Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Looking for the best strawberry frosting made with fresh strawberries? This Strawberry Buttercream Frosting is a small batch frosting that makes enough to frost 6-8 cupcakes or one 6-8 inch cake.

It’s almost strawberry season in PA! Every year I talk about how my dad and I go strawberry picking at a local farm.

I’m still waiting for this year’s dates, but it should be within the next two weeks.

Strawberry recipes are plenty abundant here, with some favorites like strawberry cupcakes, small strawberry cake, strawberry cake without gelatin, and strawberry snacking cake.

You know what they have in common? They’re all cake in need of a delicious frosting recipe.

And since I have strawberry on the brain, let’s pair them with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting. Double the strawberry fun.

My strawberry buttercream is similar to my strawberry cream cheese frosting in that you cook fresh strawberries down into a thick puree before beating into butter and powdered sugar.

This allows for maximum fresh strawberry flavor without making your frosting runny.

For this blog post, I paired my strawberry frosting with my small batch vanilla cupcakes but you can also use it with my small vanilla cake recipe.

You can also pair them with small batch chocolate cupcakes or lemon cupcakes.

Why make small batch frosting?

What makes my strawberry buttercream recipe special? You make only what you need.

How many times have you made frosting, only to have a ton leftover?

Unless you have plans to make another cake, you end up throwing out said extra frosting. All that butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla wasted.

That’s why I set out to make a small batch of strawberry buttercream. Just the right amount of frosting for most small cakes without throwing any away.

How much does small batch strawberry buttercream make?

The yield for this strawberry frosting recipe will depend on what you’re making:

• If you’re piping cupcakes, you can frost between 6-8 cupcakes, depending on how tall you make the swirls.
• If you’re frosting cupcakes with an offset spatula, you can frost 1 dozen cupcakes because you typically don’t use as much as you would piping.
• If you’re frosting a 6 or 8 inch cake such as my single layer chocolate cake, you can frost the top and edges
• If you’re frosting a small two layer cake, you can frost the middle and top. Frosting the edges will depend on how much you’ve used so far. You can always leave it as a naked cake with the edges showing.

Adding Fresh Strawberries To Buttercream Frosting

The best strawberry buttercream recipe starts with its namesake – the strawberries.

In order to incorporate fresh strawberries into your frosting, you need to puree them in a blender then cook down the mixture until thickened.

If you were to add the puree without cooking, your frosting would be too runny. That would mean adding more powdered sugar to thicken it, which would make the frosting a little TOO sweet.

Measuring is very important because you want 1 1/2 tablespoons cooked puree (3 tablespoons if you’re doubling my recipe).

Let it cool to room temperature before using. Otherwise, it may curdle your frosting if it’s too warm.

If you’re making the puree the day before, make sure you bring it to room temperature along with your butter. If it’s too cold, it may also split your frosting.

If you don’t want to make strawberry puree, you can also use strawberry jam without pectin or strawberry curd.

Or make a peach buttercream frosting with peach curd.

How To Make Strawberry Buttercream

To make strawberry buttercream, I highly recommend using an electric mixer to beat together the ingredients rather than beating by hand.

Using a mixer makes it super smooth and adds air, which is key for making a fluffy frosting. I personally use a 5 quart stand mixer. However, you can also use a hand mixer.

First, start with room temperature butter.

If you beat it while too cold, the frosting won’t be as smooth and may result in a lumpy frosting. If you beat it while too warm, the frosting will become too soft to set up.

Since I always use unsalted butter, I add a pinch of salt. It helps amplify the other flavors. If you’re using salted butter, you can skip this part

Next, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy, roughly 1-2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl if needed.

Finally, add your cooled strawberry puree and vanilla. This will smooth your frosting into something spreadable.

How do you fix runny frosting?

At this point, you need to decide if your strawberry frosting is to your liking. If you’re making a cake, you want the frosting to be spreadable.

However, if you’re piping cupcakes, you want the frosting more on the firm side so it doesn’t fall over.

If your frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar. If your frosting is too thick, add a few drops of milk.

Sometimes if your frosting is the right thickness but too warm to pipe, the refrigerator is your friend! My kitchen gets super warm when the oven is on, even in the winter.

What I do is refrigerate the frosting for 15 minutes. This is usually enough time to firm it up for my cake.

How do you fix separated strawberry buttercream

If your strawberry buttercream looks curdled, it means you have broken buttercream. This means your fat and liquid from the butter separated.

If any of your buttercream ingredients are too warm or too cold, such as not letting the strawberry puree cool down or using butter straight from the fridge, your frosting will curdle.

There are two ways to fix separated strawberry buttercream:

1. If your buttercream is too warm, refrigerate for about 15 minutes then try beating again.
2. If your buttercream is too cold, gently reheat it over a pan of steaming water, like you would with a double boiler. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t actually touch the water. Once warmed up, start beating again.

Can strawberry buttercream be made in advance?

Yes, you can make strawberry buttercream frosting in advance! Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

You may need to bring your frosting to room temperature if it’s too hard to spread.

Do you have to refrigerate strawberry buttercream?

The biggest question I get about strawberry buttercream is do you have to refrigerate a cake with buttercream frosting?

The answer is no. Because it uses a good amount of powdered sugar, strawberry buttercream is safe to leave out at room temperature for 2-3 days.

That means a strawberry buttercream cake can sit out overnight for up to 2-3 days.

However, buttercream tends to melt if it’s too warm because of the butter’s melting point. In the winter I can leave my cake out, but in the summer I refrigerate my cakes.

You also want to refrigerate your cake if you want it to last longer than 3 days.

How to refrigerate a cake with strawberry buttercream frosting

To refrigerate a strawberry buttercream cake, first put it in the fridge uncovered for about 15 minutes. This will harden the frosting just enough so it won’t smear if accidentally touched.

Next, cover the cake so it doesn’t dry out in the refrigerator.

You can either loosely wrap with plastic wrap (you can use toothpicks if you don’t want it touching the frosting) or store in an airtight cake container (affiliate link).

I highly recommend using a cake container because it won’t actually touch your cake and you can store other items on top.

Cake Recipes For Your Small Batch Frosting

As much fun as it is to eat frosting with a spoon, chances are you need a cake recipe too. Here are some small cake recipes to make:

• Small Chocolate Cake
• Small Vanilla Cake
• Small Birthday Cake
• Small Lemon Cake
• Lemon Raspberry Cake – swap out the raspberries for strawberries

Looking for more? Check out my full list of 6 inch cake recipes and small batch cupcake recipes.

More Small Batch Frosting Recipes

Enjoyed this recipe? Here are some more small batch frosting recipes:

• Small Batch Buttercream Frosting
• Small Batch Chocolate Frosting
• Cinnamon Buttercream
• Lemon Buttercream Frosting
• Mint Frosting
• Small Batch Cream Cheese Frosting
• Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Looking for more? Check out my full list of small batch frosting recipes.