Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting.
Why can’t you just all agree? I took a poll on Twitter and Facebook last night because I couldn’t decide if I wanted to share a savory or sweet recipe with you today. Yes, I’m indecisive. Sometimes. Yes, it’s annoying. Always. I’m glad the dating portion of my life is over.
You guys were alllll over the board! Especially you – yes you – my friends who said to combine savory and sweet! Oh, you’re funny. Cute. Ummm… that wasn’t an option. And here’s a little secret: I hate to break it to you but these pictures sure don’t come out of my kitchen at 9 o’clock at night. I have MUCH more important things to do at that time, like engross myself in reedonkulous reality dating TV shows and eat animal cookies out of the trash.
Just kidding!
No, seriously… I’m really kidding. But on Saturday I did make Mr. How Sweet throw away a full 5-pound container of animal crackers that he bought months ago and hasn’t touched. I’m just staring at it while it sticks out of the trash can because really… have you ever tried to stuff a 5-pound plastic rectangle into an oval hole?
Don’t answer that.
So yeah. The only savory + sweet recipe development that happens in my kitchen at 9PM is when I crush a peanut butter filled pretzel into brownie fudge ice cream. And I don’t regret it.
If you haven’t X-ed out your browser by now, then you’re wildly aware that today is SWEET. And pink.
I like pink things.
I like pink things so much that I ate all of the strawberries before taking a picture of them. But those are technically red… soooo yeah. You know what I really like that is pink? Strawberry cake. The good strawberry cake – I’m talking about that southern strawberry cake – the one that you’ve searched high and low for on the internet, the one that is impossible to create from scratch, with no readily from-scratch recipes available, so you end up buying the strawberry jello mix and adding it in the cake because it’s just sooo good. And there is nothing else like it. I know. Trust me. I know.
Well, this isn’t that. I’m not going to claim that these are as delicious as that… because I can’t tell a lie. What they are is fluffy vanilla cake made with fresh strawberries. Good stuff. Fresh. Fruity. Fabulous. And topped with really messy coconut frosting! Double like.
Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped strawberries
1-2 tablespoons milk, if needed (I did not need/use this)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add flour, baking powder and salt with the mixer on low speed, then gradually increase speed. Add in chopped strawberries and beat on medium speed until the strawberries break down – about 1-2 minutes. At this point, the strawberries most likely have enough liquid that you don’t need to add any milk to the batter. If you batter seems dry and is not like typical cake batter (see 1st picture above), then add milk 1-2 tablespoons at a time, beating until incorporated.
Pour into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 of the way full, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until cake is set. Let cool, then frost.
Note: I would not suggest using frozen strawberries because of the high water content. If you must, make sure they are completely thawed and as dry as possible. Even the fresh strawberries have a high water content, so if yours seem very wet, blot them with a paper towel. Also, if you can get your hands on some strawberry extract, it would probably be delicious in these. You can also add some food coloring if desired to give it the bright pink look.
Coconut Frosting
2 sticks of butter, softened (1 cup)
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar + more if needed
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of coconut extract (if you don’t have this, no big deal)
1-2 tablespoons of lite coconut milk
3/4 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixture until completely smooth and creamy. With the mixer on low speed, add in powdered sugar slowly. Gradually increase mixer speed and add vanilla and coconut extracts, then beat for 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl. If frosting is too thick, add coconut milk 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached If it’s too thin, add powdered sugar gradually until it thickens. Fold in shredded coconut and mix until just combined.
I’m wordy today. If you made it this far, I love you.
181 Comments on “Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting.”
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You had me giggling several times throughout this post. These cupcakes looks fantastic, particularly with this coconut frosting.
Oh yes! These are right up my alley. I really need to make cupcakes soon. The problem is that I love cupcakes and I eat them all :)
You had me at Strawberry!
