Spring is finally here! That means that it’s pretty much time for fresh berries and all those great flavours for baking. These strawberry & white chocolate cupcakes might not use fresh strawberries, but they still have all the flavour with no artificial extracts! Plus, they’re topped with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting, which is so smooth and light it’s irresistible! Seriously, I’ve been eating it by the spoonful!
As I’ve mentioned before, I can’t eat any fruits or most veggies, hence why I was so excited to try these strawberry and white chocolate cupcakes. After all, if the fruit is freeze-dried, then ground in to powder, maybe it doesn’t count? It probably does count but who cares – these are so good, and the strawberry flavour? Incredible.
They aren’t that hard either, I promise! The cupcake recipe itself only takes one bowl! It’s based on my Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cupcakes recipe. You can even mix it by hand, so no dirtying hand or stand mixers – that’s just more washing up that nobody needs. Most of the work is in presentation.
Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled:
- take the centres out of the cupcakes (pro tip: use a cupcake corer! They’re cheap and they make it so much easier!)
- fill them with jam. No need to pipe it, just spoon it all in!
- put the centres back in on top of the jam. Yes, you do want to put the centres back in instead of just nibbling on them while you do this! The centres hold the jam inside and stop the frosting from gradually collapsing in to the hole too.
- make the white chocolate cream cheese frosting. This part takes slightly longer as there are a few different steps to making the frosting, but it’s worth it I promise!
- Finally, put the frosting on the cupcakes, and devour them (as well as any leftover frosting; I might be guilty of that…)
I know that the recipe for the frosting might make some extra. This depends on how much you like on your cupcakes, but I promise it’s worth it!
How to use up leftover frosting:
- spoon it on to graham crackers/digestive biscuits – it tastes like cheesecake mix!
- dip fruit in it! It’s especially good with fresh berries
- eat it by the spoonful. No judgement here, I’ve been doing the same.
And when I say that these are irresistible, I’m not lying! 8 people have taste-tested them for me, and all of them absolutely loved them. Even my mum, who supposedly doesn’t like white chocolate adored them – I’ve converted her in to a white chocolate and strawberry fanatic!
If you like the flavours, but want a milder strawberry taste, then that’s easy too – just use 10 grams of freeze-dried strawberry powder instead of 30! Personally, I wouldn’t swap the white chocolate for milk or dark. Although if you do try it then please let me know what you think! You might need a little more sugar though – perhaps try 65 grams for milk chocolate and 80 grams for dark? I’m guessing though, don’t hold me to that!
If you make these strawberry & white chocolate cupcakes, tag me in a photo on instagram, twitter or facebook – I’d love to see! You can also find me on pinterest or subscribe by email for updates whenever I post a new recipe!
Strawberry & White Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Moist and crumbly cupcakes full of white chocolate pieces and freeze-dried strawberry powder, filled with strawberry jam and topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting. They're easy and full of fruity Spring flavours.
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 80 grams (3/4 stick) butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 105 grams (2/3 cup) plain flour, sifted
- 30 grams (1 oz) freeze-dried strawberry powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 115 grams (scant 4 oz) white chocolate, good quality, very finely chopped
- 60 grams (approx. 4 tbsp) strawberry jam, to fill the cupcakes
For the white chocolate cream cheese frosting:
- 55 grams (1/2 stick) butter, softened
- 115 grams (4 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 110 grams (scant 4 oz) white chocolate, good quality, broken in to pieces
- 150 grams (1 cup) icing/powdered sugar, sifted
- strawberries, to decorate, optional
Instructions
For the white chocolate and strawberry cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and place 10 cupcake cases in a tray.
- Add all ingredients except the jam to a bowl and beat until just combined. Do not over-mix.
- Fill the cake cases around 2/3 of the way, around 1 1/2 - 2 heaped tsp of mix in each.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes or until just cooked through. Remove from the tray and place them on a wire rack to cool.
- Once completely cooled, use a cupcake corer to remove the centres from each, being careful not to remove too much. Spoon strawberry jam in to the holes, and then place the centres back on top to hold the jam inside.
For the white chocolate cream cheese icing:
- Use a double boiler (or heatproof bowl over a saucepan part-full of water), melt the white chocolate gently until smooth. Remove from heat to cool.
- Using a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the cream cheese and beat until fully incorporated, then add the lemon juice and mix in. Gradually increase the mixer speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the cooled white chocolate and beat until fully mixed in. Mix in the icing sugar gradually and gently using a spoon. When well combined, use the hand mixer to beat on high speed until smooth and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- If your frosting is still too thin, let it chill in the fridge for 5-10 minutes before frosting the cupcakes.
- After frosting the cupcakes, top with slices of strawberry. Frosted cupcakes can be stored in the fridge for 3-5 days. Un-frosted cupcakes can be kept at room temperature.
