It doesn’t get any easier than these 2 ingredient strawberry soda cupcakes, made with a box of strawberry cake mix and a can of Sprite!

Strawberry Sprite Cupcakes Recipe

This recipe is for the true strawberry dessert fans!

A fluffy and flavorful strawberry lemon cupcake topped with a silky smooth strawberry buttercream frosting that tastes like it came straight from a fancy bakery. And it all starts with a box of strawberry cake mix and a can of Sprite!

My daughter declared these cupcakes one of her favorite cupcakes ever – and that’s saying something if you only knew how often I whip up a batch of cupcakes.

I have zero qualms about using a boxed cake mix – honestly, the results are always great and you can rarely tell the difference between a from-scratch cupcake and a boxed version. However, I always draw the line at pre-made frosting. It just never tastes that good to me, especially when I know how easy it is to whip up a quick batch of homemade buttercream.

For this recipe, I used my go-to vanilla buttercream and swapped out the vanilla extract for strawberry extract. The flavor was AMAZING – we were all sneaking so many tastes of the frosting that I started to get nervous we wouldn’t have enough left over for the cupcakes.

The simple rose buttercream decoration is super easy to make. Just scoop your frosting into a piping bag fit with a large star tip. Place the tip just above the center of the cupcake and start applying gentle pressure to the piping bag as you rotate your wrist to make a swirl with the frosting. Continue until you reach the edge of the cupcake and then stop applying pressure to the piping bag as you flick your wrist up to end the stream of frosting.

You can practice this on a piece of parchment paper or a cutting board a few times to get the hang of it, then scoop that frosting back into the piping bag and try it out on the cupcakes!

Related: Try our Strawberry Soda Cake too! It’s a very similar recipe, but is a full-size sheet cake instead of cupcakes.

Ingredients

The cupcake ingredients are listed below, as well as ingredients to make homemade strawberry buttercream icing. You’re welcome to use your favorite icing recipe or store-bought icing to save time!

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 can lemon-lime soda (such as Sprite or 7up)
• 1 Box Strawberry Cake Mix (15oz box)
• 2 eggs (optional)**

**The original recipe can be made with just cake mix and a can of soda and it works totally fine! I did test it out with eggs, and found that the cupcakes were denser and held together even better than the 2-ingredient version. 

Strawberry Buttercream Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Butter, softened
• 4-5 cups Powdered Sugar, as needed
• 1-2 Tablespoons Milk
• 2 teaspoons Strawberry Extract
• Pink Food Coloring, optional (our strawberry extract dyed the frosting enough that we didn’t use any)

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Muffin Tin
• Cupcake liners 
• Stand Mixer or Electric Hand Mixer
• 1 large piping bag with large round frosting tip

Instructions

To Prep: Preheat oven to 350F and line one and a half muffin pans with cupcake liners. Set aside.

To Make the Cupcakes

1. In a large bowl, beat together the strawberry cake mix and lemon-lime soda (and eggs, if using) for 2 minutes.
2. Scoop the cupcake batter into the prepared muffin pans, about 1/3 cup batter per liner.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
4. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

To Make The Strawberry Frosting:

1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and powdered icing sugar for 2 minutes, then add the strawberry extract and optional food dye. Beat to incorporate, then add the milk as needed.
2. Scoop the strawberry frosting into a piping bag fit with a large star tip and swirl on top of each cooled cupcake, starting from the center and working your way out, to create a pink rose shape.

More Cake Mix Hack Recipes

• 4-Ingredient Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies
• Red White and Blue Swirl Bundt Cake
• Boston Cream Pie Poke Cake
• Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
• Andes Mint Cake Mix Cookies
• Cake Mix Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls
• Cake Mix Sugar Cookies

Pin this Easy Strawberry Sprite Cupcakes recipe for your next baking session with the kids:

Strawberry Soda Cupcakes Recipe (Printable Recipe Card)

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Yield: 18

2-Ingredient Strawberry Soda Cupcakes

Print

It doesn't get any easier than these 2 ingredient strawberry soda cupcakes, made with a box of strawberry cake mix and a can of Sprite!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 355mL Sprite (1 can)
• 1 Box Strawberry Cake Mix (15oz)
• 2 Eggs (optional)

Strawberry Buttercream Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Butter, softened
• 4-5 cups Powdered Sugar, as needed
• 1-2 Tablespoons Milk
• 2 teaspoons Strawberry Extract
• Pink Food Dye, optional (our strawberry extract dyed the frosting enough that we didn't use any)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the cake mix and Sprite (and eggs, if using) for 2 minutes.
3. Scoop the cupcake batter into the prepared muffin pans, about 1/3 cup batter per liner.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
5. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Instructions

1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and powdered icing sugar for 2 minutes, then add the strawberry extract and optional food dye. Beat to incorporate, then add the milk as needed.
   
2. Scoop the strawberry frosting into a piping bag fit with a large star tip and swirl on top of each cooled cupcake, starting from the center and working your way out, to create a pink rose shape.
   

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

18

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 591Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 92mgCarbohydrates: 129gFiber: 0gSugar: 125gProtein: 1g

Nutrition information is an estimate.