Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Making strawberry buttercream frosting can tricky to make. You want all the flavor but achieving that can mean a runny consistency, but I’ve figured out the key to a perfect strawberry buttercream! Keep reading…

Strawberry buttercream has been on my list of buttercream recipes to make for awhile now. You know we are big fans of buttercream frosting around here. So why not make a beautiful sweet pink buttercream from my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe and top some chocolate cupcakes with it? You knew it wouldn’t be long before I dropped some gorgeous chocolate strawberry cupcakes

Here is a little Buttercream education for you…

What Is American Icing?

American icing or american buttercream (ABC) is probably that buttercream you had at that last kid’s birthday party you went too. Or that kind you grew up on.

Sometimes it gets a bad rep for being too sweet. Or grainy. Ugh. But I promise you this recipe is not. American buttercream is one of the beaten butter types of buttercream. Ermine frosting and German buttercream also fall into this category. This type of buttercream is made by first beating the butter and then adding in a sweet base. In this case, powdered sugar.

You can read more here about the different types of frosting.

What Are The Main Types Of Buttercream Frosting?

There are 6 main types of buttercreams and they fall into two categories – creamed butter and cubed butter. In fact, if you want to learn how to make all 6 buttercreams, and master making frosting once and for all be sure to check out my Buttercream Basics Guide

American buttercream falls into the creamed butter category is by far the easiest of all the buttercreams to make. German buttercream or Flour buttercream (or ermine frosting) are two more creamed butter buttercreams similar to American buttercream. A little more involved but less sweet.

Unlike the cubed butter method of buttercreams- like Swiss Meringue butterream, Italian meringue buttercream and French buttercream.

Here Is A Breakdown Of American Buttercream:

Taste: This is the sweetest out of all the frostings. Can be a little too sweet for some people, but this is the classic type of buttercream most people are familiar with and grew up on.
Texture: Sometimes can be a bit grainy or greasy if not done properly.
Difficulty Level: The easiest to make out of all the buttercreams.
Pros: Easy to make. Kids (and most adults!) love it. Doesn’t require any special equipment to make. Easy to pipe and color.
Cons: Tends to be a bit too sweet. Doesn’t hold up well in warm conditions.

If you make this brown sugar frosting for a cake or cupcakes and refrigerate before you are ready to use it you will need to put it back in your mixer again and mix it until the frosting becomes light and fluffy again. The same thing goes once you frosted your baked goods, you want to always bring them to  room temperature before serving.

What’s In This Strawberry Buttercream Frosting?

• Unsalted butter: I always recommend using unsalted butter vs. salted butter so you can control the amount of salt. 
• Powdered sugar: Or confectioners sugar (or icing sugar). I don’t sift mine in as I find that as long as I mix it long enough I don’t have lumps.
• Heavy cream: This helps thin out the frosting, and add some richness, but milk would also work
• Freeze Dried Strawberries: This is how I get real strawberry flavor but without adding in extra liquid to the mixture.
• Vanilla: I love the addition of the vanilla to add another dimension of flavor. 
• Salt: I love a pinch of salt to help balance out the sweetness.

Freeze Dried Strawberries!

The key to making a strawberry buttercream with true strawberry flavor is freeze dried strawberries. I’ve tried different variations with jam (too sweet!) or a puree (too liquidy and way too time consuming!). So enter the freeze dried strawberries. All the flavor none of the liquid. 

All you need to do is grind these into a find powder. I used my food processor to accomplish this. I used freeze dried strawberries for my Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting! It works like a charm for perfect consistency and maximum flavor.

How Do You Make Strawberry Buttercream Frosting?

So simple, you ready? Ok here is a step by step photo tutorial of how to make this buttercream.

Step 1: Cream your butter 

You want to do this first before adding any powdered sugar. You can make this in your stand mixer, or use a hand mixer as shown below. It’ll just take a bit more elbow grease on your part! 

Step 2: Add your powdered sugar.

