Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes are everything you love about chocolate covered strawberries, but make it... a cupcake.

Chocolate covered strawberries are a pretty much a symbol of Valentine's Day. I feel like they're that ~super romantic~ gift all the girlies get in those Valentine's rom-coms. Maybe you've even got them as a Valentine's gift before! If so, congratulations. You are that girl.

And what's not to love about a good chocolate covered strawberry?! Juicy strawberry. Rich chocolate shell. A match made in heaven.

In this chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes recipe, we capture all those amazing flavors- including the perfect hard chocolate shell.

Make these for your valentine, galentine, palentine, yourself... whoever! Just make them! They are so good!

What's in chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes?

Here's everything you'll need to make these chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes:

For the cupcakes:

flour
baking powder
baking soda
salt
granulated sugar
unsalted butter
whole strawberries, pureed
eggs
whole milk yogurt
vanilla extract
red food coloring (optional)

For the chocolate buttercream:

unsalted butter
powdered sugar
unsweetened cocoa powder
heavy cream
vanilla extract
salt

For the chocolate shell:

chocolate candy melts

How to make chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes

These chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes have three main components to them: the strawberry cake, the buttercream, and the chocolate shell. Let's walk through each part!

The strawberry cupcake:

First, preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a muffin tin with liners.

Now, combine all the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set this dry mixture aside.

To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the room temperature butter and sugar. Beat them together until they become light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Next, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the pureed strawberries and mix on low until combined.

Next, add half of the dry mixture to the stand mixer bowl, mixing on low speed until just combined. Add the yogurt and the vanilla extract, mix well, then add the other half of the dry ingredients, until the mixture is just combined. At this point, add the food coloring, if you're using it. Mix until it's totally incorporated, scraping the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed.

Finally, scoop the batter into the prepared cupcake liners, filling 3/4 of the way full. I like to use a cookie dough/ice cream scoop (with the release trigger) for this part. Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

The chocolate buttercream:

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the chocolate buttercream!

With a handheld or a stand mixer, cream the butter on medium speed, until it's smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed- so the powdered sugar and cocoa powder don't fly everywhere- then increase the speed to high and beat for about 1 minute.

Adjust the consistency of the frosting by adding a few tablespoons of powdered sugar to thicken it, or thin it out by adding more heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency.

Pipe the chocolate buttercream onto the top of each cupcake. Place them in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes, until the buttercream is cool to the touch. Chilling the cupcakes will prevent the frosting from melting when we dip it in the candy melts.

Chocolate Shell:

For this part, you need chocolate candy melts. These will dry into a perfect hardened chocolate shell. No chocolate tempering necessary! You can use any brand you like. I use Ghirardelli or Wilton.

First, melt the chocolate candy melts according to the package directions. Transfer the melted chocolate to a vessel that's short and wide enough to fit a cupcake. Make sure you add enough chocolate to the vessel to fully submerge the frosting. I used a wide coffee mug for this part.

Let the melted candy cool for about 10 minutes, so it isn't piping hot. Now take a cooled cupcake and dunk the frosting into the chocolate. let the excess drip off for a few seconds. Set it down and wait for the shell to harden, about 5 minutes.

Chilling the cupcakes

Why chill the cupcakes, you might ask?

Well first of all, it helps the buttercream stick to the cupcake better. So when you turn the cupcake completely upside-down to dunk in the chocolate, it won't fall off.

Second, the coldness of the buttercream allows the chocolate shell to harden much faster, so you won't have chocolate dripping down the sides of the cupcake and making a mess.

So please don't skip this step! It is the key to getting a perfect chocolate shell.

Ingredient notes and substitutions

Unsalted butter can be replaced with salted butter in both the strawberry cake and the chocolate buttercream. Reduce the amount of salt if using salted butter.

Fresh strawberries may be substituted for frozen. Make sure they are fully defrosted. Keep in mind they might contain more liquid which could alter the end product.

Whole milk yogurt can be substituted for sour cream or buttermilk.

The cocoa powder for the buttercream can either be natural or Dutch-process.

The heavy cream in the buttercream may be substituted for milk.

That's it! I hope you make these chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes for a special Valentine's Day treat!

If you make this recipe, I would really appreciate if you left a comment and a rating below. Your support helps me continue to be able to bring you free recipes and content! You can also tag me on Instagram @lalaskitchentable if you make one of my recipes- I love to see what you’re making! 🙂

This Valentine's Day icon just got a major upgrade! A tender strawberry cupcake is topped with a luscious chocolate buttercream and dipped in a rich chocolate shell for a chocolate covered strawberry- but in cupcake form.

Strawberry Cupcakes

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter (room temperature, 1 1/2 sticks)
2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries (pureed)
3 eggs (room temperature)
3/4 cup plain whole milk yogurt (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-5 drops red food coloring (optional)

Chocolate Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tbsp heavy cream
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Shell

chocolate candy melts