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Sweet & Tangy Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes start with fluffy, moist lemon cupcakes and are topped with a fresh strawberry frosting!
Nothing says summer like a cool glass of Homemade Lemonade, or even better – Strawberry Lemonade! These Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes bring that delicious summer flavor, but in cupcake form!
Summertime in a cupcake
I absolutely love strawberry lemonade because it’s like summertime in a glass and pretty in pink. And whenever there’s a delicious flavor combination – I always want to make it into cupcake.
These strawberry lemonade cupcakes are moist, perfectly fluffy, and bursting with fresh fruit flavors. The cupcakes have a delicious slightly tangy lemon flavor. Then we’re using fresh berries for the frosting. Isn’t strawberry season the best?
These have the perfect flavor combination. The hint of tanginess and fresh lemon flavor, moist cupcake crumb, and creamy strawberry frosting – I hope you love them as much as I do!
Making Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
PREP. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line a 12 cavity muffin pan with muffin papers.
DRY INGREDIENTS. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt.
WET INGREDIENTS. Then in a large bowl using an electric mixer beat together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until fluffy. Add in the egg whites and vanilla extract and continue mixing until combined.
COMBINE. Turn the mixer down to low speed and mix in about ½ of the sour cream followed by half of the flour mixture. Then turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Repeat with the rest of the sour cream and flour mixture. Then turn off the mixer and stir in the lemon juice. Be careful not to over mix.
BAKE. Spoon the batter into your prepared muffin pan, filling each muffin paper about â…” to ¾ full. You’ll end up with 12-14 cupcakes total. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting
PREP. Core the strawberries to remove the green centers. Then puree in the food processor or blender until smooth. Then push the puree through a wire sieve to remove the seeds. You should have about ¾ cup of puree.
BOIL. Transfer the puree to a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil while gently stirring. Allow the mixture to boil for about 15-20 minutes, or until the mixture has reduced to about ⅓ to ¼ of the original volume (about ¼ cup). The thicker your puree is, the thicker your frosting will be.
CHILL. Remove from the heat and allow mixture to cool fully. You can place it in the fridge or freezer to speed up the process.
BEAT. In a large bowl beat the butter until fluffy, then beat in about 1.5 cups of the powdered sugar. Then turn the mixer down to low and beat in 2-3 tablespoons of the reduced strawberry puree. The mixture must be cold when it’s added to the frosting, otherwise the frosting will separate. Once added, beat in the rest of the powdered sugar and the whipping cream if necessary.
FROST. Frost the cupcakes either with a piping bag (I used a 1M tip) or with a knife.
Storing Info
Make ahead: These cupcakes can be made a day ahead of time, covered, and stored in the fridge before serving. If you want to make these cupcakes farther in advance you can store them separately and then assemble before serving.
STORE frosting in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
STORE cupcakes in an airtight container on the counter for 2-3 days or in the fridge for about 5 days. To FREEZE them you’ll want to individually wrap them and store them together in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 6 months.
And for more favorite strawberry treats:
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes
- Strawberry Shortcake Bars
- Strawberry Shortcake Poke Cake
- Frozen Strawberry Dessert
- Strawberry Cookies
Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
Ingredients
Lemon Cupcake
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon zest freshly grated
- 3 large egg whites (you can discard the yolks)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream room temperature
- 3 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed*
Strawberry Frosting
- 8 oz fresh strawberries
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream if needed
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line a 12 cavity muffin pan with muffin papers.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt.
- Then in a large bowl using an electric mixer beat together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until fluffy. Add in the egg whites and vanilla extract and continue mixing until combined.
- Turn the mixer down to low speed and mix in about ½ of the sour cream followed by half of the flour mixture. Then turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Repeat with the rest of the sour cream and flour mixture. Then turn off the mixer and stir in the lemon juice. Be careful not to over mix.
- Spoon the batter into your prepared muffin pan, filling each muffin paper about ⅔ to ¾ full. You'll end up with 12-14 cupcakes total.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Strawberry Frosting
- Core the strawberries to remove the green centers. Then puree in the food processor or blender until smooth. Then push the puree through a wire sieve to remove the seeds. You should have about ¾ cup of puree.
- Transfer the puree to a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil while gently stirring. Allow the mixture to boil for about 15-20 minutes, or until the mixture has reduced to about ⅓ to ¼ of the original volume (about ¼ cup). The thicker your puree is, the thicker your frosting will be.
- Remove from the heat and allow mixture to cool fully. You can place it in the fridge or freezer to speed up the process.
- In a large bowl beat the butter until fluffy, then beat in about 1.5 cups of the powdered sugar. Then turn the mixer down to low and beat in 2-3 tablespoons of the reduced strawberry puree. The mixture must be cold when it's added to the frosting, otherwise the frosting will separate.
- Once added, beat in the rest of the powdered sugar and the whipping cream if necessary.
- Frost the cupcakes either with a piping bag (I used a 1M tip) or with a knife.
Notes
**I recommend storing these cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am making these with my Culinary Arts kids, and I reduced the temp to 325 for my convection ovens. They all fell, any idea why? Trying them this next period with the original oven temp. I am not a baker by trade, so I don’t always know why a baking recipe doesn’t work out.
In general, overmixing cake batter, overfilling cupcake liners, and baking at high altitudes are all common reasons cupcakes fall. Since you specifically mentioned using a convection oven, here are a couple of additional ideas to consider:
Convection ovens can dry out delicate cupcakes and set their exterior too quickly, potentially causing the center to sink before fully baking. To counteract this, try baking at 325°F again, but start checking for doneness with a toothpick test at 13-14 minutes. If your oven allows, consider using a “Convection Bake” mode (which often uses a lower fan speed) or even turning the convection fan off for this recipe to see if a conventional bake works better.
Hopefully, this helps, and your culinary kids get successful results!
Great recipe for lemon cupcakes! I didn’t have fresh or frozen strawberries but did have freeze dried, so I ground those finely and then made a normal cream cheese frosting and stirred in the freeze dried strawberries. It was incredible.
Ooh that sounds yummy!! Thanks for sharing what you did! So glad you enjoyed the cupcakes!
Discard egg yolks?! At least you could propose an idea what to do with them like a flan or something. And the video that pops up with a dead naked chicken I don’t want to see that while reading the ingredients for cupcakes moreover being vegetarian. No way to stop this video.
I made these this weekend for a graduation party for my husband. They turned out amazing! The strawberry and lemon flavors really popped and you could truly taste the lemon. On its own, the frosting is a bit sweet, but when added to the acid of the lemon cupcake it creates a perfect blend. The frosting technique was also fun to practice. Would make again!
Yay!! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the cupcakes and they turned out so well!
If I could give this 10 stars I would!!!!!! This was soooooo good. I made them and took them to church tonight. It got rave reviews from the 14 people who were there. I will definitely be making this again!
Oh thank you!! I’m so happy to hear the cupcakes were a hit! Thanks for sharing.
The taste was amazing – truly tasted like fresh lemon and REAL strawberries. We had a family cupcake bake-off and these took first place! Yes, they were time consuming, but worth it. I think we overmixed them, though. Our cupcakes were very dense, not fluffy and moist. Overall, lots of fun, great recipe.
Thanks so much for your feedback! I’m so glad to hear the cupcakes were a hit!