Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

The first time I made strawberry buttercream frosting, it was for the lemon cupcakes, and it was a total fail. That’s because I listened to Oprah and made the version they were slapping her name on in O universe. I don’t know why I was suprised when it was drippy and oily because there was NOTHING BUT FUCKING BUTTER IN IT. It was totally gross and ruined a couple of the lemon cupcakes by soaking in and slobbing off the sides before I put a stop to the madness and made some changes.

So here’s what you need:

1/2 cup of frozen strawberries (the whole ones, not chopped, and don’t use fresh because they won’t get watery the way you want them to)
1 cup of unsalted butter (cold and firm) <—hahhahahaahaha "firm"
A pinch of salt (Do you have a measuring spoon for a "pinch"? I do. I was surprised when I found out it's an actual measurement and not just when you pinch some salt and drop it in the frosting)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar (sift it first)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Use a food processor to puree the strawberries, or grind them down in a blender. When they're pureed (mostly free of chunks, liquidy, you know), beat together the salt and butter in a large bowl. You'll want a mixer for this job, cold butter is a bitch. Eventually, it will get fluffy. That's when you start to add little scoops of the sifted powdered sugar, a little at a time. Beat it in really well after each addition. When you don't see anymore butter chunks in the mixture, and you've used up all your sugar, put in the vanilla and about 3 tablespoons of the strawberry puree. You can add more or less, I like to add a bit more because not only does it make the frosting pinker, it's also strawberry-er. Just don't over-beat after you've mixed in the strawberry puree: the frosting will get too much air in it and get too light. It should look and feel a bit like stirring strawberry ice cream. And obviously, don't get crazy on the puree: you'll water the frosting down.

Strawberry frosting with a strawberry hat.

What to do with all the leftover strawberry puree? Well, I cored some of the lemon cupcakes and piped some puree in there. Then I frosted the tops with the strawberry frosting and put them in the fridge with a little strawberry slice for a hat. The result was a lemony treat with nice cold strawberry-lemon flavored cake in the middle. I bet this would work really well with the coconut cupcake or the banana cupcake and maybe swap out the strawberry for frozen mango or pineapple? That would make a damn good summer cupcake.