The Ultimate Homemade Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe: Tangy, Smooth & Bursting with Flavor
Prepare to fall in love with this irresistible strawberry cream cheese frosting! Crafted with just five essential ingredients, this recipe is remarkably simple to execute and delivers an unparalleled burst of tangy, sweet strawberry flavor. The secret to its vibrant taste and perfect texture lies in freeze-dried strawberries, which infuse the frosting with intense berry essence without adding excess moisture that could make it runny or thin. Say goodbye to watered-down frostings and hello to a rich, pipeable masterpiece!
This recipe takes a beloved classic — cream cheese frosting — and elevates it with a delightful strawberry twist. Just like our popular classic cream cheese frosting, this version is incredibly versatile, but with a unique berry dimension. Unlike frostings that rely on fresh or frozen strawberries, which often require cooking down to reduce water content, this recipe leverages the concentrated flavor of freeze-dried berries. This ingenious method ensures a consistently thick, flavorful frosting every time, eliminates extra cooking steps, and allows you to enjoy the taste of summer strawberries year-round, regardless of the season!
The applications for this homemade strawberry cream cheese frosting are endless. While it’s particularly divine when paired with our strawberry cake and strawberry cupcakes, its tangy sweetness complements a wide array of baked goods. An added bonus? You can prepare this frosting a few days in advance, making it perfect for meal prepping your desserts, and it freezes beautifully for future indulgence!
Watch How Easily This Delicious Frosting Comes Together
Essential Ingredient Notes for the Best Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Creating the perfect strawberry cream cheese frosting starts with understanding your ingredients. While the list is short, selecting the right type and preparing them correctly is crucial for achieving that ideal consistency and rich flavor.
Freeze-Dried Strawberries: The Flavor Powerhouse
These crunchy, lightweight berries are the star of our frosting, providing an intense strawberry flavor without any added moisture. You can typically find freeze-dried strawberries in the dried fruit or snack aisle of most major supermarkets. It’s vital to choose freeze-dried strawberries, not simply “dried” or “dehydrated” strawberries. Freeze-dried varieties are light, airy, incredibly crisp, and crumble easily into a fine powder. This fine powder is what allows the strawberry flavor to seamlessly integrate into the frosting without altering its texture. If you accidentally grab dried strawberries, they will be chewy and won’t blend into the necessary fine powder.
Cream Cheese: Foundation of a Tangy Frosting
For a thick, stable, and pipeable cream cheese frosting, always opt for foil-wrapped brick-style cream cheese. Avoid cream cheese spreads or those sold in tubs, as these often contain added water or stabilizers that make them too thin and soft for a robust frosting. The cream cheese must also be properly softened to room temperature before mixing. This ensures it creams smoothly with the butter and powdered sugar, preventing any lumps and resulting in a beautifully smooth, homogenous frosting. Cold cream cheese will lead to a lumpy texture that’s difficult to resolve.
Unsalted Butter: The Creamy Base
Similar to cream cheese, your unsalted butter should be at room temperature and softened. This allows it to cream properly with the powdered sugar, creating a light, fluffy base. Unsalted butter gives you control over the overall saltiness of your frosting, allowing the other flavors to shine. If you only have salted butter, you can use it, but consider reducing or omitting any additional salt in other parts of your dessert recipe.
Powdered Sugar (Confectioners’ Sugar): Sweetness and Structure
Powdered sugar, also known as confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar, is essential for both sweetening and thickening the frosting. Its fine texture dissolves smoothly, contributing to the frosting’s creamy consistency. While not strictly required, sifting your powdered sugar before adding it can help prevent lumps, especially if it has been stored for a while and compacted.
Pure Vanilla Extract: A Touch of Warmth
A good quality pure vanilla extract enhances the overall flavor profile of the frosting, complementing both the tanginess of the cream cheese and the sweetness of the strawberries. Avoid artificial vanilla if possible, as pure extract offers a more nuanced and richer flavor.
Preparing Your Freeze-Dried Strawberries: From Berry to Powder
Transforming whole freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder is a quick and essential step for this recipe. It takes mere seconds and is incredibly straightforward, thanks to modern kitchen appliances.
