Fresh Strawberry Cake (or Cupcakes)

I have had this recipe in my repetoire since about 2009 and in my opinion, these are the best strawberry cupcakes out there.  I have tried Sprinkles and Kara's and who knows how many other cupcakery strawberry cupcakes and for my taste, this recipe wins out every time.  Maybe other will agree with me, maybe they won't, but when I was asked to make a cake for a church function last night, I made this and I literally had around 8 people ask me for the recipe.  It calls for fresh strawberries and is the perfect solution when you have strawberries that are starting to wilt (or mold as long as you cut off all of the moldy parts). 

It just so happened that I had taken some pictures as I was making the cake with the thought that I might post the recipe to the blog since another friend had emailed me last week about getting the recipe.  The recipe is adapted from a blog that was taken down a few years ago and I am SO glad I copied down the recipe when I did.  Anyway, if you try these, please let me know how they turn out!  I have only made it as a cake once (last night) and I could see it being a little trickier in that format, whereas making this recipe as cupcakes is a little easier.  The two primary reasons are that the cake doesn't rise much (you won't have round-domed cupcakes) and the frosting can be tricky (you mix fresh strawberries with sugar and the juices start flowing and all of a sudden you end up with a strawberry glaze instead of a frosting) and if you don't get it stiff enough it will just run down the sides of your cake, so keep that in mind. 

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups mashed strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare either cupcake pans with cupcake liners or two cake pans with a piece of parchment paper, cooking spray, and flour in the bottom.  In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla, mixing well and scraping sides of bowl.  Add dry ingredients and stir just until combined, then fold in strawberries. 

Pour into prepared pans/cupcake liners and bake for 30-35 minutes (for a cake) or 20 minutes (for cupcakes).  Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting with strawberry frosting (or just plain cream cheese frosting would be work too).

Strawberry Frosting

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese (I use the low-fat kind with no problems)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp coconut extract
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup mashed strawberries (I used 3 medium/large strawberries and after mashing I pressed a paper towel on them to soak up some of the excess juice before adding it to my other ingredients)

Mix butter and cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth, then add lemon juice, vanilla, coconut extract and powdered sugar and mix well.  Drain any extra juice off the strawberries (it is okay if there is some juice, you just don't want to get your frosting too runny and the strawberries touch the sugar, they will release more juice than you will already see) and add to the frosting, beating until completely incorporated.  Frost completely cooled cupcakes.

Seriously, this is SO superior to any boxed strawberry cake mix.  I don't have anything against cake mixes (and use them on a regular basis if truth be told) but I NEVER, ever by strawberry cake mix because this strawberry cake is so worth the extra effort.  I suppose if you wanted a really pink cake, you could also add some red food coloring, but I have never bothered with that.   

Unfortunately, I was running late to finish the cake and didn't take a picture of it once it was complete.  I made it home with just a little slice left over for Paul and Clara and took a picture in the terrible lighting last night, but here you go:

Oh, and I added up all of the ingredients and if you make 24 cupcakes, then there will be around 265 calories per cupcake (including frosting).  In case you care to know.  :)