“Summer Skin” Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake

“Summer Skin” Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake (makes about 24 cupcakes)

White Cupcake & Strawberry Filling

1 package white cake mix

2 eggs

1 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons water

2 cups diced strawberries

2 tablespoons white sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Combine cake mix, eggs, whipping cream, vanilla extract, salt, and water and beat until light and fluffy.

3.  Add sugar to diced strawberries in a medium bowl. Stir and set aside. (Be sure to do this after you've finished mixing the batter because if you do this first the mixture will become watery if it is set aside for a long time. This is not good to add to the cupcake because it will make them soggy.)

4.  Pour batter into paper liners and fill about 1 - 2 tablespoons full.

5.  Add 1 tablespoons of the strawberry mixture on top.

6.  Cover the strawberries with more batter to ¾ full.

7.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched.

Vanilla Whipped Cream frosting

1 pkg instant vanilla pudding (you could use whatever flavor you want)

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup cold milk

4 oz cool whip, thawed

1. whip room temperature cream cheese until light and fluffy
2. add instant pudding mix and beat until mix is well dissolved in cream cheese
3. add milk and whip
4. fold cool whip into mixture
5. frost cupcakes, refrigerate until serving

White Chocolate covered Strawberries

24 large strawberries

12 oz (1 bag) white chocolate baking chips

4 oz (1/3 bag) dark chocolate baking chips

1. Cover cookie sheet with waxed paper.
2. Heat white baking chips in a bowl on top of a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until chips are melted.
3. For each strawberry, poke toothpick into stem end, and dip three-fourths of the way into melted chips, leaving top of strawberry and leaves uncoated. Place on waxed paper-covered cookie sheet.
4. Heat dark chocolate chips in a bowl on top of a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate chips are melted.
5. Drizzle melted dark chocolate over dipped strawberries, using small spoon.
6. Refrigerate uncovered about 30 minutes or until coating is set.
7. Place chocolate covered strawberry on top of each cupcake as a garnish.

Thoughts on...

“Summer Skin” Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes:

Cupcake - The cupcake is light and fluffy but a little sticky. This may be because of the watery liquid from the strawberries. It's perfect with the strawberries.

Cupcake on the left has 1 tablespoon of strawberries.
Cupcake on the right has 2 tablespoons of strawberries.

Filling - The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons but after baking the strawberries leaked and created an ugly mess in the liner but it tasted amazing!   So for the second batch I changed it to 1 tablespoon and they still tasted delicious and they looked nice because the strawberry red didn't spill out and spread to other parts of the cupcake.

Frosting – Light and fluffy just like whipped cream with a hint of vanilla. It was perfect. You can substitute any flavor instant pudding. Next time I think I will try white chocolate. I originally used 8 oz (a whole tub of Cool Whip) and it made way too much. I only used about a cup to frost all the cupcakes so I changed the recipe to 4 oz. This frosting would taste good on the “Smooth Criminal” Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcake.

Garnish – White chocolate covered strawberries are my favorite! You could dip the strawberries in other kinds of chocolate but the white chocolate and dark chocolate contrast is like heaven in your mouth.

Overall Rating (1 – 10, 1 being “blech” and 10 being “YUUMMMMM!!!!”)

“Summer Skin” Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake: 10

Minus the stickiness and the bleeding of the strawberries in the first batch I made, this cupcake is to die for. It's not about how a cupcake looks, it's about how a cupcake tastes and this cupcake is probably the best cupcake I've ever had.