Strawberry filled Cupcakes with White Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting are a delicious, fresh, summery dessert. This recipe is made with white vanilla cupcakes that use only egg whites, tart strawberry filling, a light and creamy white chocolate and mascarpone frosting, and fresh strawberries on top.
White Chocolate and Mascarpone Strawberry Cupcakes
These strawberry cupcakes take inspiration from strawberry shortcake dessert and strawberry eton mess.
The strawberry, mascarpone, and white chocolate combo is one of the best in my opinion, so I decided to combine everything into a cupcake because cupcakes always look the prettiest. I had this picture of a beautiful white frosting swirl on top with a halved fresh strawberry and a cherry blossom.
This recipe uses only fresh strawberries, I did not use any freeze-dried strawberries (even though I love them), because I wanted to make them simpler for you.
If you do have some freeze-dried strawberries on hand, feel free to use them sprinkled on top of the cupcake, or, blitz them into powder and use that in the white chocolate mascarpone frosting for even more strawberry flavor.
White Vanilla Cupcake
The base for these strawberry cupcakes is a plain, white, moist vanilla cupcake made by using only egg whites, no egg yolks. I actually developed this recipe because I wanted to use some leftover egg whites.
The white cupcake is still moist as I used half butter and half oil, you could use only oil if you want them to look whiter.
The egg whites make the cupcakes very light and because the cupcake is pretty plain with a nice vanilla flavor, it’s a great base to carry other flavors really well.
How to ensure that cupcakes come out perfect and moist?
- Don’t over-mix the batter!
Seriously, just like with most cakes/cupcakes, it’s important to not over-mix the batter after the addition of flour so you don’t develop the gluten in the flour and make the cupcakes dry and tough. - Don’t overbake the cupcakes!
Over-baking leads to dry cupcakes/cakes/sponges. Check if the cupcakes are done by inserting a toothpick or a clean knife in the center, if it comes out with no wet batter on, it’s done.
Strawberry Filling
Inside of the white vanilla cupcake, there is a strawberry filling core that adds additional strawberry flavor to the cupcakes. I always like to add a filling inside of the cupcake to give it more flavor and texture complexity.
The strawberry filling is made of strawberry puree (using fresh or frozen strawberries) with added fresh chopped strawberries.
If you really want to make these cupcakes ultra easy and quick to make, you could skip the filling and just add more strawberries on top.
White Chocolate and Mascarpone Whipped Ganache Frosting
The frosting on these cupcakes is a whipped white chocolate ganache with mascarpone cheese which adds a nice creaminess and body.
There are also vanilla seeds specs throughout to give it a nice vanilla flavor and I love how the specs look.
If you really don’t want to add the vanilla seeds, just add a vanilla extract instead.
The white chocolate whipped ganache frosting is really smooth and creamy. It stays soft even after refrigeration.
There is no sugar added because there is enough sweetness from the white chocolate in my opinion, but if you prefer sweeter desserts I recommend adding some powdered sugar to the frosting to suit your taste.
Be sure to use white chocolate that you like. I usually use Callebaut chocolates when baking. You can usually buy them in baking specialty stores or online.
How to store strawberry cupcakes
The cupcakes should be stored in an airtight container and in the fridge because strawberries go bad quickly.
They will keep in the fridge for about 3 days. They are best eaten fresh.
Decorating cupcakes
I used a big wide open star nozzle like this to pipe the white chocolate frosting swirls and then put a halved strawberry and a cherry blossom on top.
For another interesting decoration, you could use an ice cream scooper to scoop the frosting on top of the cupcake.
Find more cupcake recipes here:
- Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes
- Mojito Cupcakes
More strawberry desserts:
- Meringue Roulade with Strawberry, Rhubarb and Mascarpone
- Rhubarb and Strawberry Mascarpone Mousse Cake
- Vanilla Cake with Strawberries and Pineapple
- Strawberry Banana Granola Parfait (From A food lovers kitchen)
- Strawberry Eton Mess
- Strawberry Scones (From Theolivebloger)
Strawberry filled Cupcakes with White Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting
Ingredients
White Chocolate Mascarpone Whipped Ganache
- 250 g heavy cream
- 110 g white chocolate chips or chopped
- 130 g mascarpone cold
- half vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla exctract
White Cupcakes
- 40 g oil
- 30 g butter melted
- 100 g sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 125 ml milk
- 170 g flour all purpose
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 70 g egg whites about 2 eggs
Strawberry Filling
- 110 g strawberries fresh or frozen
- 1-3 tbsp sugar *
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 130 g fresh strawberries chopped to small pieces
Decoration
- 5 fresh strawberries halved
Instructions
White Chocolate Mascarpone Whipped Ganache
- Split the vanilla bean lenghtwise and scrape the vanilla seeds out.