Do this 1/2 cup at a time to avoid a blizzard all over your kitchen. Then mix until incorporated. And be sure to start your mixer on low. I also like to wrap a kitchen towel around the mixer to catch any sugar that is determined to fly out of the bowl.

Step 3: Add the strawberry powder.

Step 4: Add Heavy Cream And Vanilla.

Step 5: Mix until light and fluffy!

You want to do this for 8 minutes. Yup 8! But it’s worth it 🙂

Step 6: Frost and enjoy.

And if you need help frosting, then check out this post on how to frost the perfect cupcake (+ video!). 

You can also learn how to master all 6 buttercreams in my Buttercream Basics Guide!

Tips For Making This Strawberry Frosting Recipe:

• Use softened butter to achieve the best consistency. You can soften your butter quickly if you forget to take it out ahead of time. Click here for 3 ways to soften your butter quickly. 
• To ensure no lumps, you can sift the powdered sugar. I find because of the long mixing time that I don’t need to sift it. 
• Be sure to scrape down the bowl from time to time so it’s all being incorporated. 
• Make sure to whip this buttercream for a full 8 minutes to get a light airy fluffy consistency. If you are using a hand mixer this will take longer.

Will Buttercream Melt At Room Temperature?

Your buttercream if left at room temperature will be fine and not melt. In fact if you frost a cake with it, it will form an outer crust while still being soft in the middle and keeping the cake fresh. 

If it’s too hot or humid though the buttercream will melt, so best to store in the refrigerator.

Can I Make Buttercream In Advance?

You can also store this in your fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer as well for up to 3 months. When ready to use, allow it to thaw then re-whip until it’s light and fluffy again!

You can read a full tutorial on how to store your buttercream here. 

If you love this tutorial, then let me know by leaving me a comment and star rating below! And if you want to learn more, then you be sure to check out my Buttercream Basics Guide where you will learn how to master 6 buttercream recipes, how to fill a piping bag, customize a vanilla buttercream, and so much more!

How Many Cupcakes Or Cake Will This Strawberry Buttercream Frosting Cover?

• For Cupcakes – This recipe will generously frost 12 cupcakes. I like to pipe a pretty tall amount of frosting on each cupcake.  So if you don’t use as much as I do as in the photos, then you might get more frosted (around 24 cupcakes). For help on decorating cupcakes, be sure to check out my The Ultimate Guide To Baking Cupcakes At Home and The Ultimate Guide To Making The Best Buttercream Icing.
• For Cake – This frosting will cover a 9 x 13 sheet cake or a 2 layer 8-inch. For a larger cake like a 9-inch cake I’d make a double batch.

Does Strawberry Buttercream Frosting Need To Be Refrigerated?

This frosting will be safe at room temperature for 2-3 days. Any longer than that and I recommend you refrigerate the buttercream frosting up to 5 days.

The buttercream frosting can also be frozen up to 3 months.

What can I use this Strawberry frosting on?

You can add this to any thing you might want a big old layer of frosting on top! Here are a few recipes that I think would be perfect to pair with it:

• Easy Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
• Flourless Chocolate Cake
• Easy Chocolate Cupcakes
• Nutella Brownies

More Buttercream Recipes

• Chocolate Italian Buttercream
• Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
• Mint Buttercream
• Coconut buttercream
• Peanut Butter Buttercream

Tools Needed To Make To This Strawberry Buttercream Frosting Recipe:

• Kitchenaid Mixer– I use my Kitchenaid Mixer to make my frosting because it takes 8 minutes to mix.
• Mixing Bowls- (I have an assortment of mixing bowls but these bowls are my go to)
• Good quality whisk and spatula. These are a must and something you will use all the time!
• Angled spatula (if you do not want to use a piping bag for your frosting)
• Piping Bags- I like to use disposable 18-inch pastry bags
• Piping Tips- I use Atecco tips (for this cupcake I used the closed star tip)

If you like this recipe let me know by leaving me a comment and star rating below!