Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

These Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes are light, fluffy, and flavorful! Moist strawberry cupcakes are filled and frosted with lemon whipped cream cheese frosting. Keep this delicious cupcake recipe in mind for spring and summer!

Table of Contents

Ingredients

Here's a quick look at some of the key ingredients for our strawberry cupcakes and lemon whipped cream cheese frosting. You can find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post!

Strawberry Puree- Fresh or frozen(thawed) strawberries work well in this recipe! No need to heat in a saucepan, just run them through a food processor or blender.
Strawberry Extract (or powdered Strawberry Jello) For an added boost of strawberry flavor! Use 2 teaspoons of strawberry extract OR 2 tablespoons of powdered strawberry jello.
Cake Flour has less protein than all purpose flour, which results in less gluten formation. This makes for a softer, more tender cake.
Unsalted Butter We use softened, unsalted butter in this recipe. Using unsalted butter gives us more control over the amount of salt in the recipe. The butter should be softened just to the point that it easily dents when pressed.
Sour Cream Adds richness and moisture to the cupcakes without thinning the cake batter.

For the Frosting

Whipping cream or heavy cream
Powdered sugar
Lemon zest and lemon extract
Softened cream cheese (full fat) adds richness and also helps to thicken the consistency of the frosting.

How to Make Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

For this recipe, we are pairing lemon whipped cream cheese frosting with our homemade strawberry cupcakes recipe. (If you prefer to work with doctored cake mix recipes, you can substitute our strawberry cupcakes from a box!)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
In a medium sized bowl, add these dry ingredients: cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to blend for 30 seconds. Set aside.
In another bowl combine these wet ingredients: sour cream, strawberry puree, strawberry extract and vegetable oil, blend and set aside.
In the bowl of your mixer blend the butter until smooth. Gradually add the white sugar and mix on medium speed 3 to 5 minutes until fluffy and lightened in color. If using pink coloring gel, you can add it now or at any time during the mixing process.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yolk is blended
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (3 additions of dry ingredients, 2 additions of wet ingredients.)

Photo grid of four photos taken during the preparation of the strawberry cake batter.

Mix just until combined. Scoop batter into cupcake pans that have been prepared with cupcake liners. We usually add about ¼ cup batter per cupcake.

Strawberry cupcake batter in the cupcake liners.

Bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
These cupcakes will have very little to no dome, just as with the majority of our scratch cake and cupcake recipes.

For the Lemon Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Today's recipe is the lemon version of our whipped cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese in the recipe adds flavor and richness, but also acts as a stabilizer for the whipped cream.

Whipping cream is whipped into stiff peaks with an electric mixer (chill the bowl and beaters first!) and then combined with a mixture of softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon extract, and lemon zest.

This light and creamy frosting is lemony and delicious, and is great for piping. You can add a touch of yellow coloring gel if you'd like to give it a more lemony appearance.

Lemon Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting in a bowl.

Decorating the Cupcakes

You can decorate these cupcakes however you'd like! We kept things very simple today by swirling our frosting onto the cooled cupcakes using a disposable piping bag fitted with a 2D piping tip.

We topped each cupcake with either a slice of strawberry or small wedge of lemon.

Strawberry lemonade cupcakes on a platter, topped with swirls of lemon whipped cream cheese frosting and topped with sliced strawberries and lemons.

Refrigeration

Because of the frosting, these Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes need to be refrigerated (in an airtight container or sealed bakery box, etc.).

However, for the very best flavor and especially texture, it is best to remove from the refrigerator 1-2 hours before serving. This will allow time for the cake and frosting to warm and soften.

Cupcake FAQs

Yes, because of the cream cheese frosting, these cupcakes should be refrigerated. However, for the best flavor and texture, remove them 1-2 hours before serving. This will allow time for them to warm and soften.

We prefer to use sweetened coconut in baking as it is softer and more moist than unsweetened.

Yes, just as with most of our cakes and cupcakes, from our orange cake recipe to vanilla cupcakes, Funfetti Cupcakes and more, these freeze perfectly.

Once the cupcakes have cooled to warm or room temperature, line them on up a cake cardboard, cover them all as one in a sheet or two of plastic wrap followed by foil. Freeze for up to three months.

To thaw, move the cupcakes, still wrapped to the kitchen counter. We go ahead and loosen the wrapping after about 10-15 minutes. Thaw to desired amount for decorating.