Strawberry-Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

My sweet friend brought me this sign for my kitchen, and it couldn't be more true!

This is one of my favorite frosting recipes to make in the summer when raspberries and strawberries are plentiful and inexpensive. I paired it with Glorious Treats perfect vanilla cupcakes which are, like their name states, perfection! This frosting is a basic buttercream that is infused with fresh berry flavor. The acidity of the berries tempers the richness of the buttercream making for a perfect frosting. So delicious!

I sent this batch to work with my husband, and they were quickly devoured!

What you'll need:

about a half cup of strawberries

a small handful of raspberries

vanilla extract 

two sticks of butter

a teaspoon of water

kosher salt

3 3/4 cups of powdered sugar

red food coloring

roughly a teaspoon of milk 

First, I pureed the berries with the water (wish I'd have had some berry extract or juice on hand here!) and vanilla. Next I used this random little tea strainer that has been taking up space in my gadget drawer for an eternity to separate the seeds (because seeds in frosting would be disastrous!). Saved me the trouble of having to pull out a bigger sieve.

 I knew I'd find a use sooner or later!

 Then I mixed the softened butter (I microwaved it for 25 seconds straight from the fridge) with the strained puree, milk, powdered sugar, a few drops of food coloring and salt. You can adjust the amount of liquid by eliminating or increasing the milk based on how thick your frosting is. 

I used my handy little Ziploc bag fitted with a 1M Wilton tip to frost each cupcake. I went a little lighter than usual on quantity because, with the richness of this frosting, a little goes a long way!

I made these for a function at my husband's work, but I have big plans to add raspberry liquor to this frosting in the future! I also fought the urge to add pink sprinkles. I felt bad enough making my husband bring in pink treats (ran out of cocoa powder, so this was Plan B!) that I opted out of additional girly touches!

  I'm thinking too that next time I may make a berry filling....mmmmm......