Recipe: Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Did you see the cookies I made last week for the bake-off at work?  Well, I am proud to say they won!  
This week was round 2 of the bake-off - cupcakes.  I made cupcakes on Monday and they were winners too!

I went with a simple chocolate cake and a strawberry cream cheese frosting. Strawberries are right about peak season right now and Florida strawberries are sooooo delicious.

I used Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe, it is a really tasty fluffy moist cake, a perfect pair for this frosting.

And then the frosting...oh man, the frosting...this stuff is so delicious I was literally eating it by the spoonful after I finished frosting my cupcakes.  I am not a huge fan of butter cream frostings, but cream cheese frosting? Yes please!  And the strawberries make it so perfect, plus they make it pink!

Try these, seriously, I promise you will love them!

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake 

via Hershey's website

Makes about 30 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake tins with paper liners.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Mix in the boiling water. The batter will be thin. Fill the liners 2/3 of the way, I used a 1/4 measuring cup to fill.
3. Bake 22-25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.  Then frost. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup of butter (1/2 a stick) at room tempurature
• 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
• 5 small-medium sized fresh strawberries, pureed
• 4-5 cups powdered sugar  

Directions

1. Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
2. Add in pureed strawberries.
3. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you get the consistency desired for spreading or piping.