Neapolitan Cupcakes

These Neapolitan Cupcakes combine rich chocolate cake, classic vanilla cake, and fresh strawberry buttercream in one cupcake. With two layers of cake, bits of melted chocolate, and real strawberries in the frosting, they have all three classic Neapolitan flavors without requiring three separate batters.

Neapolitan desserts are built around a very simple idea: why pick one flavor when you can have all three?

I’ve already used the same chocolate-vanilla-strawberry trio in my Neapolitan Bundt Cake, and it works just as well in cupcake form.

These cupcakes start with chocolate cake on the bottom and vanilla cake on top, with chopped semisweet chocolate in between. The chocolate melts as the cupcakes bake, leaving little pockets of chocolate right where the two layers meet.

A big swirl of strawberry buttercream finishes them off, made with reduced strawberry purée for plenty of real strawberry flavor without making the frosting too soft.

And even with three flavors going on, the recipe stays pretty simple. You make one vanilla batter, turn part of it into chocolate, layer the two, and use the strawberry buttercream to finish the job.

What makes these especially fun to eat is that every bite is a little different. Sometimes you get more chocolate cake, sometimes more vanilla, and sometimes you hit one of those melted pieces of semisweet chocolate in the middle. The strawberry buttercream adds a fresh berry flavor on top, so by the time you get through the frosting and both cake layers, you have all three Neapolitan flavors in the same bite.