Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes are the most adorable, bite-sized treats that make the best Valentine’s day dessert. This fun and festive recipe consists of a decadent mini brownie cupcake decorated with a homemade strawberry buttercream frosting, and topped off with a chocolate covered strawberry. Give these brownie cupcakes to a special someone this holiday, or do what your heart really wants and keep them all for yourself!

Thanks to this recipe, you now have an upgraded way to give someone chocolate covered strawberries this Valentines Day! The tart and sweet flavors of the strawberry mixed with the rich, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate is seriously way too good to be considered homemade. Cupid himself must have crafted these confections because after one bite, you will fall in love.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Strawberries – Most of the strawberries will be dipped into the chocolate, but you’ll save some to dice up so get medium sized strawberries for this recipe. You don’t want them too big or else they won’t fit on top of the brownie cupcakes. Also be sure to wash the strawberries thoroughly and pat them dry so they don’t water down your cupcakes.
• Melting Chocolate – Dark or milk chocolate will work fine, it just depends on your preference. You do want to make sure you buy the melting chocolate that hardens when cooled. If you want you can use chocolate chips, just add a teaspoon of coconut oil or vegetable shortening to the chocolate so it hardens.
• Brownie Mix – This recipe is based off the Duncan Hines brand, but you can use whatever brownie mix you find. You will still add the same amount of oil, water, eggs and sour cream to the batter no matter what brand you use.
• Sour Cream – While it may sound like an interesting ingredient, it’s absolutely delicious in brownies. If you haven’t tried it, you’re in for a wonderful surprise! You can also use yogurt as a substitute if you’d like.
• Butter – Unsalted, softened butter is best for this recipe.
• Powdered Sugar – Powdered sugar is the best kind of sugar to use when making a frosting so I don’t recommend substituting this ingredient. While I think homemade frosting is always best, if desired you could use a store bought vanilla or cream cheese frosting as the base for the strawberry frosting.
• Strawberry Jam – This will be incorporated into the frosting to make it strawberry flavored. It doesn’t add much color to the frosting though, so if you wanted a pretty pink frosting, you could add a few drops of pink food coloring to it.

How To Make Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

1. Begin by rinsing all of your strawberries very well. Don’t cut off the tops of the strawberries, just pat them down and leave them out to dry on a plate lined with paper towels. Once they’re rinsed, preheat the oven to 350° then grab a large mixing bowl. To the bowl, add the brownie mix, oil, water, eggs, and sour cream. With an electric mixer or by hand, beat the brownie batter together. Spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray and add the brownie batter to the muffin tin. Bake the brownies for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the center of the brownies. Take the brownies out and let them cool on a cooling rack completely. 
2. While the brownies bake you can make the buttercream. Grab a medium sized bowl and add the butter to the bowl. Beat the butter with an electric hand or stand mixer before adding the strawberry jam.
3. Beat that together until smooth and add a pinch of salt to the frosting base. Add the powdered sugar to the base 1 cup at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Once it’s ready add the butter cream to a piping bag. 
4. When the brownies have cooled completely, take your piping bag of frosting and frost the tops of the brownie cupcakes. 
5. Dice up 6 of your strawberries into small bite sized pieces and add some to the tops of the brownies. 
6. Next, grab a microwave safe bowl for your melting chocolate and microwave it according to the package instructions. Once the chocolate has melted, dip the whole strawberries into the chocolate until it covers most of the body. Let the excess chocolate drip off and add the strawberry to each brownie as you go. Serve the finished cupcakes and enjoy!

Recipe Tips and Advice

Storage – Store the leftover brownies either tightly wrapped in foil or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. When you’re ready to eat them again, let them sit out for an hour before eating.

Make Ahead – Since these little cupcakes can be hard to store without ruining your beautiful masterpiece, you can make all the components of the brownie bites ahead of time and store them all separately. Bake the brownies like normal, let them cool completely, then wrap them tightly with foil and allow them to sit out at room temperature until you’re ready to assemble. You can make the frosting ahead of time and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge until you’re ready to frost. When you’re ready to use the frosting, take it out of the fridge an hour before use so it’s easier to work with. Lastly, you can dip the chocolate strawberries ahead of time and keep them stored in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble.

Equipment – For this recipe you’ll need a few mixing bowls, a hand or stand mixer, a mini muffin pan, a piping bag, a knife, a cutting board, measuring cups and spoons.

Recipe FAQs

More Baking Recipes To Try

Need some more sweets for your sweetheart? Try out a few more of these fantastic recipes that will fill your heart and stomach with pure joy!

• Valentine Brownie Bites
• Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
• Brownie Bites
• Red Velvet Brownies
• Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes
• Strawberry Cupcakes
• Easy Brownies
• Red Velvet Cupcakes