Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcake topped with strawberry frosting and a heart shaped strawberry.

If you're a fan of chocolate dipped strawberries these are the cupcakes for you. Fluffy chocolate cupcakes, strawberry buttercream frosting, and a special surprise inside!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Dessert

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 18

Total Time 58

Servings cupcakes

Calories 528kcal

Author Allison - Celebrating Sweets

Ingredients

Chocolate cupcakes:

1 cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
⅓ cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
½ cup boiling water
½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt (not non-fat)
½ cup vegetable or canola oil
2 large eggs
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup strawberry jam for filling

Strawberry frosting:

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 heaping tablespoon strawberry jam
2 tablespoons milk OR 5-8 fresh strawberries* plus more, if needed

Garnishes:

sliced strawberries, mini chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate ganache, or chocolate dipped strawberries. see note

Instructions

Cupcakes:

Adjust oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk cocoa powder, chocolate chips, espresso powder, and boiling water until smooth and combined (the chocolate chips should be completely melted). Add sour cream, oil, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. whisk until well combined. Add the flour mixture and whisk until combined. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
Fill the prepared muffin cups about two-thirds to three-quarters full. Depending on the size of your muffin cups you might have a few tablespoons of batter leftover. Bake the cucpakes for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached, but no raw batter. Be careful not to overbake. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and place them directly on the rack to cool completely.

Frosting:

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 all of the 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/strawberry puree to thin it out.

Assembly:

Use a small paring knife to cut a circle out of the very center of each cupcake. Insert the knife at an angle and cut about halfway down into the cupcake.
Remove the cone shaped piece of cake from the center and trim off the point, leaving a flat "lid" that you can place back on the cupcake.
Spoon about 2 teaspoons of strawberry jam into the hole in each cupcake, then press the reserved lid on top.
Frost the cupcakes using a piping bag fitted with the tip of your choice (I use a large open star tip) and garnish as desired (see note).

Notes

*To use fresh strawberry puree instead of milk to thin out the frosting, add 5-8 strawberries to the food processor or blender (after using it for the freeze dried strawberries). Process the fresh strawberries until pureed. You’ll need 2-3 tablespoons of fresh strawberry puree.

Chocolate ganache garnish (optional): Microwave ⅓ cup chocolate chips with 2 tablespoons heavy cream until melted and combined (this happens quickly, about 25 seconds or so). Cool slightly. Transfer to a small ziptop bag and snip off the corner of the bag. Drizzle the ganache on top of the frosted cupcakes (as pictured).

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