Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

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Strawberry buttercream is both colorful and flavorful, and the best part both are completely natural thanks to freeze dried strawberries. It tastes just like a strawberry milkshake, but in frosting form.

The frosting is what takes a good dessert to great. This strawberry frosting is easy to whip up and is perfect for piping or spreading over your favorite treats.

Making fun new frosting flavors is one of my favorite pastimes. There are endless possibilities and it is fun to mix and match the different types with all different kinds of cookies, cakes, and more.

This strawberry buttercream is no different. Just think how good it will be on chocolate cupcakes or fluffy white cupcakes.

I had a couple ideas for cupcake recipes I had been wanting to try. But a batch of buttery vanilla cupcakes seemed like the perfect way to showcase this frosting.

Getting Bold Strawberry Flavor in Frosting

The easiest way to add big fruit flavor to an American buttercream base is to add freeze dried fruit. That way you don’t have to worry about the liquid that comes along with a puree, but you still get a really natural fresh fruit flavor.

If you add fresh strawberries, even if they are cooked down, you will need more powdered sugar to balance out the additional moisture content.

Even if you use strawberry jam, it has a tendency to make the frosting curdle a bit. That can be fixed by adding more powdered sugar, but then you risk getting a frosting that is too sweet.

Processing freeze dried berries down to a powder not only gives you a really smooth frosting, but it gives big concentrated flavor without adding any liquid. In fact you can use it to replace some of the powdered sugar, which helps to balance both the texture and the flavors.

If you want a strawberry lemonade feel, use fresh lemon juice to thin out the frosting rather than milk or cream helps accentuate the berry flavor as well. That tart balance with the sugar makes the final product really sing.

Tips for Making Strawberry Frosting

Use a food processor or blender to make the freeze dried berries into a powder. If you plan on piping it, you will want to get them processed to a pretty fine consistency.

For a super smooth consistency, you can put the powder through a mesh sieve to get the seeds out. The seeds don’t bother me, so I opted not to do that.

Make sure your butter is at room temperature. Cold butter can leave chunks, whereas properly softened butter will ensure you end up with smooth frosting easily.

Use the paddle attachment rather than the balloon whisk on your mixer. That will allow you to still get fluffy frosting without having huge air bubbles.

Be sure to scrape the sides of your mixer bowl a few times along the way. You don’t want ingredients sticking to the sides of the bowl.

Beat your buttercream on medium speed for at least 3-4 minutes to make sure the frosting is fluffy. Then drop it down to low speed for 2 minutes to get out any big air bubbles.

Turn any frosting you have leftover into delicious buttercream truffles. The strawberry frosting really adds a nice fruity pop and goes perfectly with the chocolate shell.

They may just become your new favorite homemade candies. If you didn’t have a good excuse for making a double batch of frosting before, you do now! 

Have you ever tried a fruity frosting? What’s your favorite kind?

Frequently Asked Questions

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Homemade Strawberry Frosting

Carlee

American buttercream that is packed full of strawberry goodness. It tastes like a strawberry milkshake in frosting form! 🍓

4.94 from 16 ratings

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 0 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 24 Servings

Calories 131 kcal

Equipment

• I cupcake Frosting Pullover Hoodie
• Freeze-Dried Strawberries, 0.8 Ounce

Ingredients

  

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• ¾ cup butter softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 Tablespoons half and half cream or milk
• 1.2 ounces freeze dried strawberries

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Instructions

 

• Beat butter until light and fluffy, at least 2 minutes. 
• Add powdered sugar vanilla, salt and a Tablespoon or two of milk or cream.  Add more milk or cream as necessary to get a nice smooth frosting.  Beat at least 3 more minutes. 
• Process the freeze dried strawberries in a blender or food processor until they are a fine powder. 
• Mix the strawberry powder into the frosting.  Adjust the final texture with a little more powdered sugar or milk as necessary.
• Use right away or store in an airtight container. 

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1ServingCalories: 131kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 1gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 75mgSugar: 18g

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Thanks for sharing!