Notes
- Freeze dried strawberry powder: I simply bought freeze dried strawberry pieces and then used a blender on high speed to turn them in to powder.
- For a milder strawberry flavour, use 10 grams instead of 30.
- You can use freeze-dried raspberries for this instead, and in that case, use raspberry jam to fill them instead.
- White chocolate: I used good quality white chocolate, and chopped it all to pieces less than half the size of a regular chocolate chip. You could grate it to achieve this as well. Some of the white chocolate became so fine that it was powder-like - this is ideal.
- Coring the cupcakes: I used a cupcake corer to remove the centres. You can buy them in most craft shops or online. Or, you could attempt to core the cupcakes by hand with knives and/or teaspoons.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 cupcakeAmount Per Serving: Calories: 439Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 84mgSodium: 284mgCarbohydrates: 51gFiber: 1gSugar: 40gProtein: 5g
All nutrition values are an estimate and may vary.
If you’re looking for more sweet recipes, try my quick and easy mini cinnamon roll bites . They only take around 25 minutes and are absolutely delicious! Or, if you’re looking for more Spring recipes, then try my foolproof fresh herb risotto or light olive oil spaghetti with tomatoes and courgette. Both are delicious, easy, and make use of all the beautiful ingredients just coming in to season!
Linking this post to Baking Crumbs hosted by Apply To Face Blog and Jo’s Kitchen Larder
I love making cupcakes and these look yummy. I’ll be giving them a go.
ok! If you do try them, I’d love to see a photo of how they turned out for you! You can tag me in a photo on twitter, facebook or instagram if you like – I’m sure they’ll be delicious!
These look and sound amazing Hannah! I haven’t tried freeze dried strawberries before but can imagine that they give the cupcakes lovely and intense strawberry flavour and that gorgeous jam surprise in the middle, yum! Cream cheese frosting is by far my favourite type and added white chocolate finishes it off beautifully. Fantastic cupcakes! Thank you for sharing with #BakingCrumbs 🙂
Thanks Jo! Freeze dried strawberries have such a pure, intense strawberry flavour that they’re great for using in cupcakes – especially as regular fresh strawberries would also add a lot of water to the mix! Plus, grinding them into powder makes sure that the whole cupcake tastes of strawberry rather than just getting chunks of strawberry – I’m really glad you like the look of them!
Oh wow, these look delicious, perfect with a nice hot cuppa
Absolutely! They really do taste as good as they look too!
These look amazing. I’ve just made a coffee and now really want one!
They really do go perfectly with a nice warm drink! Plus, they bring such a lovely taste of Spring and Summer that they’re just irresistible this time of year (especially if it isn’t particularly warm where you are!)
Oh wow these look and sound absolutely delicious! Strawberries and Raspberries are two of my favourite flavours and I love the sound of the white chocolate and strawberry combo! Will be definitely giving these a try with the kids next weekend so thanks for sharing!
Thanks Jess! You can use either strawberries, raspberries or a mix depending on which one you can get most easily freeze-dried (amazon is great for that sort of thing!), and the cupcake corer is so much fun for kids to help with!
These look and sound delicious Hannah! I haven’t baked with dried strawberries or raspberries before but often stare at them on the supermarket shelf and think I must find a recipe for them! So feeling inspired! Thank you so much for sharing them with #BakingCrumbs
Thanks! This was my first time experimenting with freeze-dried fruit, and I must say that I regret not trying it sooner – the flavour is slightly different than fresh, but certainly not worse – just different! Using dried berries also means you can reduce the sugar a little more than the amount most cupcakes use (although there’s plenty of white chocolate to top it up!)
These look so good. I love the flavour freeze dried fruits add and a cream cheese frosting is very much my cup of tea – Yum!
I’m glad you like the look of them! They really do taste delicious – freeze dried fruits are such great ingredients!
What a delicious combination!
I’m glad you like the look of them – white chocolate goes so well with strawberries that I just couldn’t resist them!
YUM!! These look and sound amazing! I need to try and make them ASAP. Thanks for the recipe!
XO, Katie
I’m so glad you like the look of them – they’re so delicious that they never last long, plus they’re so quick to whip up!
These look so fresh and delicious! A real treat
They really are! The freeze-dried strawberries add so much delicious flavour, and the jam and frosting really do just tie it all together into the perfect cupcake!
oh these cupcakes look so good, I love strawberries and you’ve made them even better.
I’m so glad you like the look of them! They really are delicious – freeze-dried strawberries add such a great texture and flavour!
It is very good for my family’s health
It is easy to cook
I’m afraid that these aren’t actually particularly healthy, although they are delicious! I’m glad that you found them easy to make though!
These sound amazing. I love the idea of the secret jam – yummy!
I’m so glad you like the idea! Filling them with jam is such a nice little touch and it only takes a few minutes too – way less fiddly than I expected!