recipe on Martha Stewart’s site for Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes. I am sure most of you are aware of Sprinkles Cupcakes, but if you are not, they are one of the first cupcake boutique~type bakeries in California. They offer a pretty extensive menu of flavors that rotates throughout the week. Sprinkles has become such a huge phenomenon, they now offer their mixes which can be purchased from their website or at Williams Sonoma and even have a Sprinklesmobile which delivers cupcakes in the Beverly Hills area.
Now on to the cupcakes…this recipe is very straight forward and easy to make. I put the strawberries in my Magic Bullet and had the strawberry puree done in a snap. The cupcakes baked up evenly and had a good texture. I found them to be a bit on the dry side, but Bri’s co-workers raved over them!
The true star of these cupcakes was the frosting, which I adapted from the Sprinkles recipe. I threw in a brick of cream cheese in place of a stick of butter and made a few more minor adjustments. This frosting came out amazing and according to others tastes like homemade strawberry ice cream.
Although I believe the cupcake recipe needs a little tweaking, this frosting will remain a regular in my kitchen…I think it would be amazing on a layered cake or as a filling for strawberries! Thanks for stopping by…have a great day!
Oh, and congratulations to Nina, of Nina’s Cupcakes for winning my ice cream giveaway!
Click Here for the Cupcake Recipe
July 6th, 2009
Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole strawberries
1 stick unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, slightly cold
1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
22 ounces of confectioners’ sugar (approximately 1.4 pounds)
Directions:
1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter on medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. Add in the cream cheese and beat until combined.
4. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined.
5. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended.
Notes:
- Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air.
- The frosting is able to be piped, but is on the soft side and definitely needs to be refrigerated!
- adapted from Martha Stewart
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{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
I will have to try that frosting. I love strawberry everything!
You're right! The frosting looks soo delicious! I love strawberries, so I'm going to have to try this soon!!
Those are LOVELY. I'll definitely need to make them soon.
The cupcakes look gorgeous…what's not to love about a pink cupcake! And the frosting looks delicious! Funny you mention the cupcakes being a little dry. When a Sprinkles bakery came to Dallas, everyone freaked out and waited in line for an hour to buy a high-priced cupcake. But when the local food critics weighed in, they all agreed that the cupcakes were too dry and the frosting was too sweet. I haven't tried them, but that's the scuttlebutt around here!
mmm… looks adorable! Nice touch with the cut strawberries on top.
If you are looking for a super moist strawberry cupcake recipe, try Anne Byrn's strawberry cupcake recipe.
I blogged mini versions here: http://testone2three.blogspot.com/2009/03/strawberry-on-strawberry-mini-cupcakes.html
But I've also made the recipe as a layer cake and it was fantastic that way too.
Oh they look delicious. I've love to try and make strawberry frosting.
These sound simple and they are adorable–I love them! I am very jealous you have a magic bullet, too, I'm always so enthralled by those commercials.
Holy cow.. these look fantastic. I am so trying them. LOVE strawberry frosting too and this sounds PERFECT!! They are so very pretty.
Oh wowow they look great! I want some!!
Perfect, really perfect!!! I am going to have to try that frosting! YUM! thanks
they look smooth, creamy and delicious!
Mmm…. looks good!
Your frosting sounds yummy with the addition of cream cheese which makes most things yummier.
I made these cupcakes before and found that they shrunk a bit and didn't really bake "up" much but were pretty good overall. I thought Paula Deen's recipe better actually but that's just my opinion.
Congrats to the winner!
~ingrid
These are beautiful, and the frosting looks wonderful! I have a couple of pink-lovers in my house, and these will be a huge hit!
oh your strawberry frosting looks splendid! I had a hand at making up my own strawberry frosting with strained preserves but quickly found out that wasn't great for the stiff consistency of the buttercream. I was just given my first and then second martha stewart cookbook and will definitely be trying you cream cheese substitution for the butter! Keep on rockin' the awesome photography and I'll keep coming back! ciao!
Your cupcakes look so gorgeous! I made these recently and the frosting was definitely the thing that everyone loved the most!
