Everyone’s favorite ice cream bar in cupcake form! These strawberry crunch cupcakes are THE BEST. They have a soft and bouncy fresh strawberry cake, topped with vanilla cream cheese buttercream that is rolled in a strawberry crunch crumble. They’re so delicious and easy to make, you’re gonna love ’em!
What is Strawberry Crunch?
If you’ve never had a strawberry crunch bar, it’s a childhood favorite of mine that is being discontinued. *sobs* It’s an ice cream bar made out of both strawberry and vanilla ice cream and the outside is coated in crunchy strawberry and vanilla crumbs.
I decided that it would make the perfect cupcake and got to work. The cupcake has fresh strawberry puree and is topped with silky vanilla cream cheese buttercream. The crumb element is a combination of vanilla Oreo crumbs and freeze dried strawberries.
Ingredients
- Fresh Strawberries for the cupcakes, and Freeze Dried Strawberries for the crumble. You can find freeze dried strawberries at most grocery stores and also here, on Amazon.
- Full Fat Cream Cheese. None of that low fat stuff, it’s just not the same. My favorites are Philadelphia and Trader Joe’s.
- Pure Vanilla Extract. I love the Bourbon Vanilla Extract from Trader Joe’s, but use your favorite!
- Vanilla Oreos. These are crushed with the freeze dried strawberries to create the strawberry crumble.
- Buttermilk. I love using buttermilk for cakes and cupcakes to keep them soft and moist and add that extra depth of flavor.
How to Make Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes
Make the Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes
This strawberry crunch cupcakes recipe uses puree from fresh strawberries – no artificial flavors or colors. The color of the cupcake itself will be very slightly pink. If you want a deeper pink color you could add a couple drops of pink food color gel or 2 TBSP of strawberry Jell-O powder. The Jell-O powder will make the cupcakes a brighter pink and also make the strawberry flavor more intense.
Start preheating your oven to 350 and lining cupcake pans with 18 total cupcake liners. Then, cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment until it’s light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and mix another 2 minutes until very well combined. The egg whites like to settle at the bottom of the bowl, so be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure the eggs are fully incorporated.
Into your measuring cup with the room temp buttermilk, add in the vanilla extract and strawberry puree, whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, salt. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and strawberry buttermilk mixture in 3 total additions. So, add 1/2 of the dry ingredients, all of the buttermilk, and then the remaining 1/2 of the dry ingredients. You can do all of this with the mixer continuously running on low. Once all of your ingredients are incorporated, do a quick final mix with a rubber spatula just to ensure that everything is evenly incorporated.
Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full – I do this with an ice cream scoop with a trigger to ensure that each cupcake is the same size. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached. If both cupcake pans can fit on the same rack go ahead and bake them at the same time. If they’re too big to fit on the same rack, bake one pan at a time. Let cool completely before frosting.
Make the Strawberry Crumble
Preheat the oven to 325. Line a small sheet pan with parchment. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool slightly. In a large plastic bag or a blender add the Vanilla Oreos and freeze dried strawberries. Smash or pulse in the blender until you have small crumbs. Pour into a bowl and stir in the melted butter and mix until the crumb mixture is coated with the butter. Pour onto the prepared sheet pan and bake for 7-8 minutes, careful not to let it burn.
Make the Cream Cheese Frosting
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese for 10 minutes making sure to stop the mixer and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl every couple of minutes. This is critical for a smooth frosting. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Add the powdered sugar, 1/2 at a time, mixing for 3 minutes on low after each addition. Add heavy cream 1-2 TBSP at a time until you reach your desired consistency. You want it to be soft and smooth, but still firm enough to hold its shape when piped.
Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe onto the cooled cupcakes. Then, take an offset spatula to smooth off the sides by holding it at a 45 degree angle towards the center of the cupcake. Keep the spatula stationary while rotating the cupcake in a full circle to create a smooth flat edge. Wipe off any extra frosting and repeat with the remaining cupcakes.
