These delicious Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes are made with a super moist and flavorful cupcake batter, decadent cream cheese frosting and a crispy crunch topping full of sweet strawberries. It's one of our favorite summer treats along with strawberry brownies, 3-ingredient mango popsicles and s'mores pie.
They make a tasty treat for birthday parties, holidays, Mother's Day and any celebration in between. Mermaid Cupcakes, Shark Attack Cupcakes and Red, White and Blue Cupcakes are also some of our much-loved cupcake recipes for fun holidays and parties.
Our strawberry crunch cupcake batter is made with strawberry syrup, not strawberry extract, to give it a ton of strawberry flavor but to keep it easy since syrup is generally easy to find and not too expensive. Our cream cheese frosting is out of this world, using a mixture of savory butter and sweet cream cheese and powdered sugar, plus vanilla extract to enhance the flavor. And the strawberry crunch topping really puts the icing on the cake!
Table Of Contents
Ingredients
To make strawberry crunch cupcakes you need:
- Strawberry syrup
- All-purpose flour
- Plain yogurt: either Greek or traditional (homemade yogurt is the best!)
- White sugar
- Unsalted butter
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Milk: any type of milk works, including non-dairy milks
- Olive oil: or vegetable oil
- Eggs
- Salt
For the cream cheese frosting and crunch topping you need:
- Unsalted butter
- Cream cheese
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
- Freeze dried strawberries
- Lemon Oreos: or golden Oreos, animal crackers, graham crackers, vienna fingers or other similar cookie or cracker
- Fresh strawberries
Can I Use A Box Of Strawberry Cake Mix?
Sure! Make it real simple by using a box of strawberry cake mix instead of making the cupcake batter from scratch.
What If I Don't Have A Piping Bag?
You can use a large plastic Ziploc bag. Cut a small hole in one of the corners just begin enough for the piping tip to fit through and stay securely in place.
Instructions
Make The Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line a muffin pan with liners. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or using a large bowl and an electric hand mixer, combine 1 cup unsalted butter and 1 ½ cups white sugar. Beat on medium speed until well combined and a chunky mixture has formed. Add 3 large eggs and continue to beat on medium speed until incorporated into the mixture.
- Slowly add 3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt. Beat on medium speed until a smooth dough has formed, scraping off ingredients stuck to the bowl with a spatula.
- Pour in 1 cup milk, ½ cup plain yogurt, ¼ cup olive oil and 6 tablespoon strawberry syrup. Beat on medium speed until combined well and a smooth, thick batter has formed. Note, the batter will be thick and have a scoopable consistency rather than a pourable one.
- Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffin cups ⅔ with batter. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
Make The Strawberry Crunch Topping & Frosting
- Add 1 cup freeze dried strawberries and 10 lemon Oreos with the cream removed to a food processor. Grind until a crumbly mixture has formed. Melt 1 tablespoon unsalted butter in the microwave and combine with the crumbled strawberry and Oreo.
- To a large mixing bowl, add 1 cup unsalted butter and 16 oz cream cheese. Beat on medium speed until combined. Add 2 tablespoon vanilla extract and mix until incorporated into the mixture. Slowly add 8 cups powdered sugar and beat on medium until a smooth and thick frosting has formed, about 3 minutes.
- Scoop the frosting into a piping bag fitted with the piping tip of your choice (I use a large star tip). Secure the bag shut with a rubber band. Squeeze the icing onto the tops of the cooled cupcakes in the pattern of your choice.
- Sprinkle with strawberry crunch topping immediately after icing. Place a sliced strawberry on top. Use as much or as little topping as you'd like. The recipe makes a lot of it, and you will probably have some left over. You can add it to other recipes, like strawberry baked oatmeal or strawberry toast. It's also delicious as a topping for pancakes.
kristina's tips
Making The Best Strawberry Cupcakes
- Use any type of vanilla or golden cookie. There are so many options for making the crunch topping. I love adding a bit of lemon flavor by using lemon Oreos, but you can use any cookie or cracker. Animal crackers, golden Oreos, vienna fingers, honey graham crackers, Italian biscuits, etc. all would taste wonderful in the crunch topping.
- Don't overfill the cupcake tin. Make sure to only fill the muffin cups ⅔ of the way to the top. If any higher, the batter will spill out over the sides and you'll get oddly shaped cupcakes.
- Don't frost them until they are completely cool. You can speed cooling up by putting the cupcakes in the fridge for about 10 minutes. If you frost the cupcakes while they are still warm, the icing may melt and drip down.
