The Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcake
I had my first ever Sprinkles cupcake when my friend made them from the mix she bought at Williams-Sonoma. It was delicious. The minute I had it I knew I had to learn how to make them at home. They are so strongly flavored and utterly delicious I couldn’t wait to have them again, but I can’t afford to buy the mix every time I want one so I turned to the web to do some quick research. Luckily, a few of their recipes have been printed all over the internet so I was able to piece together a great recipe from several sources. I decided to start with the strawberry cupcake because it has been prominently featured. Luckily, the recipe went off without a hitch and the cupcakes were perfectly moist, tasty and pretty to boot. I even fashioned the signature little dots out of a lollipop for kicks!
The Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcake
adapted from Candace Nelson
2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites
For the frosting:
½ cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
pinch of kosher salt
3 ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.
For the Frosting:
Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.
How much butter for the frosting?
These cupcakes lack flavor in the worst way!!! I even added more of the strawberry puree because it didn’t sound right to me. Given the opportunity, I would add chunks of strawberries and split the granulated sugar in half…and add 1/2 cup of powdered and another whole egg. For the frosting, I used a stick and a half of unsalted butter, a few tablespoons of heavy cream in addition to the strawberry puree and added more confectioners sugar until it reached the right consistency!!
The recipe left out how much butter to use for the frosting!!! Also, my son and I tried one of the cupcakes unfrosted and it doesn’t taste very strawberry. Are you sure that’s the correct amount of strawberries to add?
For the cake, I did 2 whole eggs rather than 1 egg and 2 egg whites. I never know what to do with the other part of the egg! I did use only 1/3 cup of strawberry puree and made it into a 9×13 cake, baked for 30 min. For the frosting I used the rest of the strawberry puree (which was maybe a 1/4 cup?), 8oz cream cheese, 1/2 stick unsalted butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 1 cup powdered sugar. I made cake balls, so once I mixed the frosting into the cake, they had plenty of strawberry flavor and weren’t overpoweringly sweet. I then dipped them in white chocolate and regular chocolate. Hope this helps someone!