Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes.
I made these cupcakes four weeks ago today.
I’ve stared at these cupcake pictures everyday for four weeks.
I just don’t like these cupcakes.
I don’t know why. They never did anything to me. They were insanely delicious, that is not the issue. They have a sweet and slightly tart lemony base and the strawberry buttercream? Well… let’s just say that me and a spoon… we had a good time. The lemon buttercream? Love. It’s fabulousness plus twelve.
I’m just annoyed by these cupcakes. I want to chuck them out the window. But I want to eat them too. I want them to be prettier. But have less frosting. I want them to do a little dance for me, you know… a jig or something. But they just sit there. DO SOMETHING! Maybe I’m just doing some of that blah blah projecting or whatever. You know.
Bad news bears. Cupcakes don’t dance.
They are sort of like that boy in seventh grade… who is really nice to you… and is sort of cute… but kind of boring… and not adventurous… and sort of nerdy… and who your mom really loves, which just makes you not like him even more… and who asked you to dance then stood 8 inches away from you with his hands on your hips… and who is inevitably now a billionaire with three of the most gorgeous children you’ve ever seen… and all you want is the bad ass punk rocker with spiky black hair who goes through girls like socks. And then, when you’re 25, you realize that this boy was really nice and that you are whacked out and that your mom is always right. Yeah. These are like that.*
Perhaps I shall revisit these cupcakes in 5 years? That sounds about right.
Lemonade Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
grated zest of two lemons
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter, sugar, and eggs together until fluffy. Add vanilla and lemon zest.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients.
Pour into cupcake tins and bake for 20-25 mins at 350. Let cool, then frost.
Strawberry and Lemon Buttercream
2 sticks of butter, at room temperature
3 cups of powdered sugar + 1 cup extra
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 -1/2 cup chopped strawberries
grated zest of two lemons
1-2 tablespoons of milk (just have on hand if needed)
In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream butter until smooth. Add in powdered sugar slowly with the mixer on low, increasing to combine. Add in vanilla extract. At this point you need to separate the frosting in two. It all depends on how much you want to frost each cupcake. I choose to take about 3/4 of the mixture and make it strawberry, with the rest being lemon. Whichever you decide to do, leave the frosting for the strawberry IN THE MIXER. Put the frosting for the lemon flavor in a separate bowl.
For the strawberry frosting: once the berries are chopped, press them with a paper towel to just release any extra moisture. Add 1/4 cup of the berries and turn the mixer on high, scraping down the sides as you go. Being that strawberries have a high water content, you may need to add some (or all) of the extra cup of powdered sugar. This will depend on the water content of YOUR strawberries, so add 1/4 cup, then more sugar if needed. Repeat until desired flavor/consistency is readers.
For lemon frosting: take the remaining butter mixture and either add it to a clean bowl of your electric mixer or a bowl large enough that you can whisk with some elbow grease. Fold in lemon zest and add milk if needed. I was able to do this by hand with a whisk (whisking VERY hard), but it will also work with an electric mixer.
*My emotional instability and physical incapacity to love these cupcakes does not reflect their supercalifragilisticexpi deliciousness. Make them. They obviously deserve a good home.
137 Comments on “Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes.”
These look delicious! Kinda remind me of that new Frozen Strawberry Lemonade McD’s has out now…these are better. ;-)
bahahaa – oh my gosh, thiscracked me up. These cupcakes are the “good guy” of the baked goods world. Mix together peanut butter and chocolate (x3) and you’ll get the bad ass punk rocker dude. These are just a little too feminine? I don’t know. Do cupcakes have genders?
I think you hit the nail on the head!
Cupcakes totally have genders! A guy I dated once looked at me like I had 8 heads when I presented him with fluffy strawberry cupcakes, but he’d eat chocolate based ones to his heart’s content.
LOL! Love this.
ALL cupcakes are female. Fried foods are male, but come on, baked goods are most definitely girls! They’re the best stuff :)
Well i will take this recipe off your hands and consume these immediately
2 of my favourite things together, strawberry and lemonade
They are sooo pretty!!!
Kinda assumed the cupcakes were girls but i can roll with your seventh grade boy theory :D
I think cupcakes are girls too.
Wow, loving this idea! These look amazing!
I’ll take em off your hands (except they are 4 weeks old, might be gross). No matter!
Aimee
please, please send them to me. I will take care of them for you!
OMG. Strawberry Lemonade? Seriously? If it weren’t going to be so dang hot this weekend.. and I didn’t have to worry about frosting melting.. I would totally make these for the Memorial Day Picnic we are attending.
Iguess I will just have to keep them home.. and eat them all myself..
That just sounds terrible… having them all to yourself… :)
haha :) They don’t look boring to me at all! And the flavor combo sounds awesome- who doesn’t like strawberry lemonade? In baked good form? Yes, please! But yes….we all dated those guys…the bad ones…for wayyyy too long
Aw these don’t look boring at all! But then again I married the nice geek from high school so I guess I’m drawn to them?
Hahahahah aw!
These are so pretty! These would be so perfect for a little girl’s tea party. You could even add a sprinkle of raw sugar on top for added sparkle! They look great! :)
Thanks for my first laugh of the day! You are hilarious, Jessica!
Oh- and the cupcakes look delicious! :-)
You are too funny. I think they’re beautiful and I’m sure they taste amazing!
