Whip together a delicious strawberries and cream inspired macaron filling in 10 minutes. This American style buttercream filling has the perfect amount of sweetness and only requires 7 ingredients.
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If you're looking for an easy, yet delicious strawberry macaron filling recipe, you've come to the right place!
This macaron filling tastes similar to strawberries and cream. That's because we're adding cream cheese to a classic American style buttercream. Then, we're using freeze dried strawberries to add a delicious strawberry flavor and a beautiful pink color.
What's great about this recipe is that it comes together in only 10 minutes! After spending so much time baking up the macaron shell, I always enjoy an easy filling.
Don't forget to check out my macaron shell recipes using either the Italian method or French method. Both of these recipes will walk you through everything you need to know about baking macaron shells.
This recipe also tastes great with chocolate macaron shells.
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What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- How to achieve a light and airy buttercream texture.
- Tips for maturing macarons so the filling and shell flavors marry together.
- How much filling you should pipe in between the macaron shells.
Looking for more macaron filling inspiration? Grab a free copy of my favorite 15 macaron filling recipes.
Ingredients You Need
- Unsalted butter: For this recipe, you'll want to soften the butter before making the filling. For room temperature butter, the ideal consistency is butter that slightly gives when you push against it but still holds its overall form.
Also, if you choose to use salted butter instead of unsalted butter, be sure to adjust the amount of added salt to taste. - Cream cheese: While not necessarily traditional in an American style buttercream recipe, cream cheese adds a unique and delicious taste when paired with the strawberry flavor. Be sure to allow the cream cheese to come up to room temperature before making this recipe. It helps the buttercream form a more cohesive and consistent texture.
- Confectioners' sugar: This ingredient adds sweetness to the filling. If you prefer a less sweet buttercream, you can slightly reduce the amount of confectioners' sugar, up to ½ cup (57 grams).
- Freeze dried strawberries: Strawberries are the star of the show in this recipe! This ingredient is available at most local grocery stores. However, I've also linked where to purchase them online in case you're having trouble finding them.
- Heavy cream: This ingredient helps to thin out the macaron filling to make it easier to pipe. Plus, it adds a rich and creamy taste. You can substitute the heavy cream with half and half or whole milk if needed.
- Vanilla extract: If you're looking to amp up the flavor of this strawberry filling, be sure to select a high-quality vanilla.
- Fine sea salt: To balance all of the sweetness in this buttercream filling, be sure to add some salt. It will round out the taste. Also note, the measurements listed in the recipe are for fine sea salt, not Kosher salt.
How To Make This Recipe
Here's a step by step guide for making strawberry macaron filling:
1. First, add the softened butter and cream cheese to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Alternatively, you can also make this recipe using a hand mixer.
Beat these ingredients on medium-high speed until they are light and fluffy, about 2 - 3 minutes. This step is really important because we're incorporating air into the ingredients, which is one of the secrets to a light and airy buttercream filling.
Be sure to scrape down the sides of the mixer after this step using a silicone spatula.
2. Next, add in the dry ingredients including confectioners' sugar and freeze dried strawberries. Mix these on a low speed (so the ingredients don't spray out of the mixing bowl) just until they are combined.
3. Next, pour in the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and fine sea salt. The liquid ingredients will help the buttercream start to look less powdery. Mix these ingredients just until combined.
4. Finally, allow the filling to beat together on medium-high speed for an additional 5 minutes. This is another secret to a light and fluffy strawberry buttercream.
After you've fully whipped the filling, pipe about 1 teaspoon (8 grams) - 1 tablespoon (24 grams) of strawberry buttercream filling sandwiched between two macaron shells.
Finally, after the macarons are filled, they should mature in the refrigerator overnight. All this means is placing the macarons in an airtight container and allowing them to sit in the refrigerator to slightly soften and develop a deeper flavor. This gives the macaron shell time to marry with the flavor of the filling.
Expert Tips
- Storage: This strawberry buttercream macaron filling can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month as long as the cream cheese and heavy cream are fresh.
- If the buttercream is too warm when serving the macarons, the filling will push out the sides of the shell when you bite into it. Serve the macarons shortly after pulling them out of the refrigerator from maturing, once they reach room temperature.
- If you live in a warm environment, the buttercream may become thin during the whipping process. Allow the buttercream to chill slightly in the refrigerator before piping.
Recipe FAQs
No, unfortunately, because of the cream cheese and heavy cream, this strawberry filling must stay refrigerated until you are ready to serve the macarons.
You can check out my shelf stable macaron filling recipe if you need a filling that's safe to stay at room temperature.
To serve the macarons, remove them from the refrigerator and allow them to come up to room temperature. Once at room temperature, dig in and enjoy!
The recipe has been specifically developed with freeze dried strawberries, so I would not recommend substituting this ingredient with jam.
However, you could add strawberry jam to the center of the macaron as a second filling. To do this, simply pipe the strawberry cream buttercream along the outside of the macaron shell. Then, place a small dollop of strawberry jam in the middle.
Be sure to check out my macaron filling cookbook if you're looking for an easy strawberry jam filling recipe.
Buttercream filled macarons will last up to 7 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
More Macaron Filling Recipes
Need more macaron filling ideas? Grab a copy of my digital cookbook, Flavorful Fillings: 100+ Macaron Fillings To Satisfy Your Cravings. Or, check out these recipes:
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below. Have questions as you're cooking? Leave a comment below, and I'll help!
Strawberry Cream Macaron Filling
Equipment
- stand mixer or hand mixer with paddle attachment
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 2 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 ½ cups freeze dried strawberries finely pulsed in a food processor
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Beat butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 - 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the mixer as needed.
- Add confectioners' sugar and freeze dried strawberries; mix on medium-low speed until combined.
- Add heavy cream, vanilla extract, and fine sea salt; mix until fully combined.
- Set the mixer to medium-high speed, and allow the buttercream to beat for an additional 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Match up macaron shells so they are paired with a similar size/shaped shell. Pipe strawberry filling on one side of the macaron shell using a ½ inch round piping tip. Gently place the matching macaron on top of the filling.
- Mature the macarons with the filling in the refrigerator overnight. This will allow the macarons to slightly soften and develop a deeper flavor.
Anne
This was delicious in some macarons I made for Valentine’s Day. My question is, is there any reason this buttercream wouldn’t work as a cake frosting?
Jessica Mode
Hi Anne,
It would definitely also work as a cake frosting. If you feel like the frosting is too thick to spread on a cake, just add some addition heavy cream to thin it out. And remember to store the cake in the fridge. Good luck!! Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Anne
Thanks, I’m going to try it! What’s the worst that could happen? It’ll still be chocolate and strawberries, yum. 😉