Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Love cheesecake and strawberries? You’ll be in heaven with this easy treat! With three layers of tasty goodness, these Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes have a layer of a graham cracker crust, delicious cake with strawberry pieces, and a cheesecake frosting topped with a fresh strawberry.

Can you say “yum?!” And just a head’s up – it’s hard to eat just one…

To die for. Amazing. Oh my goodness, so good, it’s like little bites of heaven in my mouth.

Those are the things people say when they try these delicious bites of strawberry cheesecake goodness.

Tips for Making These Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes:

• Use softened butter. Leave out your butter on the countertop for a few hours before making these cupcakes. If you need to speed the process up, dice up your butter and leave them on a dish on the counter for 30 minutes or so.
• Soften your cream cheese. Likewise, your cream cheese needs to be softened for this recipe too.
• Make these cupcakes gluten free by subbing out the regular flour for your favorite all-purpose GF blend. You’ll also need to sub out the graham crackers for your favorite gluten-free version.
• Use a food processor to get the graham cracker crumbs extra small. If you don’t have one, I wouldn’t necessarily go out and buy it just for this, but I will say the smaller-sized crumbs work really well in this recipe!

How to Make Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

These Strawberry Cheesecake cupcakes have three layers – a graham cracker crust bottom, a middle layer of dense-yet-light (it’s possible!) cake with fresh strawberry bits, and a cheesecake frosting. On top of all this is a fresh strawberry.

Drooling yet?

Let’s get started.

Ingredients Needed:

There are 3 separate layers to this yummy cupcake recipe: crust, batter, and frosting. Here’s what you need for each.

Crust:

• graham cracker crumbs
• sugar
• softened unsalted butter

Batter:

• egg whites
• softened unsalted butter
• sugar
• vanilla extract
• flour
• baking powder
• salt
• sour cream
• fresh strawberries

Frosting:

• softened cream cheese
• softened unsalted butter
• confectioners’ sugar
• vanilla extract
• milk
• strawberries

Step by Step Directions for Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

1. Make the Crust

Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners and set aside. Set the oven to 350°.

Then, separate the egg whites and set it aside on the countertop for 30 minutes. This helps the egg whites to whip up better.

In the meantime, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and softened butter until fine crumbs form. If you have a food processor, you can use that for even finer crumbs, but it’s not required.

Mix well. Put about one tablespoon of the crumb mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup. There should be plenty. If you have extra, you can add a little more into each one.  Press down.

Bake at 350 degrees for 3-5 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

2. Make the Cupcake Batter

Now is a good time to chop your strawberries. You’ll need 2 cups. Remember to save 1-2 dozen strawberries for the tops of the cupcakes. I used around 1.5 containers of strawberries total.

The next step is to whip up the egg whites. You’ll want to wash and dry your big mixing bowl and use that. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form; when you lift your beater, the egg whites should have peaks that stand up stiffly. If the peaks fall down, you need to whip more.

Remove the whipped egg whites into a separate clean bowl.

I used the same big mixing bowl for this next step. I didn’t wash it out because we’re adding the egg whites back in anyways. That and I’m lazy like that. 🙂

Cream the softened butter, sugar, and vanilla.

Now, in a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter alternately with the sour cream.

The batter will be dense. Fold a third of the whipped egg whites into the batter.

Gently add in the remaining egg white mixture and 2 cups of chopped strawberries.

Mix until the egg whites are fully combined. The batter may turn pink from the strawberries and that’s fine. But don’t mix too long.

Fill the muffin cups three-fourths full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

3. Make the Cream Cheese Frosting

This frosting is easy to make. Beat the softened cream cheese and butter until fluffy.

Gradually add about 4 cups of confectioner’s sugar and vanilla, mixing until smooth. You may need to add 1-3 tablespoons of milk. This will vary depending on how softened your cream cheese was (if it’s softer, you’ll need less milk.)

You want the consistency to be easy to spread, but not too soft. If it’s too soft, add more confectioner’s sugar. Too thick and add more milk. Just add a little at a time.

4. Frost the Cheesecake Cupcakes and Top with Strawberry

Once your cupcakes are cooled completely, frost them. You can frost with a knife, but I prefer to use a decorator’s bag and tip as it’s much quicker and prettier.

No matter how you put the frosting on, these cupcakes will taste delicious!

Top each cupcake with a fresh strawberry.

How to Store these Cupcakes

Since these have dairy in them, these strawberry Cheesecake cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator. Keep them in an airtight container where they will last about 3 days—if you can keep them around that long.

Don’t you want to make these now? So good!

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