Neapolitan Cupcakes
Light and fluffy chocolate vanilla marble cupcake with a sweet strawberry buttercream. Inspired by the popular Neapolitan ice cream flavor.
Neapolitan ice cream reminds me of when I was a kid. My family lived in a small apartment in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto, and my mom would buy the Chapman’s Original Neapolitan ice cream for my brothers and I. I remember the rectangular box with the fold open lid and being excited to see the 3 different flavors all in one ice cream box. The chocolate flavor always disappeared first in our house, then the strawberry, then lastly, vanilla (sorry vanilla, its nothing personal).
These cupcakes are light, fluffy and moist. You get the wonderful combination of all 3 flavors when biting into this delicious dessert. Now, this recipe took me 3 attempts to get perfect. I wanted to make sure I achieved amazing texture and taste, while keeping the recipe as simple as possible. My first batch was dense and dry, my second batch was still too dense, but, I finally got it right with the 3rd attempt. I took the concept of a wacky vanilla cake and changed it to a marble cupcake. Since there are no eggs or butter in this recipe, I was a little nervous watching them bake in the oven, but they turned out wonderfully. The ingredients in this recipe are simple, every day staples, therefore you can quickly whip up a batch of these cupcakes whenever you feel like it.
Now let me tell you about the buttercream. Butter plus jam plus icing sugar equals creamy, smooth, and sweet heaven. So whether you’re a fan of chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, or cupcakes in general, you’re going to love this recipe.
Cupcake recipe adapted from Camilla V. Saulsbury, Piece of Cake cookbook, Golden Vanilla Wacky Cake.
Buttercream recipe by Little Sweet Baker
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Neapolitan Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: makes 15 cupcakes
- Category: dessert
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Light and fluffy chocolate vanilla marble cupcake with a sweet strawberry buttercream. Inspired by the popular Neapolitan ice cream flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
- 1 tbsp whole milk
Ingredients for buttercream:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
- 3 cups icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line 2 muffin pans with 15 cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together.
- Add the 1 cup of milk, oil, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined.
- Add vinegar, stir and scrap around the sides and bottom of bowl to incorporate all the flour. Whisk until just blended.
- Spoon 1 full tbsp of the vanilla batter into each cupcake liner. Then add the cocoa powder and 1 tbsp of milk to the remaining batter and mix until just blended. Divide the rest of the chocolate batter into the 15 cupcake liners.
- Using a butter knife, gently swirl the batter from the bottom up to bring some of the vanilla batter to the top.
- Bake for about 15-18 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cupcakes completely cool before frosting.
To make buttercream:
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and jam together until combined.
- Add 1 cup of icing sugar at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Frost cupcakes as desired. I used a Wilton 1M tip, piping in a circular motion from the center of the cupcake outwards and back to the center. I also added some sprinkles for fun.
Notes
Cupcakes will keep for up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 386
- Sugar: 37 g
- Sodium: 173.8 mg
- Fat: 19.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 51.9 g
- Protein: 2.2 g
- Cholesterol: 32.9 mg
I baked these for my daughter’s birthday party the other day and all of her friends kept asking for more! When their parents came to pick them up, they asked them to made these cupcakes so I gave them all the recipe!
I’m glad everyone enjoyed the cupcakes so much and thank you for sharing my recipe. Happy belated birthday to your daughter!
Hi! Is there a way to use real strawberries for this recipe?
Hi Kaitlin, use the buttercream recipe from this post http://littlesweetbaker.com/2014/05/01/pink-velvet-cupcakes-with-strawberry-buttercream/
It uses fresh strawberries. Please note the recipe makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes, so maybe half the recipe for 15 cupcakes. Enjoy:)
Hi there, I tried these today and they came ok. I was hoping to make an eggless Neapolitan cupcake for my daughters bday coming up. I think my measuring may have resulted in a bit of a gooey texture. My one cup of flour usually weighs 4.5 ounces which is on the lighter side. They needed a little more structure. I also couldn’t really get mine to marble as well as they were starting to just mix together and turn light brown. Roughly how much of the vanilla batter do you remove before adding the cocoa powder? I might try adding a teaspoon or a half teaspoon of coffee powder to the chocolate batter to help bring out the flavor. Also since I couldn’t really get mine to marble could I just do vanilla on top and chocolate on bottom or vice versa? Would they still bake up ok you think? Thanks for the recipe! I’ll try it again.
Hi Erin,
I made this recipe again this morning so I could better respond to your question. I also included some pictures for you, so you can see what my vanilla batter looked like, the chocolate on top, my marbling before and after baked. My 1&1/2 cup of flour weighed 210g or 6.8 oz. The vanilla batter is thin, kind of like a pancake batter. The chocolate batter is thicker with the addition of the cocoa powder. To marble to the 2 flavors together, I took a butter knife and did 1swirl from the bottom up. If you want to skip the marbling, I would divide the batter in half, add the cocoa to one and put the chocolate batter in first, then the vanilla on top since the chocolate is heavier. I have seen that done and it turns out fine. I think your daughter will really enjoy these cupcakes. Wish her a happy birthday for me and please feel free to email me back if you have any further questions. Thank you for trying my recipe and happy baking 🙂
these are so pretty!
Thank you:)
Hi Lily
Made these y/day and they taste wonderful … Emily brought one to school today and bragged to her friends she had a cupcake w/o any eggs! LOL!
Thanks for the feedback Lesa. Glad Emily liked them enough to brag to her friends lol, very cute.
In our house, the strawberry ice cream was the last to go! These sound delicious, can’t wait to try them!
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
I think I’m going to try this over spring break and make some for my friends. Sounds so easy!!!! And basic ingredients, too! I’m going to pick up things from the store today! Just one question… Is icing sugar the same as confectioners sugar? Thanks. 🙂
It is super easy to make and yes, icing sugar is the same as confectioners sugar. Have fun making the cupcakes:)
Ok thanks so much!!!