- Add strawberry crunch topping immediately after icing. Sprinkle on the topping after icing two or three cupcakes to ensure that it sticks.
How To Store
To store strawberry crunch cupcakes, put them in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days for optimal quality. They must be stored in the fridge because the icing is made from dairy and needs to be refrigerated.
Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes
These easy Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes are made with a delicious from-scratch batter, vanilla cream cheese frosting and a crispy freeze dried strawberry and cookie topping. One of the best fruity homemade cupcakes you'll make!
- electric hand mixer
- standard size muffin tin
- cupcake liners
- ice cream scoop
- piping bag and piping tips
Cupcakes
- 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 3 large eggs (room temperature)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup plain yogurt
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 6 tablespoon strawberry syrup
Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 16 oz cream cheese (softened)
- 2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 8 cups powdered sugar
Topping
- 1 cup freeze dried strawberries
- 10 lemon Oreos (or golden Oreos)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (melted)
- 12 fresh strawberries (sliced in half)
Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line a muffin pan with liners. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or using a large bowl and an electric hand mixer, combine [wprm-ingredient text="1 cup unsalted butter" uid="15"] and [wprm-ingredient text="1 ½ cups white sugar" uid="14"]. Beat on medium speed until well combined and a chunky mixture has formed. Add [wprm-ingredient text="3 large eggs" uid="13"] and continue to beat on medium speed until incorporated into the mixture.
Slowly add [wprm-ingredient text="3 cups all-purpose flour" uid="0"], [wprm-ingredient text="2 teaspoon baking powder" uid="18"], [wprm-ingredient text="¼ teaspoon baking soda" uid="17"] and [wprm-ingredient text="½ teaspoon salt" uid="16"]. Beat on medium speed until a smooth dough has formed, scraping off ingredients stuck to the bowl with a spatula.
Pour in [wprm-ingredient text="1 cup milk" uid="21"], [wprm-ingredient text="½ cup plain yogurt" uid="20"], [wprm-ingredient text="¼ cup olive oil" uid="22"] and [wprm-ingredient text="6 tablespoon strawberry syrup" uid="19"]. Beat on medium speed until combined well and a smooth, thick batter has formed. Note, the batter will be thick and have a scoopable consistency rather than a pourable one.
Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffin cups ⅔ with batter. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
Frosting and Topping
To a large mixing bowl, add [wprm-ingredient text="1 cup unsalted butter" uid="5"] and [wprm-ingredient text="16 oz cream cheese" uid="7"]. Beat on medium speed until combined. Add [wprm-ingredient text="2 tablespoon vanilla extract" uid="6"] and mix until incorporated into the mixture. Slowly add [wprm-ingredient text="8 cups powdered sugar" uid="8"] and beat on medium until a smooth and thick frosting has formed, about 3 minutes.
Scoop the frosting into a piping bag fitted with the piping tip of your choice (I use a large star tip). Secure the bag shut with a rubber band.
Add [wprm-ingredient text="1 cup freeze dried strawberries" uid="9"] and [wprm-ingredient text="10 lemon Oreos" uid="10"] with the cream removed to a food processor. Grind until a crumbly mixture has formed. Melt [wprm-ingredient text="1 tablespoon unsalted butter" uid="11"] in the microwave and combine with the strawberry and Oreo.
Squeeze the icing onto the tops of the cooled cupcakes in the pattern of your choice. Sprinkle with strawberry crunch topping and place a sliced strawberry on top.
Storing: To store fully made strawberry crunch cupcakes, put them in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days for optimal quality. They must be stored in the fridge because the icing is made from dairy and needs to be refrigerated.
Use any type of vanilla or golden cookie. There are so many options for making the crunch topping. I love adding a bit of lemon flavor by using lemon Oreos, but you can use any cookie or cracker. Animal crackers, golden Oreos, vienna fingers, honey graham crackers, Italian biscuits, etc. all would taste wonderful in the crunch topping.
Don't overfill the cupcake tin. Make sure to only fill the muffin cups ⅔ of the way to the top. If any higher, the batter will spill out over the sides and you'll get oddly shaped cupcakes.
Don't frost them until they are completely cool. You can speed cooling up by putting the cupcakes in the fridge for about 10 minutes. If you frost the cupcakes while they are still warm, the icing may melt and drip down.
Add strawberry crunch topping immediately after icing. Sprinkly on the topping after icing two or three cupcakes to ensure that it sticks.
Kristina Tipps says
This worked exactly as written, thanks!