Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes

Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes are sweet fluffy cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream frosting and crunchy strawberry cookie topping.

Whether you're celebrating a birthday, Valentine's Day, a Barbie party, a summer soiree, or simply a spring aftertnoon, these delicious strawberry crunch cupcakes are perfect for the occasion!

With a moist strawberry cupcake (that starts with store-bought cake mix!), sweet frosting, and a cookie crumb topping, these tasty treats resemble the flavors of classic strawberry crunch ice cream bars.

🌟 Why this recipe works

You're gonna love this Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes recipe!

• Easy - There are three parts to this cupcake recipe - the topping, the cupcakes, and the frosting. And all are easy enough for beginning bakers to do. No special baking skills required!
• Balanced flavors and textures - The strawberry crunch crumble topping adds some delicious texture to balance the smooth frosting and fluffy cupcakes.
• Year-round deliciousness - You don't have to wait for fresh strawberries in strawberry season to come around to enjoy these homemade cupcakes! The flavor comes from freeze-dried strawberries and strawberry jello powder. So tasty any time of year!
• Make it your way - You can enjoy these unfrosted or frosted with store-bought frosting or homemade frosting. There are a lot of different types of frosting that work well with these cupcakes, as well as a lot of options for edible decorations for the top of the cupcakes. (see Serving Ideas section for more).

🛒 Ingredient notes

You can make these easy strawberry crunch cupcakes with ingredients that you can find in any local grocery store.

Here's what you need to make the strawberry crunch topping:

• Golden Oreos - Use 12 Golden Oreo cookies (or other vanilla sandwich cookies).
• Freeze-dried strawberries - You'll find freeze-dried strawberries usually with other freeze dried fruit in the healthy snack aisle of most grocery stores.
• Butter - Use unsalted butter that has been melted and is cooled slightly before adding it to the topping mixture.

• Cake mix - You'll need one (14.25) box of white cake mix.
• Jello - One (3 ounce) box of strawberry jello powder adds the classic crystallized strawberry flavor to these cupcakes.
• Eggs - You'll use three large eggs, which add the structure to the cupcakes.
• Sour cream - The extra fat content of sour cream helps create cupcakes that are richer and moister. You can substitute Greek yogurt if you prefer.
• Vegetable oil - This helps make these cupcakes super moist and fluffy.
• Milk - You can use regular whole milk, heavy cream, skim milk, or non-dairy milk, such as almond milk.
• Strawberry crunch topping - see the ingredients above for what you need to make the topping.

✅ Step-by-step instructions

A full list of ingredients and detailed instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here are step-by-step photos to help you make the best cupcakes.

Make the strawberry crunch topping

1. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the golden Oreos, freeze dried strawberries, and melted butter.
2. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbles.
3. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Make the strawberry cupcakes

4. In a large bowl, whisk together the white cake mix and the strawberry jell-o mix.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.
6. Then whisk in the oil and sour cream until smooth and well combined.

7. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, whisking until smooth and there are no dry ingredients still visible.

8. Use a medium or large cookie scoop to transfer the cupcake batter into the prepared cupcake liners.
9. Bake at 375°F for 5 minutes. Lower heat to 350°F then bake for an additional 10-13 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

While the cupcakes are baking: make the vanilla buttercream frosting, cream cheese frosting, or strawberry frosting, if using homemade frosting.

Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before decorating.

Decorate the cupcakes

10. Transfer frosting to a piping bag and pipe smooth frosting onto each cooled cupcake.
11. Top each frosted cupcake with strawberry crunch topping.

👩🏻‍🍳 Recipe FAQs

🍽 Serving ideas

Here are some options for different variations of these strawberry cupcakes:

• Use strawberry frosting instead of vanilla buttercream frosting.
• Add pink dye to the vanilla buttercream frosting for more pops of color.
• The strawberry cookie crunchy topping really makes this a strawberry crunch cupcake, but you could also add classic sprinkles or colored sanding sugar to the top of each cupcake if you prefer.
• Add little candy cinnamon hearts to the top for Valentine's Day.

Serve these for Valentine's Day on a Valentine's Day Dessert Board. They would look amazing next to some Valentine's Day Popcorn Mix, some Chocolate-Dipped Madeleines, and some Valentine's Day Oreo Pops.

🍳 Kitchen tools and equipment

Ready to make this recipe? Here are the kitchen tools and equipment you'll need:

• Food processor - You'll need a food processor to make the cookie topping. If you don't have a food processor, you can place the cookies and freeze-dried strawberries in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Then add them to a large bowl and mix together with the melted butter.
• Large mixing bowls - You'll need two large mixing bowls and a sturdy whisk.
• Muffin pan - This recipe makes approximately 20 cupcakes, so you'll need two standard size muffin tins.
• Cupcake liners - You can use any cupcake liners you have on hand, but obviously choose some pink or red ones for maximum strawberry effect!

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Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card, and if you really loved it, please leave a comment further down on the page. Thank you!