These Strawberry Filled Cupcakes are eggless vanilla cupcakes that are filled with fresh strawberries and topped with a strawberry buttercream! They're sweet and delicious and perfect for all you strawberry lovers! Best part is, they're also gluten free, nut free and easily can be vegan!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a regular size muffin pan with paper liners. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together the gluten free flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk of choice, light brown sugar, vegetable oil, vinegar and the vanilla.
Slowly add the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. It if gets too thick, switch to a spatula but it should be fairly liquidy.
Use an ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake tins ¾ way to the top. Smooth the tops with a small knife.
Bake the cupcakes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-28 minutes or until tops of the cupcakes are golden brown and spring back at you when carefully touched.
Let the cupcakes cool almost completely in the pan before trying to remove them.
For The Frosting
In a small saucepan set over medium heat, combine the quartered strawberries and granulated sugar. Stir constantly for about 5-8 minutes until the strawberries have liquified a bit and the sugar has dissolved. Use the back of your spoon to mash the strawberries apart.
Set a strainer or a mesh colander over a bowl and strain the strawberry liquid. You don’t want any of the seeds, you just want the liquid. You should have about 4 tablespoons of liquid.
With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, or using a large bowl and a hand mixer, beat the softened vegan baking stick until creamy. About 2-3 minutes.
Add the confectioners’ sugar, water, strained strawberry liquid (4 tablespoons), salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth and combined. If the strawberry liquid solidified a bit, that’s ok. Just use a spatula to scrape it into your mixing bowl.
Assemble the Cupcakes
Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, make the holes for the strawberry filling.If you have piping bags with tips, you can use that to make the holes.If not, using a clean thumb, simply push down in the center of the cupcakes but not all the way to the bottom.
Wash 4 large strawberries, cut off the tops and then slice them into teeny tiny pieces. Each piece should be the size of your pinky nail or smaller.
Fill the hole in the cupcake with the strawberry pieces, all the way to the top. Each cupcake will only fit about ¼ of a strawberry cut up.
Decorate the Cupcakes
Once the cupcakes are filled, If you have piping bags, pipe the frosting on top of each cupcake.If you don’t have piping bags, put a thin layer of strawberry frosting on top of each cupcake.
If you frosted the cupcakes by hand, pop the cupcakes in the fridge for 15 minutes to let that thin layer harden. This is your crumb layer so that when you frost the tops of the cupcakes, the strawberries don't ooze out and get all over the place. If you have a piping bag, you don’t need the crumb layer or this step.
Immediately after finishing frosting the cupcakes, add the white sprinkles so they stick to the frosting.
Then, pop the cupcakes in the fridge to chill for about 5-10 minutes. If you push the strawberry into the frosting and it's not chilled, the frosting will ooze all over the place.
After the cupcakes have chilled for 5-10 minutes, gently push a fresh washed strawberry down into the middle of the each cupcake so the tip of the strawberry goes a little into that hole we carved. This way the strawberry will stay put.
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Notes
Vegan: Use a dairy free gluten free flour, vegan sugar, vegan baking sticks, non dairy milk and vegan sprinkles. All Purpose Flour: I cannot test this due to celiac disease, but use 2 ¼ cups packed AP flour (378 grams) and 1 ½ cups of milk. Storing: The cupcakes will not keep after they have been filled with strawberries, so if you need to make them ahead of time, make the cupcakes and make the wells. Then store the cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.When ready to serve, fill the cupcakes with the strawberries and frost them. Freezing: I do not recommend freezing the cupcakes once they are assembled. The strawberries will be very wet as they defrost, making the inside of the cupcakes a wet mess.Nutrition: The info below is a generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.