I have a TON of strawberries and was trying to think of something good to do with them before they went bad … looks like I hit the jackpot here! I LOVE sprinkles frosting recipes, and I can't wait to give your adaptation a shot!
Yummy! I love your pink polka dot cupcake liners too. Very appropriate. Thanks!
I’m not a bit fan of Sprinkles but I’ll give these a try. They look and sound delicious.
i have been looking for a good strawberry frosting and i think i found it in this recipe! I was originally gonna use Martha Stewart’s strawberry buttercream, but i like the sound of the cream cheese much better!! do u think by decreasing a small amount of cream cheese and substitute with a small amount of butter will make the frosting a bit firmer to pipe? also does the frosting taste like cream cheese at all or the cream cheese just gives the frosting a creamy texture?
thanks!!
I would like to make this..but the link for the candied orange is broken. Help!
http://therepressedpastrychef.com/home/2008/7/27/candied-orange-slices.html
Sorry – I had meant to post this on the orange cheesecake recipe here:
http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/orange-cheesecake/
Thanks.
I absolutely LOVE the Sprinkles strawberry cupcakes. I actually have about 6 (with a strawberry mousse filling) in my fridge now, hehe. I’ll definitely try this recipe to go along with them. Usually I never make any frosting to go with them as they are delicioso without, lol.
I prepared this strawberry frosting with Ina Garten’s chocolate cake recipe for a family gathering at my sister’s last week. I cannot tell you what a hit it was! It went perfectly with chocolate and everyone was so impressed by the taste of the frosting… Especially those few there who are not fans of cream cheese! Go figure!
This is definitely a special recipe. Thank you for sharing!
My frosting was a goopy mess. I refrigerated overnite and that did not help. Any ideas?
Leticia-
Cream cheese frosting will naturally be thinner in consistency than an American Buttercream, but I’m uncertain what you mean by goopy. If it’s too thin, you can try to add a little more confectioners’ sugar or refrigerate it to thicken it up. Hope this helps.
-Jamie
these look great! want to make them into a large layer cake for a dinner i’m having, and was wondering about how much frosting this recipe makes? i was planning on doubling the cupcake recipe so am not sure if i should double frosting as well. thanks!
Thanks for sharing this recipe, Jamie! It was a huge hit at my son’s birthday party. Your piping is much better than mine, but I hope I did it some justice over at http://www.ladiesholiday.com/2012/02/indulge.html.
This was soooo yummy. A great alternative to the store icing that has 25+ ingredients. Thanks for posting the recipe!!
I agree that the Sprinkles cupcake is a little dry. I find many cupcake recipes with butter are dry. I tried making it with oil instead of butter and they were much better. I love your adaptation! Definitely tasted like homemade strawberry cream cheese! Delish!
Hei i love the idea and I’m definitely going to try this frosting, I just have a question about the ingredients. I live in Switzerland, we have the metric system here. Now I figured out most of the ingredients, but how much is a stick of butter? I’m sure the sticks here in Switzerland are a different size, could you give the amount of butter in oz.? That would be awesome
Thank you and thanks for the great ideas
Elena-
Hi! One stick of butter equals 4 ounces. I hope this helps.
-Jamie
Hi, I tried the strawberry cream cheese, but the end product is very soft and wet, why?
i agree with the other girls here that the frosting is thin, wet and impossible to pipe. I followed the recipe to a tee and I have made all sorts of rosting before, never seen one this wet before. It tasted EXTREMELY delicious, its a pity it couldnt get on the cakes. No amount of icing sugar or refrigeration made it better, even freezing does not work.
Clara-
I’m sorry you had an issue with this recipe.
-Jamie
Loved this recipe! Made it this morning- and while it is a tad thinner than a buttercream, mine piped with no problems. And it was hard to keep from sticking my head in the bowl to lick it clean. It really DOES taste like a strawberry ice cream.
I do find that sometimes cream cheese frosting can be temperamental – depending on how warm/cold your cream cheese is, and honestly even the brands can make a difference. I use full fat Philadelphia and never have a problem.
Great recipe, as usual!
Miranda-
I am so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe – thanks so much for reporting back! Have a great weekend!
-Jamie
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