This strawberry buttercream recipe has been my go-to for years, and it’s about time it gets its very own recipe post! Up until now you might have seen this beautiful buttercream on my strawberry cake recipe and my strawberry lemonade cake recipe, but this frosting deserves to be a star all on its own. It’s silky smooth, bursting with strawberry flavor, flecked with bits of berries, naturally pink, and so easy to whip up. If you’ve been on the hunt for the perfect strawberry buttercream recipe, this is it.
Let’s talk about the amazing flavor of this strawberry buttercream. After many experiments with fresh strawberries, frozen strawberries, strawberry extract, and freeze dried strawberries, there is a clear winner when it comes to creating the perfect strawberry flavor without sacrificing the consistency of the buttercream. It’s freeze dried strawberries for me. Not only do they add powerful flavor to this frosting, they don’t add any additional liquid which keeps the buttercream consistency perfect for filling, frosting, and decorating cakes and other baked goods.
What are Freeze Dried Strawberries?
Freeze dried strawberries are strawberry slices that have been through a special drying process that removes all the liquid from the berry. This process amplifies the natural flavor in the strawberry slices while perfectly preserving them. Since they’re extra dry, they can be ground into a fine powder before adding to buttercream. The result is powerful yet organic strawberry flavor, the most beautiful all-natural color, and the ideal buttercream consistency for cake decorating.
You can usually find freeze dried strawberries at your local grocery store in the snack section. I’ve had great luck at Trader Joe’s, Fred Meyer, New Seasons, Whole Foods, and Target. If you can’t find freeze dried strawberries locally, here’s a link to get them on Amazon. Be warned though, once you realize how amazing freeze dried fruit is for flavoring buttercream, you’re going to want to try all the flavors. In my humble opinion, there’s no better way to create fruit flavored buttercream.
Strawberry Buttercream Flavor Pairings
This strawberry buttercream goes perfectly with pretty much any cake flavor. Here are some of my favorite flavor pairings to date:
- Strawberry Cake
- Strawberry Lemonade Cake
- Chocolate Cake
- Vanilla Cake
- Lemon Cake
- Funfetti Cake
- Matcha Cake
This strawberry buttercream will enhance any baked good you pair it with. It’s perfect as a cake filling or frosting, pipes like a dream for cupcakes, and is just the tastiest strawberry frosting recipe ever. I hope you love it as much as I do!
Strawberry Buttercream
Ingredients
- 1 Cup (23g) freeze dried strawberries
- 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp (45ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 3 Cups (360g) powdered sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt, or to taste
Instructions
- With a food processor, grind the freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder and set aside.
- Whip the butter using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on medium speed until it’s creamy and light in color, about 5 minutes. Add the strawberry powder, vanilla, and milk. Continue to mix on medium speed for 1 minute, scraping down the bowl and paddle afterwards.
- Add the powdered sugar a few cups at a time and mix on low speed until fully incorporated, scraping down the bowl and paddle after each addition. Add the salt and continue mixing on low speed until the buttercream is fully combined and silky smooth.
Notes
- Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
- Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake. To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe.
Did you make this strawberry buttercream? I want to know how it went! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you create with my recipes!
This was my first homemade buttercream icing ever and wow!! i’ll never go back to store bought. I made it for my husband’s birthday vanilla cupcakes and everyone LOVED it! It was such a hit and I felt so happy my husband LOVED his requested vanilla cake with strawberry icing without all the colorings and additives. Thank you so much!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that this was such a hit with all. Happy birthday to your husband and great job making his cake!
I used this recipe for my kiddo’s bday cake yesterday and it was perfect! I doubled the recipe and only reduced the sugar by a cup altogether and it was so darn good, and great consistency. I made this with boxed betty crocker cake (a marbled strawberry & vanilla). One of my kids has been picking the frosting off the leftover cake rather than eating the cake at all haha. Thanks for an excellent, tasty, and easy recipe.
This looks so good! What a great combination of flavors!
Love the natural look of your buttercream recipe! Gonna fry! If I wanted to use whipping cream instead of milk, would I use the same amount for the recipe above? Thanks
Hi Lisa! Yes, you can sub in heavy whipping cream for the milk. Since heavy whipping cream is thicker than whole milk, yoou might need an extra Tbsp if the frosting seems too thick. Hope that helps!
Used 5c of sugar to make more and added cream cheese and used kerrygold butter. Very delicious. Made my own birthday cake today.
Happy birthday, Ashlyn! Cream cheese sounds like a delicious addition!
This stuff is absolutely amazing! Made it today to pipe on cupcakes. The color is gorgeous and has the taste to match!
Yay, Scott! So happy to hear it was a hit!
Would doubling this recipe be enough for a three layer 9″ cake?
Hi Nancy! Yes, you can double the recipe for three taller 9-inch layers (they’d be closer to 2 inches tall each) or make 1.5x the recipe for three shorter 9-inch layers (they’d be about an inch tall each). Hope that helps!
Do you measure 1 cup of freeze dried strawberries and then grind them in to a fine powder or is it 1 cup of the strawberry powder?
Hi Nancy! It’s 1 Cup of freeze dried strawberries before grinding them into powder. I believe you end up with somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 Cup after the grinding process.
This frosting had delicious natural strawberry flavor. I used 1 cup less sugar because it was too sweet. I definitely would make it again.
My kid is lactose intolerant, I subbed non dairy butter and oat milk…it’s super good!!!
First time making buttercream and this recipe was absolutely perfect! My son loved the strawberry taste!
Yay, Gregory! I’m so happy this recipe was a hit!
This recipe is everything! So delicious, and even better the second day.
Yay, Lacey! I’m so happy to hear that!
I want to try this…If I get strawberry powder, how much do you put into the frosting?
Hi Jan! If you get the powdered freeze dried strawberries you’ll put in about 1/4 cup.
I’m so glad I read this. I was going to use a cup of the strawberries after I powdered them. It would have been a disaster.
I’ve never made buttercream! I found this on TikTok & it looked so good I had to try! Everyone loved it! Thank you!
Yay, Diana! That makes me so happy! Thanks for letting me know it was a hit 🙂
Hi Whitney,
I’ve seen strawberry POWDER and raspberry POWDER online. The description says the powder is made from the freeze dried fruit. So I take it I could use this instead of grinding up the freeze dried fruit? Unless there’s something I’m missing!
Thanks again!
Hi Mamie! Yes, you can absolutely use the powder made from freeze dried fruit instead of grinding it down into powder by hand 🙂
Just made it! Loved it! It taste like a homemade strawberry jam but in frosting form. So good and not gritty!
Yay, Hillary! I’m so happy to hear you loved it!
I just wanna say I made the strawberry buttercream and it was amazing I couldn’t stop eating it .
Yay!! I’m so happy you loved this recipe, Tammy!