Lemon makes anything better!
official cupcake of summer!
When I was younger, all I dated was the bad boys. It’s like I was a sucker for punishment.
Now, of course, I am married to a 37 year old man but actually deep down,I suspect he is 157. If we are judging by his personality most times ;). I wonder if these things are related?
Cupcakes look fab, if you don’t want to eat them, I will eat them for you. Just trying to be a good friend.
Bahaha – love the disclaimer
omg, the dancing thing is so true! i remember my first ever “slow dance” with a boy in, like, 8th grade. We were as far away from each other possible :)
ah look great!! :D next time for less frosting, just put both frostings side by side in ONE pastry bag and it’ll come out in a swirl! Perhaps your relationship with them will be better after that :]
I’ve wanted to try that. I’m just scarrred.
oh psh! You’re Jessica! Dont be scared,its easy, just get a tip you like, I prefer the rly big ones to little ones.. such as the “9” series so itd be liek 809 829 849 869 stick it n a bag, put one icing on each side and wah-la! swirly goodness.. I believe in you ;]
These look really yummy!! :D
Ohhhhh…this post made me laugh. Thank you. :-)
I think you need to spike these with some tequila:-)
Yum! Thanks for sharing. We all have those boys that we wished we would have listened to our Mom’s about.
One person’s nerd is another person’s hottie! I’ll give this a try and see which end of the spectrum it lands for me :)
I don’t know why you wouldn’t like these cupcakes, they sound fabulous–like a refreshing drink, only in cupcake form :)
Hysterical post. Love the comparison…totally can relate. Had my fair share of bad boys until I actually listened to my mom–I married the nice boy. : )
Hmmm, just add vodka….no wait, they are cupcakes. Well, still just add vodka, as alcohol smoothes the edges on any bad date….
If you’re going to be throwing these out the window, I’ll be standing outside with my mouth wide open to catch them!
I think these cupcakes look amazing! I love lemon anything!
hey, just thinking about how you could “jazz up” the cupcakes to either make them prettier or have less icing…though i never think you could have too much and they look adorable as is! you could get some of the glitter sprinkles cake decorators use and you could either swirl the lemon and strawberry icings together and then add a little red and yellow shimmer on top, or you could use a little layer of both icings and have the same effect. it also might be really cute to dye the cupcakes a pinkish color kind of like strawberry lemonade…
peace and love to you today!
I like lemonade…And I like cupcakes…I think I’d get along with these just fine! They look very pretty and summery!
These look like a perfect holiday weekend treat – exactly what I need to kick off the summertime! Though I guess my bikini will not be happy about that…
I still don’t get it…how are you & Mr. How Sweet not ridiculously fat?!? I want to eat everything you post. I don’t, however, want to gain 50 lbs. ;)
these would be perfect for my daughters bday coming up in a few weeks… or they would be good to just make b/c it’s thursday. :)
Thursdays are for cupcakes!
they look beautiful and i love that you shot them on WOOD! Rustic meets delicate. Such a great contrast!
well–i think they look delish~~i have all the ings. to make them…i will let ya know when i get them made and eat them!!! not that you need my confirmation that they are good???
Let me know if you like them! :)
There is not one single girl who read this post and didn’t immediately picture their own version of that boy you described. I know I did. And I bet if you asked my mom, she’d be picturing the exact same boy I was.
Too funny.
Hahaha my mom? Same.
haha! You’re too funny!
Look at that fluffy icing and cake! mmmmmm :)
PS I’m always happy to rescue a neglected cupcake ;)
Ahhh! These look fantastic. I am incredibly obsessed with anything strawberry lemonade, and I am so psyched to try it in cupcake form!
And I’m preeeetty sure that geeky guy is the one I’m marrying. :D
Strawberry lemonade is one of my favorite non-alcoholic drinks to order when at a restaurant, so I can only imagine how much I would love these cupcakes. Oh and btw, have I ever told you that reading your blog cracks me up?
Mine too!
Don’t be too hard on the cupcakes, they have feelings too you know. :)
Y’know what you could do to make there be less frosting but still have the contrast? (It’s a bit of hassle but totally worth it when everyone thinks you’re a genius at the end) Take three piping bags (I use disposable ones which are so handy), put the nozzle inside one bag and then put the other two bags inside that bag as well. Then put the strawberry frosting in one inside bag, the lemon frosting in the other and ta da, stripey frosting.
I know, I want to try this!
I love me some lemon! Combine with strawberry for a double win. These scream summer..they also are screaming my name ;)
You’re adorable. I love that you’re comparing recipes to boys. I do that all the time too so it makes me feel a little less weird. I know what you mean though. There are some recipes I make and I know they are good and usually garner compliments from others, but that just don’t do it for me for whatever reason.
Isn’t that weird?!
These look so good, there are beautiful! I can only imagine they are just as refreshing as a tall glass of lemonade at the end of a long day! :)
Can’t wait to try these. They are too cute and look so yummy!
I’ll give them a good home! I just posted lemonade cookies today! How weird!? Haha! :-)
Maybe it’s the area. ;)
I am head over heels for anything lemon, so these look fantastic. But it you wanted the look of less frosting, you could put the lemon frosting inside the cupcake and top it with the strawberry? Just a suggestion, cant wait to try these :)
Might try that!
These sound and look absolutely delightful!!
Yum! I love love love lemons. Must try!