The Story:
I am a hopeless romantic.
They say the first step to recovery is admitting the problem, so there you go.
I love waking up and eating cereal under the covers.
The sound of rain on the windowsill makes me all gooey inside because I think about couples running out the door hand in hand to kiss under the thunderclouds.
I could watch sappy chick flicks all day long with a box of Kleenex and a cozy blanket.
Playing matchmaker is my new favorite hobby.
I save all the cute little notes and trinkets boys give me.
And I love helping my friends plan their weddings, bridal showers, receptions and I always cry watching their first dance as husband and wife.
Even though I’m allergic to these cupcakes (red dye problems) they are still the romance cupcake.
Strawberry Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
Strawberry Red Velvet Cake:
- 1 box red velvet cake
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 C. melted butter cooled
- 1/2 C. strawberries pureed in the blender
- 1/4 C. milk
- 2/3 C. sour cream or plain yogurt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/2 C. butter softened
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3-4 1/2 C. powered sugar
Extra strawberries for decoration
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.
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2. Sift cake mix into a small bowl and set aside.
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3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, butter, strawberry puree, milk, sour cream and vanilla extract.
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4. Add cake mix and stir.
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5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 16-22 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
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6. Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes. Add vanilla and 3 cups powdered sugar. Beat well. Slowly add in more powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
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7. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with strawberries.
Check out me and these cupcakes on Striving Onward!
Vanessa says
I have always wondered when you would put a strawberry cupcake recipe up 🙂 These are beautiful! They remind me of Valentines day which is my Anniversary with my husband. 🙂 Love these!
Jackie Gibson says
So pretty!
Carol says
Hi Lizzie. My frostings all collapse and don’t look as pretty as yours. It appears stiff when I stir it up but by the time I get the cupcakes to the fridge, the frosting is collapsing and looks more like a flat swirl. Any suggestions?
Lizzy Mae Early says
Are you using REAL butter? Has the butter ever been melted? The answers should be yes then no. Make sure to really beat your butter and cream cheese before doing anything else. Then beat in your powdered sugar. Be sure to use enough sugar too. You should be able to drag your spatula or finger through the frosting without it sinking back together. Then you know it’s ready!
Faith says
I used to have the same problem with my cream cheese frostings and got this tip from another cupcake blog: never use room temp butter or cream cheese (as most recipes say to). The key is that the butter is “softened” not room temp, just enough that you can slightly press your finger in it and not totally through it 🙂 I always use cream cheese right out of the fridge. Will need to beat them long enough to ensure there are no clumps, but this helps my cream cheese frostings stay stiff. Hope that helps! 🙂
Barbara says
Do you beat your frosting using a Kitchen Aid (stand) mixer? And if so… which attachment do you use?
Lizzy Mae Early says
Yes and I used the paddle attachment!
Hannah says
I used to have that problem and found out I wasn’t beating the butter long enough before I added other ingredients. The butter will turn a very light yellow when it is ready to add more ingredients. I would try to make buttercream and it would fall flat or break apart. Creamcheese is a very good stabilizer for frostings. Good luck!
deana says
I want to try this recipe without using a cake box mix. What do you suggest I do?
Lizzy Mae Early says
Use a read velvet recipe, I have a scratch recipe on the blog, and replace some of the liquid called for with strawberry puree! Good luck!
Beth says
Have you ever tried any of the red food coloring alternatives like using beets to get red coloring or raspberries or even beet powder?
Lizzy Mae Early says
You have to use fresh beets and then roast them to get the color. It can be done with takes a bit of prep work.
Beth says
I’ve tried fresh beets using some vinegar as well but the color still turns pink. I also heard dried hibiscus flowers work for the red coloring. Either way I thought you’d want to try it since you’re allergic so you can enjoy the fruit of your labor 🙂
Lizzy Mae Early says
Thanks! I usually don’t really eat what I bake. If I did, I would not be able to make it out the door! I get to feed neighbors, cute boys, and random strangers my desserts instead 🙂
Kellie M. says
So you didn’t soften the cream cheese, but you did soften the butter? Just wanted to make sure:)
Lizzy Mae Early says
Honestly, I usually always pull it right out of the fridge and throw it into the mixer. Just make sure you beat it well with the butter.
Lisa Birdsong says
I kept having a problems with my icing collapsing when I set it out and let it soften but now I set my butter out for only 10 minutes and use my cream cheese straight from the fridge. Now it comes out perfect.
Lizzy Mae Early says
Great to know! When I was in Oregon I would let my cream cheese set out but I live in a hotter place now, so I use it straight from the fridge. I think climate must play into it all!
Barbara says
Your pictures are sooooo good that I noticed something sparkly on the frosting. What did you sprinkle on the cupcakes for the bling?
Lizzy Mae Early says
It’s called sanding sugar, it’s a type of sprinkle and you can get it in all different colors.
Lauren says
So do you make the actual cake mix or do you just use the dry ingredient. Because the box also asks for three eggs. Just wondering if you make the cake mix also.
Lizzy Mae Early says
Use the dry mix as in ingredient!
transformyou says
I am such a big fan of your website. Your ctc cupcakes were the best EVER!
I can’t wait to try these ones out too!
Thanks for being such a stellar help to the cooking world!
Jen says
Hi Lizzy-
Is it a 1/2 cup strawberry puree or a half cup of strawberries pureed?
Thanks!
Lizzy Mae Early says
1/2 cup of the strawberry puree!
Beth says
Can I make this as a cake instead of cupcakes?
Lizzy Mae Early says
Of course!
Ginger says
Hi, these sound so interesting! Can you taste the strawberry in the cake? Sounds like a silly question but I wanted to ask before I made them for this particular occasion. They sound delicious but strawberry’s were the request. Thanks, I love your book and website! I am a big fan!
