These cupcakes are a perfect summertime treat! They are a yummy combination of fluffy vanilla cake, fruity strawberry filling, and rich creamy buttercream. They’d be great for a summer birthday or pool party!
This recipe is pretty involved and has a lot of steps, becuase you have to make the cupcakes, icing and filling all from scratch, and then you have to assemble them all. But it’s definitely worth the work for all the yummy, tasty cupcakes!
You can check out my instagram post from a while ago to see how I like to fill and ice these cucpakes. I hope you like them!
Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 box vanilla cake mix
- 1 box vanilla instant pudding mix (3.4 oz)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
Buttercream
- 3/4 cup butter
- 2 cups vegetable shortening
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp vanilla flavoring
- 32 oz powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp water (and maybe a little extra)
Strawberry Filling
- 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries (plus more for garnish, if desired)
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
- Add all cupcake ingredients to bowl of stand mixer. Turn mixer on lowest setting and mix until combined. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix on medium to high speed for 1-2 minutes.
- Scoop dough into cupcake liners, filling each about halfway. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from cupcake tins to cool.
Buttercream
- Soften butter and add to bowl of mixer with the shortening, vanilla, and salt. Beat on medium speed until combined. Scrape down sides of bowl and then beat on high for 2-3 minutes.
- While mixer is on low speed slowly add powedered sugar until combined.
- Warm the water in microwave and add to mixer on low speed. If icing is too thick add a little extra water. Scrape down sides of bowl one more time and mix on high for 2-3 minutes or until icing is smooth and fluffy.
Strawberry Filling
- Mix water and cornstarch in bowl and set to side.
- Place strawberries and sugar into saucepan over medium heat. Whisk and continue heating until mixture starts becomes liquidy and starts to bubble. Continue heating and whisking until sugar is dissolved, about 3-4 minutes.
- Slowly add the cornstarch mixure while whisking to avoid clumps forming. Keep whisking over medium heat until well combined. Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Take about 1/2 cup of the icing and mix it into the strawberry filling.
Assembly
- Fill each cupcake with some of the strawberry filling. If the filling is too runny, you can add a little more icing.
- Ice each cupcake with the buttercream. Garnish with a strawberry slice right before serving, if desired. Enjoy
Notes
- You should get at least 24 cupcakes out of one batch, usually I get a few extra.
- You could use frozen or fresh strawberries for the filling, but if you use frozen strawberries, I recommend letting them thaw and chopping them before making the filling.
- I like to squirt the filling in directly with a piping bag. You could also scoop out the center of the cupcake and spoon the filling in, but I think the piping bag method is less messy.
- You could also substitute the buttercream for my cream cheese buttercream for an even richer cupcake
- If you garnish your cupcakes with strawberries, be sure to place them on the cupcakes right before serving, otherwise the strawberries will run and the cupcakes will become messy.