Strawberry Ice Cream Cupcakes

Strawberry Ice Cream Cupcakes

Cake Ingredients:

- 1 Cup Fresh or Frozen (but thawed) Strawberries - Cut Into Small Pieces

- 1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour

- 2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder

- 1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

- 6 Tablespoons of Butter at Room Temperature

- 1 Cup of Granulated Sugar

- 2 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil

- 1/4 of Strawberry Flavored Greek Yogurt

- 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

- 2 Large Eggs

Frosting Ingredients:

- 1/2 Cup of Freeze Dried Strawberries - Pulverize these bad boys. I usually put mine in a Ziplock Bag and Beat with my wooden rolling pin until they are powder. (This will give your buttercream tons of bright strawberry flavor without worrying about the liquid from fresh strawberries making your buttercream too moist!)

- 1 Cup of Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature

- 4 Cups of Powdered Sugar

- 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

- 2-3 Tablespoons of Milk

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350* and line your muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners. (If you like smaller cupcakes... I mean who actually likes small cupcakes? But if you're going for a more health conscious approach to eating them you can definitely stretch this batter to make 24!)

2. In a bowl, cream together your butter and sugar with a hand mixer on high speed. You can do this in your stand mixer, but in an effort to dirty all my dishes at once I usually save the stand mixer bowl for my frosting and just use my hand mixer for the batter.

3. Once your butter and sugar is well incorporated and light and fluffy, add in your yogurt, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.

4. Next, add your strawberries in and continue to mix until well combined.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

6. Finally, with your hand mixer, add your dry ingredients into the wet and mix until completely incorporated.

7. Evenly divide your batter between your cupcake liners.

8. Once your oven is preheated, bake your cupcakes for 18-20 minutes!

9. Remove from the oven and let cool 2 minutes before removing from muffin tin to finish cooling on a cooling rack.

Frosting Directions:

1. While your cupcakes are cooling, add your butter and 1 cup of powdered sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer and begin to cream it together.

2. Add 1-2 tablespoons of milk and another cup of powdered sugar and continue mixing on medium high speed.

3. Once incorporated, add your vanilla extract and the rest of your powered sugar. Use the last of your mix to adjust the consistency of your butter cream. If it seems too dry, add more milk but you don't want it too loose.

4. Finally, add your pulverized strawberries and continue to mix until your frosting is an even shade of pink. Taste and adjust flavors as needed.

Assembly:

1. Once your cupcakes have cooled at room temperature for at least 2-3 hours, use a piping bag to top your cupcakes with your desired amount of frosting. You can also go the messy method like in the photos here and frost with a knife!