Simply add 1 ounce (approximately 28 grams) of freeze-dried strawberries into the canister of a high-speed blender or a small food processor. Blend on high speed for about 10-15 seconds, or until the strawberries are transformed into a fine, dust-like powder. The consistency should be similar to powdered sugar, without any large chunks. This ensures a perfectly smooth frosting without a grainy texture.
Pro Tip: For ultimate convenience, you can also purchase pre-ground freeze-dried strawberry powder. If you opt for this, you’ll need approximately 3 to 4 tablespoons (which corresponds to about 1 ounce by weight). Ensure it’s 100% pure strawberry powder with no added sugar or fillers.
The Science of Sweetness: Why the Order of Your Ingredients Matters for Perfect Frosting
Achieving a thick, pipeable, and stable strawberry cream cheese frosting isn’t just about the ingredients; it’s also about the sequence in which you add them. Following a specific order prevents common frosting pitfalls like a runny texture or lumps. Here’s the optimal method:
- Start with Softened Butter: Begin by creaming your room temperature unsalted butter until it’s light and fluffy. This creates the primary fat base for your frosting.
- Gradually Add Powdered Sugar: Incorporate the powdered sugar in two batches. This allows the sugar to be fully absorbed and coated by the butter, preventing a dusty mess and ensuring a smooth integration.
- Introduce Strawberry Powder & Vanilla: Once the butter and sugar are well combined, mix in the ground freeze-dried strawberry powder and vanilla extract. This ensures the flavors are evenly distributed before the final ingredient is added.
- Finally, Add Cubed Cream Cheese: The cream cheese goes in last, preferably cut into small cubes. This helps it blend more easily and quickly.
Mixing the butter and powdered sugar together first is a crucial technique. The fat from the butter coats the fine sugar particles, preventing them from absorbing excessive moisture from the cream cheese later. This “fat barrier” is key to achieving a thicker, more stable, and beautifully pipeable frosting that holds its shape exceptionally well – a trick we perfected while developing our popular lemon cream cheese frosting recipe! This scientific approach minimizes the risk of a runny frosting.
Adding the cream cheese last, and mixing it in just until combined, also helps prevent overmixing. Overmixing cream cheese frosting can cause it to become overly soft, thin, or even runny, as the cream cheese can break down. Therefore, resist the urge to throw everything into the bowl at once; patience and proper sequencing are your allies for flawless frosting!
Can I Use Other Types of Freeze-Dried Fruit for This Frosting?
Absolutely! The beauty of using freeze-dried fruit powder is its versatility. You can certainly experiment with other freeze-dried fruits to create a variety of flavored cream cheese frostings. Common choices include raspberries, blueberries, or even mango. Just be mindful that different fruits possess varying degrees of flavor intensity. For instance, freeze-dried raspberries might have a stronger, more tart punch than strawberries, while blueberries could offer a milder, sweeter note.
When trying a new fruit, we recommend starting with slightly less powder than the recipe calls for (e.g., 0.75 ounces or 2-3 tablespoons) and tasting as you go. You can always add more to achieve your desired flavor intensity. This ensures you don’t overwhelm the delicate balance of the cream cheese frosting with an overly strong fruit flavor.
How Much Frosting Does This Recipe Yield?
This recipe is designed to produce a generous amount of frosting, yielding slightly more than 3 cups. This quantity is ideal for frosting approximately 14 to 16 standard-sized cupcakes with a beautiful swirl, or for lavishly covering one 9×13 inch sheet cake. If you’re planning to frost a larger project, such as a multi-layered cake (like an 8-inch or 9-inch two-layer cake), we recommend increasing the recipe by half to ensure you have plenty for filling, crumb coating, and decorating. For a three-layer cake, you might even consider doubling the recipe.
Serving Suggestions: What Pairs Best with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting?
The delightful tang and sweet berry flavor of this strawberry cream cheese frosting make it a fantastic companion for almost any cake or cupcake base. Its versatility extends far beyond just desserts, though! Here are some of our absolute favorite ways to enjoy this luscious frosting:
- Strawberry Cake or Strawberry Cupcakes: An obvious, yet undeniably perfect pairing. The strawberry frosting enhances the natural berry flavor of the cake, creating a cohesive and delightful experience.
