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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!
Click Here for the Cupcake Recipe
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
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
Directions:
- Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add in the cream cheese and beat until combined.
- Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined.
- 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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I am making my daughters annual strawberry birthday cake and wanted a cream cheese frosting recipe. This one is great but one adaptation takes care of the problem of it being too runny. Put the strawberry puree in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil, stir often until puree is reduced by at least half. I turned it down low and stirred now and then over about an hour. It would go faster at a higher temp with stirring more often. Cool completely.
Debbie-
Thanks so much for stopping by with your tips.
-Jamie
Hi Jamie,
came across your website.u make amazing cakes and cupcakes. Tomorrow is my son’s 5th b’day I’m planning to do your best chocolate cake as well as the strawberry sensational frosting. In he ingredients list you have mentioned slightly cold firm butter with cold cold confectioners sugar. what do you mean by that. Can you help me? Really appreciate your help!
Agal, I mean that both ingredients should be cold to help stabilize them. Refrigerate or freeze the confectioner’s sugar before you use it.
– Jamie
How much confectioners sugar is needed for the recipe? ?
Hi Evelyn,
As it says in the recipe, it’s about 1.4 lbs. Confectioner’s Sugar comes in 2 lb bags, so that is typically how I measure it, with a scale.
-Jamie
Just made this recipe for a box of doctored up strawberry cupcakes! it came out great. as miranda said, cream cheese frosting can be very tempermental. what works for me is to use a mixer for beating the butter and cream cheese. but i mix the confectioners sugar and extract in by hand, in an effort to not overmix.
love it…thanks
Marche,
Wonderful to hear that you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you so much for stopping back to share your experience. Have a great day and thank you for following MBA!
Jamie
would this make enough frosting for a 13×9 cake or should i double it?
Hi Ashley,
I think this would probably make enough frosting if you’re only covering the top of the cake. If you’re making a layer cake, double it.
– 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
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
Hi, I tried the strawberry cream cheese, but the end product is very soft and wet, why?
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
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!