Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes

5 from 5 votes

This easy recipe for moist homemade Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes is going to become your new favorite! Flavorful vanilla cupcakes with a simple cream cheese frosting and a yummy, fruity strawberry crunch topping.

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Total Time55

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 664kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Vanilla Cupcakes

113 g Unsalted butter at room temperature
150 g Granulated sugar
2 Egg at room temperature
2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
120 g Whole milk at room temperature
185 g All purpose flour
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon White vinegar
½ teaspoon Baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting

230 g Cream cheese full fat (33%+) e.g. Philadelphia, use it cold
115 g Mascarpone full fat (41%+), use it cold
60 g Powdered sugar sifted

Strawberry Crunch

110 g Golden Oreos
20 g Freeze dried strawberry
30 g Unsalted butter Melted but not hot. Butter is needed to create the bigger chunks, but it can be left out if aiming for a more sandy texture.
Pinch of salt
Few slices of fresh strawberries to decorate

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Vanilla cupcakes

Line a cupcake tin with muffin liners and preheat the oven to 350℉ (175℃), no fan.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the room temperature eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the room-temperature milk. Mix only until combined—do not overmix.
In a small bowl, stir together the vinegar and baking soda. It will foam up, so quickly fold it into the batter just until incorporated.
Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling each about three-quarters full.
Bake for 20–22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Avoid overbaking, as it can dry them out. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack before adding any filling or frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Whip together the cream cheese, mascarpone, vanilla and sifted powdered sugar using an electric hand mixer. Once the frosting reaches a fluffy, pipeable consistency, stop whipping to avoid it becoming runny.

Strawberry Crunch

Start with the melting butter in the microwave, then let it cool slightly while preparing the crumbs.
You can make the crumbs using a food processor or by placing the cookies and dried strawberries in a ziplock bag and crushing them evenly with a rolling pin.
Then, add a good pinch of salt to balance the sweetness. Finally, add the melted but not hot butter to the mixture. The butter acts as a binding agent, creating bigger chunks.

Assemble

Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, pipe the frosting generously on top. Then, gently press the frosted tops into the strawberry crunch mixture, turning slightly to ensure the crunch sticks well and covers the frosting fully. Finish by decorating each cupcake with a fresh strawberry on top.
Serve the cupcakes fresh. Any leftovers can be stored covered and refrigerated for 1-2 days.

Video

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES:

Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy.
All ingredients for the cupcake must be at room temperature to properly emulsify: eggs, milk, etc..
Do not skip the white vinegar+baking soda "secret ingredient" for the most perfect moist cupcakes:)
For the frosting, make sure you use high-fat content cream cheese and mascarpone. Low-fat dairy products won´t whip up properly.

TECHNIQUE NOTES:

While whipping the cream cheese frosting, pay very close attention to the consistency and stop whipping immediately after it gets fluffy. Overbeating would result in breaking the cream and instead of becoming stiffer, in fact, it will get runnier.
Never frost warm cupcakes; make sure they are chilled to room temperature.
Be careful not to break down the cookies and freeze-dried strawberries too much. You want the texture to be crumbly, not like dust.
Check whether the frosting is stable enough before proceeding with dipping it into the crunch

Nutrition