- Lemon Cake or Lemon Cupcakes: The bright, zesty notes of lemon are beautifully complemented by the sweet and tangy strawberry cream cheese, offering a refreshing and balanced flavor combination. Check out our recipes for lemon cake and lemon cupcakes!
- Coconut Cake or Coconut Cupcakes: The tropical sweetness of coconut finds a wonderful partner in the vibrant strawberry frosting, creating an exotic and indulgent treat. Explore our coconut cake and coconut cupcakes recipes.
- Chocolate Cake or Chocolate Cupcakes: The rich, deep flavors of chocolate are elevated by the fruity tang of strawberry cream cheese. This classic combination is a crowd-pleaser every time! Try it with our chocolate layer cake or chocolate cupcakes.
- Cut-Out Sugar Cookies: Forget plain vanilla frosting! A dollop of strawberry cream cheese frosting transforms simple sugar cookies into a special occasion treat. Our soft Christmas cut sugar cookies would be extra delicious with this.
- Fudgy Chocolate Brownies: For a truly decadent experience, spread this frosting over warm, fudgy chocolate brownies. A drizzle of chocolate ganache on top would take it to another level of deliciousness!
- As a Fruit Dip: Lighten it up slightly with a tablespoon of milk or cream and serve it as a dip for fresh fruit like grapes, melon, or pineapple for a delightful snack.
- Sandwich Cookies: Use it as a vibrant filling for homemade sandwich cookies.
- On Waffles or Pancakes: A dollop of this frosting instead of whipped cream can turn an ordinary breakfast into a special brunch.
We truly hope you adore this strawberry cream cheese frosting as much as we do! We’d love to hear about all the wonderful ways you incorporate it into your baking and what you think of its irresistible strawberry flavor. Don’t hesitate to share your creations and feedback!
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1 ounce freeze-dried strawberries (28 grams)
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened (170 grams; 1 ½ sticks)
- 3 cups powdered sugar (360 grams)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 8 ounces brick-style cream cheese softened and cubed (226 grams; 1 block)
Instructions
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Add the freeze-dried strawberries to a blender or food processor and blend into a fine, uniform powder. Set this vibrant strawberry powder aside.1 ounce freeze-dried strawberries
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In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a large mixing bowl with a handheld mixer, beat the softened unsalted butter on medium speed for approximately 30 seconds until it becomes smooth and creamy.¾ cup unsalted butter
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With the mixer on low speed, gradually add half of the powdered sugar, mixing until just combined. Then, incorporate the remaining half of the powdered sugar until the mixture is smooth and lump-free. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.3 cups powdered sugar
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Next, add the prepared freeze-dried strawberry powder and the pure vanilla extract. Mix on low-medium speed until these ingredients are fully and evenly combined. Pause to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure no dry spots remain.1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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Finally, add half of the softened, cubed cream cheese to the mixture. Continue mixing on low speed until it is just fully incorporated and no visible streaks remain. Then, mix in the remaining half of the cubed cream cheese. It is crucial to stop and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl a few times to ensure all the cream cheese is fully blended. If necessary, you can mix for an additional 30 seconds on low speed to guarantee a perfectly smooth frosting without any lumps. However, be careful not to overmix the frosting after adding the cream cheese, as this can lead to a softer, less stable, or even runny consistency.8 ounces brick-style cream cheese
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Your vibrant, tangy strawberry cream cheese frosting is now ready to use! Pipe or spread it generously onto your favorite cupcakes, cakes, or other desserts.
Notes
Freezing Instructions: This strawberry cream cheese frosting freezes exceptionally well. You can freeze it for 2 to 3 months in an airtight freezer-safe container. When you’re ready to use it, simply thaw it in the refrigerator overnight, bring it to room temperature, and give it a good re-mix before applying.
Quantity: This recipe yields approximately 3 to 3.5 cups of frosting. This is ample for generously frosting 14 to 16 standard cupcakes or a single 9×13 inch sheet cake. For multi-layered cakes (e.g., a two-layer round cake), we highly recommend increasing the recipe by half to ensure sufficient coverage and filling.