Best Strawberry Frosting Ever...Naturally

My Valentine baby turned four years old today. His only request in regards to cake was that it be chocolate. He gets it honest. Normally, I just go with chocolate or vanilla buttercream frosting since we avoid artificial food coloring, then I remembered a suggestion from a fellow Feingold mom. Freeze-dried fruit. You can find it at most grocery stores or order it online. I like this organic brand (affiliate).

As it is Valentine's Day and red is M2's favorite color, I chose strawberry. My guys loved it! They said it's the best strawberry frosting they have ever tasted. No cloying fake strawberry flavor here. Sweetness with just a bit of tang. Naturally.

"It's better than anything you can buy, Mom." - Son, age 6

 "Just have to say that those cupcakes with that frosting were crazy good." - Text from Papa Bear

This is super easy to make and you have a variety of flavors to choose from. Mango. Blueberry. Banana. Raspberry. Peach. Strawberry. If you have a love affair with blueberries, check out these blueberry cupcakes with blueberry cream cheese frosting.

Make the Fruit Powder

1. Add about an ounce of freeze-dried fruit into your blender or food processor. 
2. Blend on high for 30 seconds or until it has all turned to powder. 

I used a 1.5 oz package and had enough left over for at least another batch of frosting or maybe cake batter. You can store the remaining powder in a recycled spice jar and it should keep for quite a while in a cool, dry place.

Make the Frosting

I'm going to cheat a bit here and not actually give you a recipe for frosting. {gasp} If you already have a favorite vanilla buttercream recipe, you can use that. If not, try this one. They are all fairly the same and any good cookbook will have a recipe for basic buttercream. I used organic cultured butter, organic powdered sugar, and unsweetened almond milk. After creaming the butter, simply add a teaspoon of the fruit powder in with the powdered sugar, increasing gradually until you reach the desired color and flavor intensity. Omit vanilla, if it calls for it. That's it. Easy Peasy.

What else can we add this fruit powder to?

• Plain organic yogurt
• Cake batter
• Oatmeal
• Smoothies
• Homemade fruit chews candy??

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