These high altitude chocolate strawberry cupcakes start with moist and fluffy vanilla cupcakes flecked with freeze dried strawberries. They’re topped with a swirl of chocolate buttercream, Valentine’s Day sprinkles and chocolate hearts.
You might also love these valentine linzer cookies, red hearts cake, and pink and white raspberry vanilla cake.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Moist for Days. The soft vanilla strawberry cupcakes stay tender and moist for days after baking.
Perfect for Valentine’s Day. Chocolate covered strawberries are the quintessential romantic treat, and these chocolate strawberry cupcakes have the most delicious flavor for this fun holiday.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- High Altitude Vanilla Cupcakes. This is a reliable vanilla cupcake recipe for high altitude that I’ve tested dozens of times. They’re soft, moist, fluffy, and easy to make in about 30 minutes.
- Freeze Dried Strawberries. The freeze dried strawberries are what adds the strawberry flavor to your chocolate strawberry cupcakes. You could even sprinkle these over the buttercream instead of the valentine sprinkles.
Buttercream
- Chocolate Buttercream. Made with rich Dutch processed cocoa powder, the buttercream has the most wonderful flavor and texture that pairs beautifully with the strawberry cupcakes.
- Valentines Sprinkles.
- Chocolate Candy Hearts.
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a standard muffin pan/s with 17 paper liners.
- Prepare the Vanilla Cupcake batter as instructed. Fold the chopped freeze dried strawberries into the batter.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling them 2/3 full. Bake the cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes, until the tops spring back when lightly touched, and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for several minutes, then gently transfer to a cooling rack. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- Prepare the Chocolate Buttercream as instructed. Fit a 16-inch disposable piping bag with tip 8B, and pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
- Decorate with sprinkles and chocolate hearts.
Recipe Variations
Chocolate Cupcakes + Strawberry Buttercream. Instead of vanilla strawberry cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, try these chocolate cupcakes with strawberry buttercream for an equally delicious combination of flavors.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, fresh strawberries will add too much moisture to the cake and will change the texture. Only use chopped freeze dried strawberries for this recipe.
Store leftover cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
I used tip 8B.
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High Altitude Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 recipe High Altitude Vanilla Cupcakes
- ¾ cup (about 20g) freeze dried strawberries, roughly chopped
Buttercream
- 1 recipe Chocolate Buttercream
- valentines sprinkles
- chocolate candy hearts
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a standard muffin pan/s with 17 paper liners.
- Prepare the Vanilla Cupcake batter as instructed. Fold the chopped freeze dried strawberries into the batter.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling them 2/3 full. Bake the cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes, until the tops spring back when lightly touched, and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for several minutes, then gently transfer to a cooling rack. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- Prepare the Chocolate Buttercream as instructed. Fit a 16-inch disposable piping bag with tip 8B, and pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
- Decorate with sprinkles and chocolate hearts.
Hi Heather! I made your champagne cupcakes recipe, using sprite zero in place of the champagne. Then I added the chopped freeze dried strawberries. But they floated to the top while baking. How would you prevent that from happening next time?
Thank you,
That batter might be too thin to suspend the freeze dried strawberries, but maybe if you tried coating them in a little flour, that might help.