It’s strawberry season! My most favorite berry. Ripe, juicy and oh so delicious. We have a local strawberry stand down the street from our house and we are always stocking up. They just don’t get any better. Picked that day and oh so juicy!
I realized that I hadn’t made a strawberry vanilla cupcake recipe to share with all of you and I thought, “that is just not ok!” All berry desserts are a favorite in my book and in cupcake form, even better. I took my gluten free vegan vanilla cupcakes and folded in fresh diced strawberries. There are little, juicy strawberry bits throughout the tender cupcake. It’s just delightful. The strawberry buttercream is dairy free (of course) and pretty much tastes like strawberry ice cream. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t stop eating it?
Many people think of strawberries as a summer fruit, but in California, we enjoy them in the springtime too! That’s why I’ll be entering these strawberry vanilla cupcakes into the Spring Fling Dairy Free Recipe Contest, put on by Go Dairy Free and So Delicious. You just can’t go wrong with these cupcakes. The strawberry flavor is so fresh. Make them into mini cupcakes for an adorable bite-size treat. Sweet as sweet can be!
- 1 3/4 cups Sarah's gluten free flour blend*
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 1/3 cup sunflower seed or canola oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries
- 1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan butter, cold
- 3 tablespoons organic non-hydrogenated shortening
- 3 cups organic powdered sugar, sifted
- 5-6 fresh strawberries, pureed (2-3 tablespoons strawberry puree)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- additional sliced strawberries for topping (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper cupcake liners.
- Sift together flour blend, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In large mixing bowl, stir together coconut milk, water and vinegar. Stir until milk is curdled.
- Add sugar, oil, and vanilla. Slowly whisk in flour mixture. Beat for 1 minute. Gently fold in diced strawberries.
- Pour batter into prepared cupcake pan. Bake 16-18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Place cupcakes on cooling rack and cool completely.
- To make buttercream, start by placing strawberries in blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
- In mixing bowl of large standing mixer, beat together vegan butter and shortening for 1 minute. Add sifted powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons strawberry puree and vanilla.
- Beat buttercream for additional 2 minutes. Add additional 1-2 teaspoons of puree if needed. Beat until buttercream is light and fluffy.
- Place in piping bag with large star tip and frost cooled cupcakes. Top with sliced strawberries. If frosting starts to soften, place cupcakes in refrigerator.
- Best served within 1-2 days. If not serving same day, store cupcakes in refrigerator.
Looks Great! My strawberry plants just started growing last week! Can you put weight on your flour and sugar?
Any idea if the frosting could be successfully frozen (separately from the cupcakes) for later in the year? Should I just freeze the strawberries and/or puree? (My new deep freeze arrives tomorrow, and I want to take advantage of the berries while they're in season!)
Could I use coconut oil in the cake instead of the oil you listed and in place of shortening as well? And would oat flour work in place of your flour? Need to make baby’s first birthday cake.
Replacing my flour blend with oat flour will not work in this recipe, it’s just too much of a difference in texture. Gluten free baking is a little finicky 🙂 With the coconut oil, you can melt it and use it in the cupcakes, but in the frosting, it will be too greasy. You could try using less of the coconut oil, but the texture of the frosting will change.
Last year we discovered my daughters are allergic to gluten, dairy, soy, and eggs. I’ve tried for the past months to make baked goods that they still like, with moderate success. Yesterday was my youngest daughter’s 12th day and I was thrilled to find your blog and recipe for strawberry cupcakes. Oh my gosh, these are perfect in my eyes and probably the best cupcakes my family has eaten, gluten free or otherwise. My daughter was thrilled to bring them for her class treats and everyone enjoyed them. I have to say that I am glad you and your family has such similar allergies as we do (although I would never wish it on someone) so that I can benefit from all your recipes! I will be baking with your flour blend combination and recipes from now on. Thank you and blessings to you and your family.
I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed them, Stacy! Thank you for sharing!
How will this work made as a cake? Anything special I should do?
So i tried making this recipe with bobs redmill 1 to 1 gluten free flour and olive oil. It turned out really heavy. So i drove the 35 minutes to our co-op and bought all the ingredients for your flour blend. Im going to try again and use coconut oil this time because its my favorite oil.
I hope it works!
Thank you for the time and effort to you put into this site.
This gluten free vegan thanks you! And so does her toddler. ????
Has anyone every tried to make this into a 9 inch cake? Will they turn out the same. I only have Namaste Gluten Free Flour and I have to make the cake today.