Roll the sides of each cupcake into the cooled crumble. Once the edges are coated in the crumble I like to take my offset spatula and create a swirl in the frosting on top, but you could also just leave it as is!
Tools & Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment. You could successfully make this recipe with an electric hand mixer, but the frosting especially will take a lot of elbow grease because even with the stand mixer I mix the butter and cream cheese ALONE for 10 minutes to make sure the frosting is as smooth as possible. A stand mixer will make it so much easier.
- Cupcake Pans. These are my favorites!
- Cupcake Liners. Any cupcake liner will work. I prefer to use these natural parchment liners solely for aesthetic reasons!
- Blender. You’ll need to puree the fresh strawberries and also pulse the freeze dried strawberries and Oreos for the crumble. This is the blender I have.
Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 18 Cupcakes
Description
Fresh strawberry cupcakes topped with cream cheese buttercream and a crunchy strawberry vanilla crumble.
Ingredients
For the Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes
- 1/2 C (113 g) Salted Butter, at room temperature
- 1 3/4 C (350 g) Granulated Sugar
- 2 Lg Eggs, at room temperature
- 1 C (250 mL) Buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1/2 C Fresh Strawberry Puree
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 2 1/2 C (310 g) All Purpose Flour
- 2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 C (113 g) Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
- 4 oz (1/2 a block) Full Fat Cream Cheese, at room temperature
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 4 1/2 C Powdered Sugar
- 2–4 TBSP Heavy Cream
For the Strawberry Crumble
- 10 Vanilla Oreos
- 1 C Freeze Dried Strawberries
- 4 TBSP Salted Butter, melted
Instructions
For the Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 and lining cupcake pans with 18 total cupcake liners.
- Then, cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment until it’s light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs and mix another 2 minutes until very well combined.
- Into your measuring cup with the room temp buttermilk, add in the vanilla extract and strawberry puree, whisk to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, salt.
- Alternate adding the dry ingredients and strawberry buttermilk mixture to the mixer in 3 total additions. So, add 1/2 of the dry ingredients, all of the buttermilk, and then the remaining 1/2 of the dry ingredients.
- Do a quick final mix with a rubber spatula just to ensure that everything is evenly incorporated.
- Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full – I do this with an ice cream scoop with a trigger to ensure that each cupcake is the same size.
- Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached. Let cool completely before frosting.
For the Strawberry Crunch Crumble
- Preheat the oven to 325. Line a small sheet pan with parchment.
- Melt the butter and set it aside to cool slightly.
- In a large plastic bag or a blender add the Vanilla Oreos and freeze dried strawberries. Smash or pulse in the blender until you have small crumbs.
- Pour into a bowl and stir in the melted butter and mix until the crumb mixture is coated with the butter.
- Pour onto the prepared sheet pan and bake for 7-8 minutes, careful not to let it burn.
- Set aside to cool.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese for 10 minutes making sure to stop the mixer and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl every couple of minutes.
- Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
- Add the powdered sugar, 1/2 at a time, mixing for 3 minutes on low after each addition.
- Add heavy cream 1-2 TBSP at a time until you reach your desired consistency. You want it to be soft and smooth, but still firm enough to hold its shape when piped.
- Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe onto the cooled cupcakes.
- Then, take an offset spatula to smooth off the sides by holding it at a 45 degree angle towards the center of the cupcake. Keep the spatula stationary while rotating the cupcake in a full circle to create a smooth flat edge. Wipe off any extra frosting and repeat with the remaining cupcakes.
- Roll the sides of the cupcake into the strawberry crunch crumble. Either leave as is or use your offset spatula to create a swirl in the frosting on top of the cupcake.
If you loved this recipe for my Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes, be sure to leave a star rating and review below and tag @buuckfarmsbakery on TikTok and Instagram. To save this recipe for later, click on the Pinterest icon on the recipe card above, or on any of the images throughout this post.
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