Julie Clark
Updated:
Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Need a quick dessert? These easy Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes filled with strawberries make a light and refreshing summer dessert.
Strawberry season is upon us and it’s time for all things strawberry bread and strawberry sauce. But what better way to use those fresh berries than by making these amazingly delicious strawberry shortcake cupcakes with cake mix.
This is the perfect cupcake for all of your summer picnics, potlucks and reunions. It’s a cupcake that is light and refreshing is on a hot day.
About this Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes Recipe:
- Flavor: The cupcake is a simple vanilla flavor, but that pairs nicely with the fresh strawberries inside. The frosting has cream cheese which makes it rich and cuts the sweet slightly.
- Texture: This recipe starts with a box cake mix, but has sour cream added in to make it extra moist and rich. The frosting is smooth and creamy, so the only texture you’ll find is in the strawberries themselves.
- Method: It’s not always fun to turn on the oven in the summer, but that’s what you’ll need to do to bake the cupcakes. Thankfully they cook quickly in about 22 minutes and have a quick frosting piped on top.
WASC Cake Recipe
This cupcake recipe is very similar to WASC cake recipe (White Almond Sour Cream). I use vanilla extract in the cupcakes, but you can use almond if you’d like.
The cupcakes start with a box cake mix, but added sour cream makes them bake up moist and rich. You’d never know they were just semi-homemade. It’s my favorite white cake recipe!
Can you taste the sour cream in the cake mix? No, but this will help make your cake rich and creamy and make it taste like a bakery cake.
Cake Ingredients
Yes, these strawberry shortcake cupcakes start with a cake mix. If you prefer, you can make a from-scratch white cake instead. If you need a shortcut, this jazzed up box cake mix is the way to go!
You’ll only use the whites of the eggs for the purest white color and fluffiest texture. Save the yolks for an omelet or make frozen custard.
How to Make Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes
- Prepare. Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line muffin pans with paper liners (you’ll need about 36) and set them aside.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl whisk the dry ingredients together: cake mix, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and salt.
- Add wet ingredients. Slowly, add in water, sour cream, egg whites, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Mix until everything has been combined.
- Fill and bake. Add batter into the lined cupcake pan, filling 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or the center bounces back when you touch it.Remove from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack.
- Make the strawberry filling. In a medium bowl mix together chopped strawberries, strawberry jam, and honey.
- Fill the cupcakes. Using a small paring knife, cut out the center of the cupcakes and spoon strawberry filling into the center. Add top back to the cupcake to hold filling in.
Make the Cupcake Frosting
This recipe uses a combo of both butter and shortening as the base. This is to help prevent the frosting from tasting too buttery. You can use all butter if you’d like.
Clear vanilla keeps the frosting pure white, but if you don’t have clear vanilla, pure vanilla extract will work fine.
- With an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer (with the paddle attachment), mix butter and shortening until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add in milk and vanilla extract. Slowly, add in confectioners’ sugar a little at a time. If frosting is too thick you can add 1 teaspoon of milk until you have reached the texture, you are looking for. Mix frosting for another 3 minutes using the whisk attachment.
- Use a pastry bag and a large piping tip (I recommend Wilton 2A, 1M, 6B, and 2D) to pipe swirls of vanilla buttercream on top of the strawberry shortcake cupcakes. Layer them with strawberries if you’d like.
Recipe Variations
- Add a strawberry crunch topping: Crush about 20 Golden Oreos into a medium size bowl. Add in 3 tablespoons of strawberry Jello powder and 1⁄4 cup of melted butter and mix together. Sprinkle strawberry crunch over frosting before serving the strawberry shortcake cupcakes. (And then try our strawberry crunch poke cake!)
- Use a strawberry cake mix. It’ll give an extra boost of strawberry flavor to the strawberry shortcake cupcakes.
- Triple Berry Shortcakes. Add blueberries, raspberries or blackberries for a triple berry, multi-colored cupcake.
- Switch up the buttercream frosting. Make a cream cheese frosting, cool whip cream cheese frosting, or simply just use whipped cream.
Storage Instructions
Because of the fruit filling, the strawberry shortcake cupcakes are not the best for freezing.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge. These are best served the same day so that they don’t get too moist in the center.
Other Strawberry Shortcake Recipes
Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes
Need a quick dessert? These easy Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes filled with strawberries make a light and refreshing summer dessert.
Servings 36
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes
Cooling Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 17 minutes
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients:
- 1 box white cake mix 15.25 ounces
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 130 grams
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 grams
- 1 cup water 8 ounces
- 1 cup sour cream 225 grams
- 4 large egg whites room temperature
- 1/3 cup heavy cream 2.67 ounces
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 grams
Strawberry filling
- 1 cup fresh strawberries diced
- 1/3 cup strawberry jam
- 2 tablespoons honey 42 grams
Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature, 8 ounces
- 1 cup shortening 190 grams
- 5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream 75-90 grams
- 2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract 10 grams
- 5-6 cups powdered sugar 650-780 grams
Instructions
Make the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line muffin pans with cupcake liners (you'll need about 36) and set them aside.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk the dry ingredients together: cake mix, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and salt. 1 box white cake mix, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon salt
- Slowly, add in water, sour cream, egg whites, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Mix until everything has been combined. 1 cup water, 1 cup sour cream, 4 large egg whites, ⅓ cup heavy cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add batter into the lined cupcake pan, filling 2/3 full.
- Bake in preheated oven for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or the center bounces back when you touch it.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack.
Make the filling:
- In a medium bowl mix together chopped strawberries, strawberry jam, and honey. 1 cup fresh strawberries, ⅓ cup strawberry jam, 2 tablespoons honey
- Cut out the center of the cupcakes and spoon strawberry filling into the center. Add top back to the cupcake to hold filling in.
Make the frosting:
- With an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer (with the paddle attachment), mix butter and shortening until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. 1 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup shortening
- Add in cream and vanilla extract. 5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, 2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
- Slowly, add in confectioners' sugar a little at a time. If frosting is too thick you can add 1 teaspoon of milk until you have reached the texture, you are looking for. Mix frosting for another 3 minutes using the whisk attachment. 5-6 cups powdered sugar
- Add frosting to a piping bag with a large tip (Wilton 1M or 2D) and pipe frosting on top of the cupcakes. Layer with sliced strawberries to decorate.
Notes
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge. These are best served the same day so that they don’t get too moist in the center. Because of the fruit filling, these are not the best for freezing.
- Refer to the article above for more tips and tricks.
Nutrition
Calories: 291kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 144mg | Potassium: 42mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 261IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 1mg
