Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Icing

I made these for Logan's third birthday and they were scrumptious.  The cupcakes have chunks of fresh strawberry throughout (the batter tastes like strawberry shortcake, mmm.  Sorry, I like batter. Samonella, Shpamonella.)  And the fresh strawberry puree, cream cheese frosting is sooo yummy!  Even if, for some reason, mine didn't turn out as thick and piping perfect as Annie's. 

 **As a note, I really don't know what I did wrong with my icing.  Annie's was so pretty and I think I followed her instructions exactly.  Maybe my cream cheese was too room temp or maybe I added too much puree, but the result of mine was more of an icing, an absolutely delicious icing.  But I was hoping for a frosting thick enough to pipe and had to add like six cups of powdered sugar to get it thick enough and even then it still sort of melted once it was on.  This, even with refrigerating the frosting and cupcakes prior to icing.  Anyway, I will say that the frosting is better without all of the extra powdered sugar that I ended up adding, the strawberry flavor comes through stronger and that was really yummy.  So hopefully if you're looking for a thicker frosting your attempt will be more successful than mine, and if it is please let me know what you did.  Either way, I will definitely make these again.

***Also, here is a link to how I made the butterflies.  Mind you mine were quite amateur.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Annie's Eats blog

Yield: about 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:For the cupcakes:
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup unsalted butter
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk
¼ cup oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups chopped strawberries

For the frosting:
½ c. strawberries
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¾ cups powdered sugar, sifted
½ tsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Sift flour, salt and baking soda into a medium bowl.  Set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time until combined.  Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla and beat until combined.  Add flour mixture and stir until just combined.  Fold in chopped strawberries.  Fill cupcake wells ¾ full with batter.  Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

For the frosting, puree strawberries in food processor.  Strain through a mesh sieve to remove seeds, and set aside.  Beat the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  Add lemon juice, vanilla and strawberry puree.  Adjust the amount of puree to achieve your desired consistency.  Frost cupcakes when completely cool.

Source: adapted from Good Things Catered