- Bring half of the heavy cream (125 g), vanilla seeds and the vanilla pod to a simmer.
- Place your white chocolate into a bowl. Pour the hot cream through a sieve onto the chocolate and leave for 1 minute. Discard the vanilla pod*.
- After 1 minute, stir the chocolate and the cream together until you get a homogenous, shiny ganache. Add the other half of the cream and mix well, ideally with an immersion blender.
- Put the ganache in the fridge to cool and make the cupcakes meanwhile.
White Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350 degrees F) and line a muffin tray with 10 cupcake liners.
- In a bowl, mix together the oil, melted butter, half of the sugar (50g), salt and vanilla.
- Combine the flour with baking powder.
- Add the flour and milk to the mixture and stir just until well combined, with no dry flour spots. Don't over-mix as that creates gluten and tough cupcakes.
- In another bowl, mix the egg-whites on low speed until bubbles start to appear. Then increase the speed to medium-high and start adding the other half of the sugar (50 g) tablespoon by tablespoon, mixing well between each addition. Stop when the egg whites reach stiff peaks that hold its shape.
- Take 1/3 of the egg whites and mix it with the cupcake batter.
- Add the rest of the egg whites and gently fold them into the batter with a spatula to keep as much air as possible.
- Distribute the batter to 10 cupcake liners and bake for 17-20 minutes. Check if the cupcakes are done by inserting a toothpick (or a knife) into the center of the cupcake, if the toothpick comes out clean with no wet batter on, it's done.
- Take the cupcakes out of the oven and let them cool.
Strawberry Filling
- Heat up your fresh or frozen strawberries (110g) until they are soft.
- Puree them with an immersion blender or in a blender. Return to a meduim heat.
- Mix the sugar and cornstarch together with a teaspoon of water and add the mixture to the strawberry puree.
- Boil the mixture for 1 minute, until it thickens a bit, string constantly. Remove from the heat and let it cool down.
- When the puree is at room temperature, add in the chopped strawberries and gently stir so that they are well distributed.
Assemble
- Core the cupcakes with a cupcake corer/apple corer, or make a hole in the center (about 2 cm wide) with a knife or a spoon. You want the holes pretty deep but be careful not to pierce through the bottom of the cupcake.
- Fill the cupcake centers with the strawberry filling, helping yourself with a little spoon or a piping bag.
- Take the white chocolate ganache out of the fridge and add in the mascarpone. Mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until they are well combined with no lumps and holding its shape. The frosting should not be over-mixed as it can split. Mix just for a minute or two, until the cream is fluffy and holding its shape.
- Put the frosting into a piping bag or a ziplock bag fitted with a big open star nozzle and pipe on the cupcake in a circle motions.*
- Decorate with the strawberry halves and cherry blossoms or whatever you like!
Notes
- The cupcakes are on a less sweet side. If you prefer sweeter desserts, add more sugar to the strawberry filling or the mascarpone frosting.
- In the strawberry filling, use as much sugar as you’d like, depending on the sweetness of your strawberries and your sweet taste.
- Decorate the cupcakes however you like. If you don’t have a big open star nozzle (Wilton 1M), use what you have.
- Alternatively, you can also use an ice cream scooper to scoop the frosting onto the cupcakes.
- If you want a really strong strawberry flavor, use freeze-dried strawberry powder in the frosting.
- Be careful not to over-mix the batter after adding the flour.
- Keep an eye on the cupcakes in the oven as you don’t want them to over-bake (that makes a dry cupcake)
- You can use a vanilla extract in place of the vanilla pod in the frosting.
- Instead of throwing away the vanilla pod, you can wash it, dry it, and put it in your sugar container. The sugar will take on vanilla flavor.
- The cupcakes should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- The frosting stays soft even in the fridge.
Wow, these look soooo pretty and so delicious! The texture of the cupcakes looks super light and airy and that frosting on top… oh my, what a dream! Great work, thanks for sharing this delicious recipe.
Thanks so much Anna!
These cupcakes are so gorgeous!!! Love your photography. Will give them a try this weekend!
Hope you love them :)!
OMG these were unbelievable and so pretty! My daughter won’t stop talking about them!
Aww so glad!
These are the perfect springtime cupcakes! The use of fresh strawberries in the filling really makes them delicious.
Yes, fresh fruit is a must for a good fruit dessert:)!
Cute, creative and best option for a party. I love the combination of strawberry . yum
Thanks!