Lemon Strawberry Cupcakes

Holy cow these cupcakes! This was a very spur of the moment idea I had last week but it tuned out so much better than I imagined. I had recently picked up some lemon frosting thinking that lemon cupcakes sounded good. But then the family asked for strawberry shortcake and after finding our new favorite way to make the strawberry topping I thought it would pair well with the lemon cupcakes - and oh my gosh it does.

I started with some vanilla cupcakes (I make them with gluten free flour but you can make these with whatever flour you prefer) and then added the store-bought lemon frosting and my own strawberry topping. For about half of them I welled out the cupcake and put the strawberries as a filling as well.

Let me know if you try this!

Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes

(recipe adapted from Gluten free Palate)

1/2 cup oil (I use Carrington Farms fractionated Coconut Oil)

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups gluten free all purpose flour (I use Kinnikinnick)

1/4 tsp salt

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk (for dairy free cupcakes use your favorite milk alternative. We didn’t have anything dairy free on hand so I used water and they turned out incredibly!)

2 tsps vanilla extract

For cupcakes, mix all ingredients and pour into cupcake pan - bake in preheated 350 oven for 18-20 minutes!

Best Strawberry Topping

We have found that this strawberry mix is even better on day two or three so don’t be afraid to make it ahead of time! Just cover and store in the fridge - at the very least make it a few hours ahead of time to allow it to chill in the fridge before you use it for your favorite dessert or breakfast.

1 pound fresh strawberries, chopped into bite sized pieces

1/4 cup sugar

2 pinches of salt (or more or less to taste)

1/2 cup strawberry jam (I use Smuckers Naturals)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1. Start by tossing strawberries with sugar in a bowl and set aside.

2. In a small pan, heat strawberry jam over medium heat for a few minutes until it is no longer foamy.

3. Mix the jam and lemon juice into the strawberry mixture. That’s it!