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Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

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Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes are a mouth-watering mashup between cupcake and everyone’s favorite chocolate covered strawberries. A perfectly tender, rich homemade chocolate cupcake topped with a strawberry buttercream frosting naturally flavored and colored with strawberries, then a beautiful ripe strawberry dipped in semi-sweet chocolate.

Chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes on a cooling rack

Easy Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Chocolate covered strawberries are easily one of my favorite desserts! With that in mind, we decided to make Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cupcakes. Making chocolate cupcakes from scratch is easier than you might think. And the frosting was so simple to make and really amazing with the flavor from freeze-dried real strawberries.

For more fun strawberry cupcake recipes, be sure to check out our strawberry crunch cupcakes and strawberry shortcake cupcakes. Both are fun, easy, and perfect for summer.

Overhead view of ingredients needed for Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

What You’ll Need

Here’s what you’ll need to make the Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cupcakes (the exact measurements and full recipe instructions are below in the printable recipe card):

  • Dry Ingredients – All-purpose flour, Unsweetened cocoa powder, Baking powder, Baking soda and Salt
  • Sugars – You will need Light brown sugar and Granulated sugar
  • Vegetable oil – you can use canola oil instead if you prefer.
  • Wet Ingredients – Buttermilk (this creates an extra good flavor and a more tender cupcake, Egg, Vanilla extract, Boiling water
  • Instant espresso powder – Instant espresso powder can be found in the coffee section of your grocery store.
  • Unsalted butter – Use unsalted butter as regular salted will have too much salt content for this recipe.
  • Powdered sugar – to sweeten the strawberry buttercream frosting.
  • Freeze dried strawberries – I find these in the snack section of the grocery store, but they may also be in the healthy/organic food aisle.
  • Heavy whipping cream
  • Fresh strawberries
  • Semi-sweet chocolate chips – Be sure to not use milk chocolate as it will burn too easily.

How to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Here’s how to make these easy chocolate strawberry cupcakes.

Make the Cupcakes

  • In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. This helps ensure no lumps in the batter.
  • Next, add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and whisk well. Now add in the oil, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract. Whisk just until smooth; you shouldn’t over-mix the batter once the wet ingredients are added.
  • Mix the instant espresso powder into the boiling water, then stir into the cupcake batter until smooth.
  • Scoop the batter evenly into 16 muffin cups lined with paper cupcake wrappers.
  • Bake the cupcakes at 350ºF for 16-17 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes completely on wire cooling racks.
  • Pour the freeze dried strawberries into a food processor or blender and pulse until the berries become a fine powder.
  • You’ll probably still see some larger pieces, but that is okay as long as they’re smaller than a grain of rice.
  • Mix up the ingredients for the frosting and add the powdered free-dried strawberries. Set the frosting aside.
  • Scoop about half of the strawberry butter cream frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe the frosting onto each cupcake.

  • Be sure the cupcakes are completely at room temperature before you begin frosting.

Make the Chocolate Covered Strawberries

  • Melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring well between each interval.
  • Dip the strawberries into the melted chocolate, then place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set.
  • Finally, top each cupcake with a chocolate dipped strawberry.
Overhead view of chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes

Variations

  • No Freeze Dried Strawberries – If you’ve just realized you don’t have the freeze dried strawberries needed for this recipe or you simply don’t want to use them, don’t worry! You can just add a couple of drops of red food coloring to achieve the pink color. The flavor will just be a sweetened butter cream this way, or you can add 1/2 teaspoon strawberry flavor extract if you wish.
  • No Coffee – The espresso powder adds great flavor and richness without obviously being a coffee flavor. But if you prefer to skip it, that will be fine. You will still need to add the boiling water to the cupcake batter, but without the espresso powder.
  • White Chocolate – You can dip the strawberries in white chocolate instead of semi-sweet. Just use a microwave ready tray or cup of white chocolate specifically meant for melting in the microwave for dipping. Other white chocolates will not work well as they tend to burn incredibly fast.
A chocolate covered strawberry cupcake with the wrapper pulled down and a bite missing

Make Ahead Options

Here is the best way to make these cupcakes ahead of an important event, party, or just as a part of your make-ahead meal plan:

  1. Make the cupcakes according to the directions. Once they are baked and cooled, place them in a freezer-safe container with an airtight lid. Freeze the cupcakes for up to a month before using. It would also work to refrigerate the cupcakes if you plan to use them the next day.
  2. The day before you plan to assemble the cupcakes, mix up the frosting. Scoop it into a container with a lid and refrigerate.
  3. On the day you will assemble the cupcakes, thaw them on the counter for at least 1 hour. Also, set the frosting out at room temperature to soften for 1 hour.
  4. Follow the steps to dip the strawberries in chocolate and allow them to set in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
  5. Finally, assemble the cupcakes as instructed in the recipe.
A chocolate covered strawberry cupcake with a bite missing from both the strawberry and cupcake

How to Store Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Keep the leftover cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Be aware that the strawberries might soften a bit and pull away from the chocolate. Also, the frosting will become very firm in the refrigerator because of the high butter content. It will soften again after the cupcakes sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Other Chocolate Strawberry Recipes

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes
5 from 1 vote

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes are a mouth-watering mash-up of two romantic desserts! Rich chocolate cupcakes topped with fluffy homemade strawberry frosting and chocolate-dipped strawberries.
Servings: 16 cupcakes
Prep: 1 hour 10 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 1 hour 25 minutes

Ingredients
  

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

  • 1 ounce freeze dried strawberries
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Instructions

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the strawberries on the sheet.
  • In a medium microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave on high in 30 second intervals, stirring well between each interval until the chocolate is completely melted. This should take a total of 60 seconds.
  • Dip each strawberry into the melted chocolate then place back on the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate to set while you move on to the next steps.

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • Preheat oven to 350F. Line 16 cups of muffin pans with paper cupcake liners.
  • In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined, then add the vegetable oil, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract just until combined (don't over-mix once the wet ingredients are added).
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the boiling water and the instant espresso powder. Quickly stir into the cake batter.
  • Evenly distribute the batter between the 16 muffin cups. Each cup should be no more than a little over halfway full.
  • Bake the cupcakes at 350F for 16-17 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool completely to room temperature on wire cooling racks.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

  • Pour the freeze dried strawberries into a blender or food processor. Pulse until the strawberries are like a fine powder; set aside.
  • In a large bowl, beat the unsalted butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and then the powdered freeze dried strawberries, beating well between each addition.
  • Mix in the heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, and salt; beat the frosting until light and fluffy.
  • Scoop the frosting into a piping bag (you might only be able to add half the frosting at a time) fitted with a star tip. Frost the top of each completely cooled cupcake. Top the cupcakes with a chocolate dipped strawberry.

Last Step:

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Nutrition

Calories: 407kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 46mg | Sodium: 144mg | Potassium: 167mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 444IU | Vitamin C: 29mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 2mg

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