Strawberry buttercream is packed with that fresh picked strawberry flavour, but you can make this buttercream anytime of year! Plus, it is a gorgeous pink colour, which makes your baked goods look extra tempting, when decorated with this icing!

Three vanilla cupcakes sitting on some parchment paper. Two are decorated with pink icing and one with vanilla icing with cut strawberries on top. There are three strawberries in the foreground.

No matter if you are filling sandwich cookies, swirling it on top of a golden cupcake, or piping it all over a sinfully sweet chocolate cake, this is the perfect fruity accompaniment for so many desserts!

American Buttercream

Classic American buttercream is such a quick and easy recipe. Plus, it is extremely versatile. Every baker needs to have this recipe under their belt. Strawberry buttercream, is almost as easy, but is definitely a nice change of pace from that same old vanilla buttercream!

Where you will find other buttercreams made with beaten egg yolks, or be a little more complex. American buttercream is quite simple and only contains a few ingredients.

Softened butter. It doesn’t really matter if you have salted or unsalted butter. However, I tend to prefer using unsalted butter for most of my baking. That way, I can control the amount of salt in the recipe. If you do choose to use salted butter, omit any added salt in the recipe.

Icing sugar/ powdered sugar/ confectioner’s sugar. This soft, smooth, white powder goes by many different names. It is the next key ingredient for making buttercream. This sugar not only sweetens the icing but adds texture to help cream the butter and to thicken and stabilize the icing.

Salt. Not just for savoury dishes. Salt really balances out the sweetness of the icing. Without the salt buttercream can sometimes taste flat and overly sweet. The added pinch of salt elevates the flavour of buttercream. However, if you are using salted butter no need to add more.

Vanilla. This classic and versatile flavouring pairs perfectly, and adds a real depth of flavour, to buttercream. However, in the case of this recipe, we are going to be replacing the classic vanilla with strawberry!

The berries

A jar of strawberry sauce with the lid off. A spoonful of sauce is resting on the lid. There are strawberries in the forground.

I always use frozen strawberries for this recipe because they are already super soft when they thaw. Frozen strawberries are picked at their peak ripeness. This will ensure the absolute best flavour for my strawberry buttercream.

However, if you are blessed with an abundance of fresh strawberries, you can absolutely use them in this recipe. Make sure they are very ripe. Not only will they have the very best concentrated flavour, but they will breakdown better when puréed.

Storage

Refrigerator

Strawberry buttercream can be stored in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to 7 days.

The buttercream will be quite hard, when you remove it from the refrigerator. When you are ready to use the buttercream, remove it from the refrigerator and let soften on the counter top for 2 hours, before you need to use it.

Freezer

Strawberry buttercream can be frozen in an airtight container, for up to 4 months. However, I find it looses it’s fluffiness.

When you are ready to use it, remove it from the freezer and let it soften on the counter top, for 4 hours or until spreadable.

If you want to bring it back to it’s once light and fluffy state, whip it for a few seconds before using.

Storing the strawberry sauce

The sauce we are adding to make this strawberry buttercream, can be made in advance and then added to buttercream when you are ready to use it.

Store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 5 months.

When you are ready to use the strawberry sauce in your buttercream, it should be cool not hot. If you add it fresh when it is still hot it will melt the butter in the icing.

How to use strawberry buttercream

This soft smooth buttercream is perfect for many different dessert applications!

A vanilla cupcake with pink icing on top. There is a strawberry in front. They are sitting on a pink floral plate.

Strawberry sandwich cookies with pink icing sitting on a piece of parchment paper. There is a piping bag with pink icing in the background.

Piping– Whether you are piping it on top of cupcakes or making a design on a special occasion cake. Strawberry buttercream’s smooth creamy texture is easy to pipe with a large star tip or with a large circular tip.

Sandwich cookies- This is the perfect icing to sandwich in between cookies. My favourites for this icing are strawberry sugar cookies and chocolate sugar cookies.

Layering inside of a cake – When I am making a layer cake, I like to make the inside layers different than the icing that is use on the outside. This icing is great inside of vanilla, chocolate, or fruity cakes!

Woman holding a white strainer with mashed strawberries in it.

Woman stirring a pot of strawberry juice. There is a white strainer off to the side with mashed strawberries in it.

Ingredients for strawberry sauce

(This is an ingredient in the strawberry buttercream)

1 small 600g bag of frozen strawberries (left out so it is defrosted)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Woman stirring a pot of strawberry sauce. The sauce is thick. She is holding a black spoon.

Woman using an immersion blender to puree mashed strawberries, in a large glass measuring cup.

Method for strawberry sauce

Defrost a bag of frozen strawberries so they are soft and full of juice.
Set up a large bowl with a strainer or sieve over top. Drop the contents of the bag into the strainer.
Press as much of the strawberry juice out of the strawberries as you can.
Transfer the juice to a sauce pot and heat over medium heat until it is reduced to about 1/3 of a cup.
Take the remaining strawberries and purée them in either a blender, food processor, or an immersion blender.
Add the reduced sauce back to the puréed strawberries, along with the lemon juice. Stir.
Cover and cool in the refrigerator.

Note * This will make more than needed to make the buttercream. If you only want to use it in the icing recipe, quarter the recipe.

A glass measuring cup with pureed strawberries and darker cooked down strawberry juice inside.

Woman pouring lemon juice into a glass measuring cup with thick strawberry sauce and some pureed strawberries. There is a red spatula in the glass as well.

Now that we have the sauce made and ready, it is time to actually make the buttercream!

Butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment.

Creamed butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Ingredients for Fluffy Real Strawberry buttercream

½ cup softened butter

4 ½ cups icing sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup strawberry sauce

Woman holding a jar of strawberry sauce in a glass jar.

Strawberry sauce being added to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. There is creamed butter and icing sugar in the bottom of the bowl.

Method for fluffy real strawberry buttercream

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl with beaters, cream the butter.
Add about half of the icing sugar. Start off mixing on low, until the sugar is incorporated. Then move it up to cream.
Add in ½ cup of the cold strawberry sauce. Mix this into the butter mixture.
Beat in the remainder of the icing sugar.
Increase the speed and beat until the icing is light and creamy. Make sure to use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.
Spread onto your favourite dessert, or transfer to a piping bag to decorate cakes and other baked goods.