In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until smooth.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, lemon zest, and butter on high speed until fully combined.
Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients a little bit at a time until just combined.
Mix in milk until just combined.
Use a spatula to fold in chopped strawberries.
Fill cupcake liners halfway full.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
Remove cupcakes from cupcake tin immediately and set on the counter to cool.
Whipped Cream and Assembly Instructions
Whisk cream using an electric mixer on high speed fitted with the whisk attachment until it can hold a peak.
Mix in sugar.
Whisk in pureed strawberries until just combined.
Core a hole in the middle of each cupcake using a paring knife.
Fill the holes with whipped cream by spooning or piping it in.
Optionally replace the piece of cupcake that you removed.
Pipe remaining whipped cream over the tops of the cupcakes.
If not eating within a few hours, refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving.
Notes
For the cupcakes:
You can use all-purpose flour in this recipe instead of cake flour. The results won't be dramatically different. The cake will just be a little more dense.
Yogurt can be substituted 1:1 for the sour cream.
Be careful not to overmix to keep your cupcakes from getting gummy.
Only fill your cupcake liners halfway. To be completely certain that you are filling the right amount, bake a single test cupcake before baking the rest of the batch.
Make sure the cupcakes are completely cool before frosting so that the frosting doesn't melt.
For the frosting:
Make sure to use cold heavy cream.
If your strawberries were frozen, be sure to drain off any extra liquid before pureeing.