Let me educate you how one can make naturally flavored (and naturally coloured) strawberry buttercream frosting. The key is to switch some confectioners’ sugar with freeze-dried strawberry powder. This strawberry buttercream is extremely creamy and clean, with a great deal of actual strawberry taste.
Initially printed in 2017. New images & success suggestions added in 2023.

Let’s speak about how one can make naturally flavored, naturally pink strawberry buttercream frosting.
Have you ever ever tried making frosting with recent strawberries? I’ve, and the outcomes had been disastrous. I chopped up the strawberries, even blotted the moisture a little bit bit, pureed them, after which added it to a vanilla frosting. The buttercream immediately curdled on account of the surplus moisture—yuck! Identical factor occurred with strawberry jam, which additionally made the frosting too candy.
As a substitute of counting on synthetic strawberry taste, I attempted a trick I discovered whereas writing my cookbook Sally’s Sweet Habit. Use freeze-dried strawberry powder!

I’ve a recipe for strawberry buttercream candies in that cookbook—they’re truly the gorgeous pink striped candies you see on the quilt. The filling is creamy and clean with numerous concentrated strawberry taste, which comes from—you guessed it—floor freeze-dried strawberries. I made a decision to make precise strawberry frosting the identical actual method. Should you’d like a visible information for how one can make it, watch the video tutorial within the recipe card beneath.
It’s very easy.
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting (6 Substances)
- Freeze-Dried Strawberries: You’ll grind these right into a powder. Need to make a raspberry buttercream? Use freeze-dried raspberries as an alternative.
- Unsalted Butter: Begin with room temperature butter. Room temperature butter is definitely cooler than you assume. If the butter is simply too heat, the frosting will probably be greasy.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: Confectioners’ sugar is the majority of this frosting, sweetening it and binding the components collectively.
- Heavy Cream or Milk: Liquid thins out and provides creaminess to the frosting. You should utilize heavy cream, milk, and even half-and-half.
- Vanilla Extract:Â Vanilla extract provides unbelievable taste.
- Salt: A pinch of salt offsets all of the sweetness.
That’s it! No synthetic flavoring or meals coloring on this fairly pink strawberry frosting.

Grind the freeze-dried strawberries into powder utilizing a meals processor or blender:

Success Tip for Tremendous-Clean Strawberry Buttercream:
Should you desire a smoother strawberry buttercream, with not one of the teeny-tiny seeds, you’ll be able to sift out the seeds and bigger items of the bottom freeze-dried strawberries with a effective mesh sieve, and use simply the super-fine strawberry mud. If I’ve an additional minute, I often do that.

The remainder of the recipe is much like making common vanilla buttercream or chocolate buttercream. You’ll want a handheld or stand mixer.


The place Can I Purchase Freeze-Dried Strawberries?
I at all times discover freeze-dried strawberries in my common grocery retailer within the dried fruit aisle. Dealer Joe’s, Entire Meals, Goal, and Amazon all carry them.
Don’t use “dried strawberries,” that are chewy like raisins or dried apricots. They’ve a gummy texture and don’t grind right into a powder. You want freeze-dried strawberries, which have all the moisture eliminated. They’re the identical strawberries we use in strawberry and cream cookies.
What Tastes Finest With Strawberry Buttercream?
The flavour-combo prospects are limitless! This recipe makes sufficient for a dozen cupcakes, a 3-layer 6-inch cake, or a 9Ă—13-inch quarter sheet cake. I’d 1.5x the recipe for a 2-layer cake.


I additionally halve the recipe and use it to fill these chocolate coated strawberry cupcakes.
Strawberry Frosting Variations
Should you love strawberry buttercream frosting, you’ll additionally love these scrumptious variations!

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook dinner Time: 0 minutes
Whole Time: 10 minutes
Yield: about 3 cups
Class: Frosting
Technique: Baking
Delicacies: American
Description
Freeze-dried strawberries are the key to including actual taste and pure shade to strawberry buttercream frosting. Wealthy and creamy, this flavorful frosting pairs completely with an array of confections together with chocolate cupcakes, lemon cupcakes, and/or a vanilla sheet cake.
Directions
- Utilizing a meals processor or blender, course of the freeze-dried strawberries right into a powdery crumb. You must have round 1/2 cup. If it’s not grinding down effective sufficient, you’ll be able to sift it with a effective mesh sieve to rid bigger seeds/items. Put aside.
- In a big bowl utilizing a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium-high pace till creamy, about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, strawberry powder, heavy cream/milk, and vanilla. Beat on low pace for 30 seconds, then swap to excessive pace and beat for two minutes. Style. Add 1–2 extra Tablespoons of heavy cream/milk if wanted to skinny out, if desired. (I often add at the very least 1 extra.) Add a pinch of salt if frosting is simply too candy.
- Use instantly or cowl tightly and retailer for as much as 1 week within the fridge or as much as 3 months within the freezer. After freezing, thaw within the fridge then beat the frosting on medium pace for a number of seconds so it’s creamy once more. After thawing or refrigerating, beating in a splash of heavy cream or milk will assist skinny the frosting out once more, if wanted. (It stiffens within the fridge.)
Notes
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Meals Processor | Nice Mesh Sieve | Electrical Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer)
- The place to search out freeze-dried strawberries: I at all times discover freeze-dried strawberries in my common grocery retailer within the dried fruit aisle. Dealer Joe’s, Entire Meals, some greenback shops, Goal, and Amazon carry them.
- Don’t use recent, frozen, or dried strawberries. Recent and frozen strawberries add an excessive amount of moisture. Dried strawberries are chewy like raisins or dried apricots. They’ve a gummy texture and don’t grind right into a powder. You want freeze-dried strawberries, which have all the moisture eliminated.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream produces an additional creamy frosting, however complete milk or half-and-half work too. Decrease fats or nondairy milks work in a pinch, however the frosting gained’t be as creamy.
- Amount: This recipe is sufficient to frost 12–18 cupcakes, or a skinny layer on a 9×13-inch quarter sheet cake. 1.5x the recipe for a 2-layer cake. (Doubling the recipe can be far an excessive amount of.)
Key phrases: strawberry buttercream frosting