This beautiful Strawberry Buttercream Frosting is naturally colored and filled with real strawberries. This easy frosting is loaded with flavor and it comes together in minutes. The perfect topping for cake, cupcakes, brownies, and more!
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting is what spring and summer dreams are made of. But, good news – you can make this frosting year round. You’ll want to put it on anything and everything.
This Strawberry Buttercream became a regular in our dessert rotation six years ago when we used it on our Strawberry Cupcakes.
This is the perfect way to make a pretty pink frosting without any food coloring. Yep, you read that right – no food coloring. Real strawberries bring the beautiful pink color to our frosting. And every bite is bursting with the flavor of sweet fresh strawberries.
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Ingredients needed
- Unsalted butter
- Powdered sugar
- Freeze dried strawberries
- Vanilla
- Strawberry jam
- Milk OR fresh strawberry puree (more on this below)
Recipe overview
Start by grinding the freeze dried strawberries into powder. Pour it through a fine mesh sieve and discard the seeds. You will be left with a fine pinkish/red powder that will add tons of strawberry flavor to the frosting.
Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter until smooth, Add powdered sugar and beat until combined.
Add the freeze dried strawberry powder, jam, vanilla, and milk/strawberry puree.
Beat until smooth and combined.
Ingredient spotlight: freeze dried strawberries
Freeze dried strawberries are strawberries that have low water content and are dried out and crispy. They can be found on the dried fruit aisle (I get mine at Target or Whole Foods). Note: they are not dried strawberries which are soft and chewy (like a raisin).
Because they are dry they allow us to add a deep, more intense strawberry flavor without adding too much moisture which could make the frosting thin and runny.
Pulse the freeze dried strawberries in a food processor or blender until ground into a fine powder.
Can you use fresh strawberries?
Yes! I love making this recipe with fresh, pureed strawberries. Just pop 5-10 strawberries in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. You’ll need 2-3 tablespoons of strawberry puree and you’ll use it in place of the milk to thin out the frosting.
Make sure your strawberries are juicy and sweet otherwise they won’t add much flavor.
What to put strawberry frosting on?
More frosting recipes
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Recipe
Strawberry Buttercream
Ingredients
- ¾ cup freeze dried strawberries
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy, plus more if needed
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 generous tablespoon strawberry jam
- 2 tablespoons milk OR 5-8 fresh strawberries*, plus more if needed
Instructions
- In a small food processor, blend freeze dried strawberries until they turn into powder. Pour the powder into a fine mesh sieve, discarding the solids and seeds, keeping the fine powder that came through the sieve. Set the powder aside, you should have a scant ¼ cup.
- With a hand mixer, or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl and the beater as necessary. Add the powdered sugar, ½ a cup at a time, beating until combined.
- Add freeze dried strawberry powder, vanilla extract, jam, and either 2 tablespoons of milk OR 2 tablespoons strawberry puree. Beat on medium speed until fully combined, being sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beater as needed. If necessary, adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar to thicken, or more milk or strawberry puree to thin it out.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Teresa H
Just made this for some strawberry cupcakes for a baby shower, this recipe is amazing! I’m allergic to strawberries and usually don’t mind not having any, but I tried a tiny bit and now I’m sad I can’t have more . Everyone at the baby shower LOVED it, especially the mommy-to-be (strawberry was her request) and was so shocked there was no artificial flavors.
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad everyone enjoyed it! Sorry to hear that you weren’t able to. 🙁 Thanks for taking the time to comment! -Allison
Jennifer M
This recipe work wonderfully. I actually needed to use raspberries versus strawberries. Because raspberries have a deeper color it cane out a wonderful pink. Thank you! I’ll be using this again!
Celebrating Sweets
Fantastic! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Saeeda
Hi, if you wanted to use all powder and no real strawberries, what would be the measurements for that? Thanks.
Celebrating Sweets
Maybe increase to 3/4 cup freeze dried strawberries. You’ll also need some liquid, preferably milk or half and half, add it in step 3. Start with 1 tablespoon and add a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Enjoy!
Tasha
This is probably the dumbest question ever, but I just bought the ingredients to make this frosting this weekend. It calls for 1/2 cup of freeze dried strawberries so I bought two 2 oz bags. Am I using both bags or just a 1/2 cup measuring cup? Sorry, I’m a brand new to baking and I’m a bit confused because the 2 oz bags are way more than can fit in a 1/2 cup measuring cup.
Celebrating Sweets
You only need what will fit in a 1/2 cup measuring cup (unless you are doubling the recipe). Enjoy!
Caroline
I love this recipe and tried using raspberries instead because I was out of freeze dried strawberries. I think that I almost like the raspberry version better because it is a little sharper and is a great contrast to a sweet cake!
Allison
Yum! I think the tartness of the raspberries sounds great. Thanks for sharing your experience. 🙂
Kim
Super easy and delicious. Thank you
Allison
You’re welcome! 🙂
Erin
Delicious! I used it on top of chocolate cupcakes.
Allison
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed it!
Jenn
Love love love this sassy strawberry buttercream frosting! Thanks so much for the recipe!