Real Strawberry Frosting

The key to this irresistible strawberry frosting? The fresh strawberries are pur?ed, then reduced on the stove until the puree is thick. This results in a sturdy frosting that holds up incredibly well.

Strawberry Frosting Ingredients

You'll need just four easy-to-find ingredients for this sweet strawberry frosting recipe: fresh strawberries, butter, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla extract.

How to Make Strawberry Frosting

You'll find the full, step-by-step recipe below — but here's a brief overview of what you can expect when you make homemade strawberry frosting:

1. Pur?e the strawberries. Boil the strawberry pur?e until it's reduced by half.2. Beat the butter, then beat in one cup of sugar.3. Beat in two tablespoons of pur?e and the vanilla.4. Beat in another cup of sugar, followed by another two tablespoons of pur?e.5. Repeat until everything is blended.

Tip: For more intense strawberry flavor, reduce strawberry pur?e longer until desired intensity is reached.

How to Use Strawberry Frosting

Spread this strawberry frosting on your favorite strawberry cake — we recommend our top-rated Best Strawberry Cake from Scratch. It also works well with chocolate and vanilla cake. You can also use it to make cake balls or sandwich it between two cookies for a bakery-worthy treat.

How to Store Strawberry Frosting

Store the strawberry frosting in a shallow, airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. We don't recommend freezing the frosting, as it may separate and become grainy as it thaws.

Cookdap Community Tips and Praise

"Now THIS is the VERY VERY BEST strawberry frosting," raves angie. "I was able to frost 22 cupcakes with some leftovers. Definitely going to keep this one."

"Amazing," according to Irena. "I’ve made this recipe multiple times and I love how fresh and sweet the strawberries are in this buttercream. I put it on top of a chocolate cupcake, what a treat."

"Loved this recipe," says Hayeskid. "Cooking the pur?e gave a very sweet, strong, and non-watery strawberry flavor. I’m looking forward to experimenting with other flavors using this technique."