Ok, so tell us about your selection of backdrops (specifically, this cement looking cupcake one!) I know you were not out in your driveway at night taking pictures of your luscious looking cupcakes, were you? You have so many fun textures for which you bestow your amazing creations upon, my favorite being the dark metal looking beaded (placemat? me thinks!) I look forward to your daily additions (while my daughter gets in trouble at work for enjoying your blog!) She could actually lose her job over YOU. Now how do you feel? We’ll let you know when that happens. Thank you for brightening our days. My daughter, Jenni, and you would be friends in real life, as if this is not, haha! :)
Hahaha thank you so much Sherrie! I do have a bunch of different placemats – the beaded one you are talking about came from Kohls. However, these pictures I actually took at my parents house out on their front porch which is painted a grayish color. You can see the paint chipping in the pics and and color on the porch is from my mom’s flowers. :)
Wow. Strawberries with coconut. I never thought of that combo before. How is it with smoothies. Im a smoothie girl. Ill have to give it a whirl. thanks for the great idea!
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Question: I’m pretty sure it’ll work but I can use this recipe without using strawberries, right? We ran out of strawberries at my house and I can’t get any more until around 5 but I really want to use this recipe now lol. So I was thinking I make 12 regular ones then 12 strawberry ones later.
Yes you can, but you will probably need to add about 1/2-1 cup of milk. I would start with half and then adjust accordingly to the batter!
I’m making this right now (but with a vanilla butter cream frosting) for my sister’s 23rd birthday tomorrow and they smell AMAZING!
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Made these today. They’re pretty tasty, but not strawberry enough for me. Going to take your suggestion and try with a little strawberry extract next time!
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These were posted just in time – my cousin turns 7 today and ALL she wanted for her birthday were strawberry cupcakes!
you are amazing.
oh yum! what a perfect cupcake…and that coconut frosting…kill me now!
Made these for the 4th along with your funfetti cupcakes….fantastic. You have not steered me wrong in the cupcake dept. Keep them coming! (tried the peanut butter ones a couple of weeks ago too)
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I made these cupcakes the other day for a party and everyone loved them! The strawberries really keep the cupcake moist! The coconut frosting is to die for too!
These cupcakes look freakin awesome, and I totally can’t wait to make them this weekend =) Quick question: if I was going to use strawberry extract in the cupcakes, how much should I use and when should I add it to the batter? Thanks!!!
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I was looking for a coconut frosting, stumbled upon yours.. and OMG, I have to say thats the best frosting ever. It’s the frosting of all frostings. I just made this, and was sitting there by myself in the kitchen just licking away at the frosting. Thank you!!!
love the idea of fresh strawberries, and seriously drooling over these!
Love the natural colour and flavour in these! But mine came out quite very moist. I mean the outside was perfect. Nice crust and all, but the inside stayed a little moist. I was worried it might be too moist. How moist are they supposed to be?
Hi, these cupcakes look amazing. I just have one quick question about the batter recipe; What kind of flour did you use? Cake flour or All purpose flour?
All purpose!
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I made this recipe today…by far the best cupcakes I have made! Thank you.
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These are adorable! Cupcakes are just so cute, PINK cupcakes are even better. I made these a few days ago and substituted some ingredients to make them dairy-free (I’m lactose-intolerant). They came out beautifully! Now that it is spring I have become obsessed with baking fruit-based desserts… these are no exception. Thank you for sharing such a great recipe :)
I’ve featured them on my new blog too, princessinthekitchen.wordpress.com, please feel free to check it out!
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I made these a while back and they were PERFECT. I used a chocolate cream cheese frosting instead of coconut and it was great. My uncle wants a strawberry cake for his birthday, is this recipe easily transferable to cake form?
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I just made this for my birthday cake, it is one of the best cakes i have tasted!!! (:
I was wondering if you can use unsweetened coconut in the icing? Thanks!!
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I’ve made these cupcakes twice (but with strawberry frosting too!) and they’re delicious! My only question – could I double it and make a two-layer cake, do you think? Thanks!
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These were horrible! I jut made them for my daughters 5th birthday and they couldn’t be any worse. They were like a terrible strawberry muffin. I am so disappointed.
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These are amazing! They’re that good that my Mr is going to be taking some in his lunch tomorrow and he doesn’t even care that I put a little pink food colouring in the cake batter and some pink sugar crystals on top haha :P
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