Strawberry Buttercream – An easy and beautiful pink frosting filled with fresh strawberries. Perfect on cake, cupcakes, brownies and more!
Oh, hi! It’s just me, bringing you a bowl overflowing with swirly pink frosting. Wouldn’t you love to drag a spoon right through that deliciousness up there? Strawberry Buttercream frosting is what spring and summer dreams are made of. Let’s put it on anything and everything. K?
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
This Strawberry Buttercream became a regular in our dessert rotation once our daughter decided at the ripe age of 2 that she was obsessed with all things PINK! Since she has a summer birthday I have made it a tradition of always serving Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting at her birthday celebrations.
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.
Update: I recently started using freeze dried strawberries in order to make this frostig when strawberries are not in season. Crush freeze dried strawberries until they form a powder (I use a food processor), then sift out the seeds and add the powder into the frosting. The freeze dried strawberries add a deeper, more intense strawberry flavor, they also make the frosting a bit darker, too. If you can’t get freeze dried strawberries, you can leave them out – just make sure your fresh strawberries and sweet, ripe and juicy.
Strawberry Buttercream
- Butter
- Powdered Sugar
- Fresh Strawberry Puree
- Freeze Dried Strawberries (optional, but highly recommended)
- Strawberry Jam
- Vanilla extract
The above ingredients are combined using a hand mixer or stand mixer until smooth, creamy and fluffy. You can easily adjust the consistency by adding more strawberry puree to thin it out or more powdered sugar to thicken it up.
Now to the big question… What should we put this Strawberry Buttercream Frosting on?
Strawberry Cupcakes
Brownies
Chocolate Cupcakes
Sugar Cookies
Vanilla Cake or Cupcakes (box mix or homemade)
And more!
Strawberry Buttercream
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup freeze dried strawberries
- 5-8 fresh strawberries
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened, (12 tablespoons)
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy, plus more if needed
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 generous tablespoon strawberry jam
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.Add the fresh strawberries to the food processor (no need to clean it out) and process until smooth (you will need 3 tablespoons of strawberry puree).
- 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, 1/2 a cup at a time, beating until combined.
- Add freeze dried strawberry powder, 3 tablespoons strawberry puree, vanilla extract and jam, and 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 strawberry puree to thin it out. Place in a piping bag, or use an offset spatula to frost cake or cupcakes.
Teresa H says
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 says
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 says
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 says
Fantastic! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Saeeda says
Hi, if you wanted to use all powder and no real strawberries, what would be the measurements for that? Thanks.
Celebrating Sweets says
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 says
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 says
You only need what will fit in a 1/2 cup measuring cup (unless you are doubling the recipe). Enjoy!