Pink strawberry buttercream, no food colouring

Freeze-dried strawberries ground into a powder are the easiest way to get pink icing that tastes like strawberries, with nothing artificial and no extra liquid to make it runny.

Makes: enough for 12 cupcakes · Prep: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup freeze-dried strawberries (gives about ⅓ cup powder)
• 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• A pinch of salt
• 1 to 2 tbsp milk or cream

Steps

1. Blend the freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder. For the smoothest icing, sift out the seeds.
2. Beat the butter for about 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the icing sugar a cup at a time, beating after each.
4. Beat in the strawberry powder, vanilla and salt.
5. Add milk a spoonful at a time until it’s soft enough to pipe.
6. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top each with a freeze-dried strawberry slice.

Tip: Keep a little extra powder for dusting. It also works stirred into whipped cream.

Get freeze-dried strawberries in the shop.