Lizzy Mae Early says
They do taste fruity! You can pair them with a strawberry buttercream to really get the strawberry taste!
Ginger says
Made them and they fell. I was so sad. So the next pan I cooked longer but they sunk in again? Weird but i still ate them and they were fruity and delicious! They came out really dense and heavy, is that normal? I know falling is not but just wondering about the texture! Thanks!
Lizzy Mae Early says
If it’s too dense for your liking you can use less sour cream! As for the falling… try putting your pan in the hot oven for 5 minutes and then pulling it out, putting in the liners and then the batter and baking them!
Kim says
Hi Lizzy. So, just to confirm something as I’d like to try this recipe this weekend – the box cake mix must just be used as a dry ingredient i.e. I must NOT actually make up the cake by adding the extras referred to on the box as well as your extra ingredients? I must just use the dry ingredients from inside the box and then add the extra’s referred to in your recipe. Correct? Many thanks.
Lizzy Mae Early says
Correct. Disregard everything the box says and just use the mix as an ingredient!
Kim says
Hi Lizzy. Just to let you know that I did make them this weekend and they were divine! Took them to a family get-together on Sunday and everybody loved them. The way that the strawberry puree is referred to in the recipe made me think that it was 1/2 cup strawberries pureed and so I probably used too little strawberry puree (as I note from someones question above that it was supposed to be 1/2 cup of puree strawberries), but no harm done, they were great anyway. I also used full fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and it worked perfectly. LOVE the idea of using box cake! Oh, and my box cake was 500g of dry mixture.
Melissa says
Um Hello Yes This May work I Will See On My Birthday Thanks !
Tarin says
If I wanted to add the 1/2 cup strawberry puree to any other recipe, which liquid should I substitute it for?
Lizzy Mae Early says
The milk or buttermilk!
cita says
Hi Lizzy, could I use frozen strawberries or dies it need to be fresh? And how much regular size cupcakes does this recipe make?
Lizzy Mae Early says
Frozen will be fine! Just make sure to drain off any water if you heat them and the ice on the outside of them melts.
Ashley W. says
I adore your website and recipes!! One question for you, though… HOW do you come up with these amazing concoctions ?!
Lizzy Mae Early says
Cupcakes and flavor combinations have turned into my life! I think about it all the time, hopefully the river of ideas doesn’t run dry in my head 🙂
erin says
How many cupcakes does this make?
Lizzy Mae Early says
20-24 depending on how big you make them!
tina says
hi like try making these cupcakes from scratch which liquid replace some of the liquid called for with strawberry puree!
Lizzy Mae Early says
You can replace it with part of the milk or buttermilk used in the scratch recipe!
Linda says
I am looking for a strawberry cake recipe for a 1/2 sheet cake and love the ingredients in this recipe. Sour cream makes such a difference in a recipe. I wanted to know what does the Red Velvet cake mix do for this recipe that the French Vanilla wont. I do use Duncan Hines cake mixes. Also I use your recipes for my home based cake business and they are amazing. .
Lizzy Mae Early says
The red velvet cake mix makes it red velvet, you can swap in a vanilla cake mix if you want!
Lidiya says
If I were to make the red velvet from scratch and use the strawberry purée in place of milk.. Would I only use the 1/2 cup called for in your recipe or would I need to match the amount of milk in the red velvet recipe?
Lizzy Mae Early says
I would use only about 1/2 or up to 2/3 cup strawberry puree and then use milk for the rest!
Nancy Norris says
Lizzy: I am making 100 Strawberry cupcakes this month with strawberry preserves piped in the center of the cooled cupcake, topped with your icing and a strawberry. Any idea what I should charge for these, since they are more involved than a standard iced cupcake? Help!
Madison says
I just wanted to clarify, since there are so many weights available at my food store, how many ounces are the boxes that you use for your cake mix? we have anywhere from 15.25 to 18.25 oz boxes and I can never seem to find out what size you’re using or how to adjust the recipe accordingly
Lizzy Mae Early says
I use 15.25 now! The only difference is the liquid amount!
Emily says
Hi. So I just made these and I ended up having way too much wet mixture. Maybe it’s a smaller box cake but we added and wet mixture to the dry mixture slowly but when they have come out of the oven they have more of a pudding texture still delicious but not exactly the desired effect. What size is the cake mixture you use?
Thanks
Emily
Lizzy Mae Early says
I used a box for 24 cupcakes!
Simay Arpaci says
Hey ! they look so beautiful and i am considering to make them tomorrow. But i will just need 5 or 6 cupcakes. How many of them could you be able to make with this recipe ? and what is your recommandations for 5 or 6?
Thank you already !
Jo says
How many cupcakes does this recipe make?
Thanks
Jo
Thy says
I have been eyeing your recipe for some time now and finally has time to make some. My cupcakes don’t really taste like strawberries. I use sour cream instead of Greek yogurt. My cupcake kind of taste like milk in a way.. What did I do wrong?
Amber says
If I was to make these Vanilla instead of Red Velvet I wouldn’t change anything besides the cake mix, right?
Marion says
HI! Can i use Strawberry food color instead of Red?
Jenny says
Hello! I want to make these for a friend, but I am wondering if they have any kind of chocolate taste to them due to the red velvet? She’s not a big chocolate fan. Thanks!!!
Sarah says
I don’t know what I did wrong but the cupcakes fell as soon as I took them out of the oven and I left them in longer because the toothpick never came out clean. Very frustrating, I don’t think I’ll use this recipe again.
Jenny says
Would you recommend serving these as soon as they finish? What do you think is their shelf life pre consumption?
Vicky says
I used the Betty Crocker Red Velvet mix and my cupcakes have all collapsed. Should I have added flour since this recipe included a lot more wet ingredients than what the mix instructed?
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