🍓 Preheat the oven to 350°F

🍓. Prepare the cupcake pans. Spread a thin layer of uncooked rice onto the bottom of each cupcake well. Then, put paper liners on top of the rice. Plan to make 27 cupcakes.

The rice will absorb any excess oil/fat as the cupcakes bake and will prevent burning/discoloration of the pan.

Wash the 9 strawberries and remove the leaves. Chop 4 of them into small chunks. Finely chop the remaining 5 berries until you have a purée. You should have about 1/3 cup of purée.

🍓. Place the 1.5 cups of freeze-dried strawberries into a plastic bag and crush them into powder with a rolling pin. Pass the powder through a fine sieve to remove any big chunks and re-crush them if necessary.

🍓. Transfer 3 Tablespoons of the strawberry powder to a small bowl. This will go into the batter. The rest of the powdered berries will be used to make the frosting.

While the butter and sugar are creaming, whip the 3 egg whites to soft peaks.

To the creamed butter, add about a third of the dry ingredients and mix on the lowest speed until just incorporated.

Repeat the steps above, adding another third of the dry ingredients, mixing, adding the other half of the wet, mixing, and adding the last third of the dry.
With the last portion of dry ingredients, also add the freeze-dried strawberry powder.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Add the chopped strawberries and the purée. Fold these into the batter.

Fill each of the cupcake liners a little over half full. (I had to use both my metal pans as well as my silicone pans.)

Bake them in the preheated oven for about 24 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

It’s okay for one batch to sit outside the oven at room temperature while the other bakes!

Let the cupcakes cool for 5 or 10 minutes or until you can remove them from the pans and allow them to continue cooling on a wire rack.

My four year old daughter and I sacrificed one cupcake to do a taste test. 😋💕. The texture is moist and fluffy and you can definitely taste the strawberries! Mission accomplished!

Notes:
🍓. If you don’t have cake flour, use 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour plus 1/4 cup (30 g) cornstarch.

🍓. If you don’t have whole milk, you can use diluted heavy cream (3/4 cream to 1/4 water), or plain yogurt, or even 2% or skim milk. If you use a lower fat milk, the cupcakes may not be as moist.

Notes:
🍓. If you don’t have sour cream, you can use plain yogurt. Alternatively, you could skip using the sour cream and use one full cup of milk in the recipe. Again, if you do this, the cupcakes may not be quite as moist.

🍓. You can store the cupcakes tightly covered at room temperature for up to one day. After this, store them in the refrigerator. If refrigerated, it is best that they come to room temperature before eating.