Made with either fresh strawberries or freeze-dried strawberries, this strawberry frosting is the perfect finishing touch for so many desserts. It’s creamy and full of flavor, perfect for piping on cupcakes or frosting layer cakes, and comes together with just a handful of ingredients.
I would say that of all the flavors of frosting, I get the most questions about strawberry frosting. It’s a bit elusive. Strawberry puree alone often doesn’t lend enough flavor, and if you add too much, you thin out your frosting beyond where it’s pipe-able. And if you add chunks of strawberries, it really throws things off. So what’s a strawberry lover to do?
This easy strawberry frosting recipe cracks the code. It’s based on my classic vanilla buttercream and can be made in two ways – either with fresh strawberries in a strawberry reduction or with freeze-dried strawberries. Both incorporate a beautiful pink color and strawberry flavor without thinning the frosting or throwing the texture off.
I’ve used this frosting in so many ways, including on my popular fresh strawberry cupcakes and strawberries and cream cupcakes. The bright color and flavor are extra nice for Valentine’s Day and spring and summer, too.
Why This Is The Best Strawberry Frosting Recipe
- Two ways to make it. As noted above, this recipe can be made with freeze-dried strawberries or fresh strawberries. Both options result in a beautiful frosting with great strawberry flavor, so use whichever one works best for you.
- Endless ways to use it. Strawberry frosting pairs with chocolate, vanilla, AND strawberry cakes and cupcakes. It’s a fun way to add a pop of flavor and color to a classic chocolate layer cake or vanilla layer cake.
- It’s easy! Whether you opt for the strawberry reduction or the freeze-dried strawberries, this strawberry buttercream frosting is easy to make. It’s a bit quicker with the freeze-dried strawberries but not time intensive in either case (the reduction just needs time to cool). Anyone with a mixer can make this frosting!
Key Ingredients
This easy strawberry buttercream is made with just five very basic ingredients. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
- Strawberries – This strawberry frosting can be made with fresh or freeze-dried strawberries. See below for the pro’s and con’s of each.
- Butter – I always use unsalted butter for my frosting recipes to ensure control over the flavor. It should be at room temperature.
- Powdered sugar – Adds volume to the buttercream and helps thicken it. You could always reduce it if you prefer a thinner buttercream.
- Water – You can also use heavy cream or milk. Just note that water and regular milk thin out the buttercream more quickly than cream does.
- Vanilla extract – Just a splash to add a bit of extra flavor to complement the strawberry.
- Salt – A pinch of salt helps enhance the overall flavor of the frosting.
Freeze Dried vs Fresh Strawberries
There are two ways to make this strawberry frosting – with freeze-dried strawberries ground into a powder or with fresh strawberries pureed and cooked down to a strawberry reduction.
If fresh strawberries are in season, I like to opt for the strawberry reduction. But the freeze-dried strawberries are quicker and easier to work with and have the bonus of being available all year-round.
The only difference between using them is that, when using freeze-dried strawberries, you’ll need to add water or cream to the frosting to get the right consistency. Because the reduction adds liquid to the frosting naturally, you don’t need any extra. But with this version, the dry powder doesn’t do the job on it’s own and a little liquid is necessary to thin out the frosting a bit.
Flavor-wise, while the freeze-dried strawberries add some intense flavor, the strawberry reduction does a great job of keeping up and I could hardly tell a difference between the two.
Can I Use Frozen Strawberries?
I have received several questions from readers asking if they can use frozen strawberries to make strawberry frosting. In short, yes…but it’s not my preferred option.
I personally don’t like to use them because you can’t tell prior to buying and thawing them if they have good flavor or not, which will impact the final flavor of the frosting. The other thing about frozen strawberries is the water added, which can mute the flavor. Yes, you’ll cook them down and intensify the flavor, but again, I just prefer knowing I’m getting the best and strongest flavor.
If you can’t get your hands on fresh, ripe strawberries, I recommend using the freeze-dried strawberries option.
Tips for the Best Frosting
Here are a few helpful tips to keep in mind when making this frosting for the first time.
- Let the strawberry reduction cool. The strawberry reduction needs to cool to room temperature before being added to the frosting. Otherwise, it will just melt the butter.
- Don’t add too much reduction. I typically add about three to four tablespoons of strawberry reduction so that my frosting doesn’t thin out too much. If you prefer a thinner frosting (which is often okay for cupcakes and sheet cakes, but less ideal for layer cakes), you can add a little more.
- Strain the puree. I recommend straining the pureed strawberries to remove any seeds. This isn’t completely necessary but the frosting is likely to have more of a texture to it if you don’t, which I don’t love.
- Use room temperature butter. The butter should be softened to room temperature. If it’s too soft or too hard, it won’t stir up nicely into a smooth, creamy frosting.
- Get the perfect consistency. If using the freeze-dried strawberries, the added milk or cream will help get the right consistency for the frosting. Add only as much as needed. If using fresh strawberries, the strawberry reduction doubles as the liquid to thin the frosting. Check out my post on How to Get the Right Frosting Consistency for more tips.
Why Is My Strawberry Buttercream Grainy?
There are two reasons for this – the strawberry puree wasn’t strained (if using fresh strawberries) so the seeds are in the frosting or the powdered sugar is clumpy.
If you live in a humid environment and notice lumpy powdered sugar, simply sift it before adding it to the bowl to prevent this issue in the future.
Ways To Use Strawberry Frosting
- Cupcakes: This strawberry buttercream would be fantastic piped high on top of vanilla cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, white cupcakes, and strawberry cupcakes. I also used it on my chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes.
- Cakes: Strawberry frosting works great on both sheet cakes, like vanilla sheet cake, and layer cakes. A few of my favorite layer cakes to use with this frosting include strawberry crunchy layer cake, strawberry champagne cake, and strawberry layer cake.
