Desserts Recipe ~ Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

These strawberry lemonade cupcakes are a beautiful summer treat.

Ingredients

• 12 ounces strawberries, chopped, or more to taste
• 1 ½ tablespoons white sugar, or to taste
• 2 ¾ cups sifted cake flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 ¼ cups white sugar
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon strawberry extract
• ½ cup 2% milk
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1 tablespoon 2% milk, or as needed
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 strawberries, sliced, or more to taste

Cooking Directions

1. Place strawberries in a medium bowl. Cover with 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar and refrigerate, 2 hours to overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
3. Mash strawberry and sugar mixture with a potato masher, or pulse gently in the bowl of a food processor until strawberries are chunky. Strain strawberries over a bowl, reserving juice.
4. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
5. Beat butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until pale yellow and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing for about 1 minute after each egg and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Mix in vanilla extract and strawberry extract.
6. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the milk, blending well and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.
7. Fold in strawberries and 5 tablespoons strawberry juice with a wooden spoon until well incorporated and you can see bits of strawberry showing throughout the batter. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
8. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops of the cupcakes are a lovely golden color and they spring back when pressed, about 18 minutes.
9. Cool in muffin cups for 5 minutes. Remove from tins and finish cooling on a wire rack, about 30 minutes.
10. While the cupcakes are cooling, combine powdered sugar, butter, milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer; whip until creamy.
11. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes and garnish each with a strawberry slice.

Nutrition Facts

• calories377.5
• carbohydrateContent54.4 g
• cholesterolContent77.7 mg
• fatContent16.7 g
• fiberContent0.9 g
• proteinContent3.6 g
• saturatedFatContent10.2 g
• sodiumContent226.7 mg
• sugarContent36.2 g