- Other desserts: There are lots of other ways to use this frosting, such as piped onto brownies for a decadent twist or as a filling in sandwich cookies.
Proper Storage
- Room temperature: The frosting can be stored at room temperature for up to 48 hours.
- Fridge: Strawberry frosting can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. It’s best enjoyed within a week. Bring it back to room temperature before using.
- Freezer: For longer storage, freeze the frosting for up to three months. Thaw in the fridge before using.
Homemade Strawberry Frosting – Two Ways
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Ingredients
- 1 cup freeze-dried strawberries (OR 1 1/2 cups (200g) chopped fresh strawberries)
- 1 cup (224g ) unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 4 cups (460g) powdered sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons (45-60ml) water or cream (if needed)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch or two of salt
Instructions
- If using fresh strawberries, add the strawberries to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. You should have about 3/4 cups of puree.
- Add the puree to a small sized saucepan and cook over medium heat. Allow the mixture to come to a slow boil, stirring consistently to keep it from burning, until it has thickened and reduced to about 6 tbsp, about 10-15 minutes. To measure, pour the puree into a measuring cup. If it’s more than 6 tbsp (between 1/4 and 1/2 cup), add it back to the pan and continue cooking.
- When the puree has thickened and reduced, pour into a large measuring cup and allow to cool to at least room temperature. This strawberry mixture can be made ahead, if you like, and stored in the fridge.
- If using freeze dried strawberries, add them to a food processor and grind into a fine powder. Set aside.
- Regardless of which version you're making, add the butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
- Add about half of the powdered sugar and beat until well combined and smooth.
- If using the strawberry reduction, add about 3 tablespoons of the reduction and beat until well combined and smooth. If using the freeze dried strawberries, add the powder and about 3 tablespoons of water or cream and beat until well combined and smooth.
- Add the vanilla extract and slowly add the remaining powdered sugar and beat until well combined and smooth.
- 9. Add additional strawberry reduction/milk or cream until your frosting is the right consistency. Use your frosting on cakes, cupcakes, etc. Frosting can be left at room temperature for 1-2 days, but if you aren't using it right away, I recommend refrigerating it for up to a week or freezing it for about a month.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Categories:
Cakes and Cupcakes, Easter, Frosting Recipes, Holidays, July 4th, Recipes, Sweets and Treats, Valentine's Day,
I’m a huge fan of your recipes!!
I’m planning on making a batch of cupcakes with these. Do they go bad after 2 days and room temp? What happens?
I don’t like putting cupcakes in the fridge since they dry out.
Can you make the frosting ahead of time and refrigerate with the same fluffy frosting?
Yes, you can. Just bring it back to room temperature before using.
I’m a 10 yr old who loves baking, and I’m making this for my sister who’s turning 16. After a while, I chose vanilla cupcakes, and my brother chose strawberry frosting! totally worked, and was really good. Definitely making again! Delicious! Thank you so much!
For the frosting I put in the correct amount of butter, but all I tasted and smelled was butter. For next time should I only put half the butter in? The filling and cake was awesome though!
Did you use salted butter? I feel like salted butter can be that way. If you used unsalted and were still not loving the buttery taste, you could replace half of the butter with shortening.
hi there!! planning to do this recipe, just wanted to ask how the process for making the frosting would be if frozen strawberries will be used? Thank you! 🤗
You’d want to thaw them and pat them dry to get rid of excess water that will water down the strawberry flavor. Then follow the directions for the fresh strawberries.
Super easy and really delicious 😋 only used half the sugar and it was perfect. Thank you for a scrumptious delight.
I know that this is a strawberry recipe but I can’t choose between strawberries or raspberries haha
Will I need to adjust the recipe at all if I use raspberries in place of strawberries?
No, you shouldn’t need to adjust anything.
Business axiom: It is far more for the sender to ensure the file is formatted correctly than to ask all recipients to format upon opening.
Could you separate the above into to complete recipes. One for fresh and one for frozen.
Thank you
Hi! Finally someone who’s given a recipe with fresh strawberries!
Here they sell a strawberry compote in stores (it looks semi solid in consistency with some berry pieces in it). so I was wondering if I could substitute that in place of the puree? Or is compote too different from a puree? And would the compote work for a strawberry cupcake batter too?
Would be great if u could solve my query. Thanks!!
A compound is going to have things like sugar mixed in, so it may not give you the same result.
Would it be ok if I reduced the sugar considerably?
The powdered sugar gives the frosting volume and adds stability. If you don’t need as much frosting and you don’t need it to be a stable/thick, that would be fine. It just depends on how you want the frosting to turn out.
Hey. Can I use a blender instead of food processor for the freeze dried strawberries
That should be fine as long as you can grind it into a powder.
I made this frosting & followed the recipe to a T & it wasn’t what I hoped it would be. I used puréed strawberries & cooked on the stove exactly as states in the recipe. I ended up having to use strawberry extract to amp the strawberry flavor. And it was also runny. I had to put it in the freezer. Also, we have central air so our home is not warm. Not sure 🤔 what happened…
I just made cupcakes with this recipe and they turned out great!
Can i use canned strawberry pie filling for buttercream frosting as here i couldn’t find any fresh ones or frozen strawberry
I would imagine you could. Having not done it myself, it’s hard to advise though.
I was not thrilled when my son asked for strawberry frosting on his birthday cake, until I found this recipe! The use of freeze dried strawberries is brilliant! (BTW I got them at Trader Joe’s). I could not stop eating this… Thank you so much!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Oh ok so that is normal how it was..maybe than the cream cheese version better for my taste
Thank you again
Cream cheese is also firm when refrigerated, so it will do the same thing. The only frosting that I can think of off the top of my head that will not firm up when in the fridge is a whipped cream.