This recipe comes from www.mybakingaddiction.com .  Enjoy!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

I am not what you would call a hopeless romantic; I don’t swoon over getting flowers or eating dinner by candlelight, although I wouldn’t complain if you threw in some chocolate covered strawberries! However, I am hopelessly devoted to food.
I am always trying to celebrate the holidays by finding new and creative ways to love and cherish the foods that coincide with that time of year. Since February is the month of love and chocolate, I knew I had to come up with a sensual dessert that was both beautiful and incredibly delicious. With a free morning on my hands, I decided to create my idea of the perfect dessert. Chocolate cupcakes with strawberry infused buttercream finishes with a luscious chocolate covered strawberry. Are you drooling yet?

When conceptualizing these cupcakes, I knew that I wanted to highlight chocolate covered strawberries because they are the quintessential Valentine’s Day treat. As I headed into the kitchen to begin baking, I realized I was out of cocoa powder and due to the fact that it was 8am, I was rocking sweats, and had not a stitch of makeup on, I decided to make do with what I had on hand.
After checking out my baking stash, I realized I had all the ingredients to my favorite doctored up cake mix recipe, so I rolled with it! I then whipped together my go to buttercream recipe and infused it with fresh strawberry puree, the results were amazing and tasted like strawberry ice cream!
It gets better… I then topped these already incredible delicious cupcakes with decadent chocolate covered strawberries to add a little creativity and a touch of elegance. If you have no idea what to make your sweetie for Valentine’s Day, I’m thinking these Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes just may be the winning recipe! Have a delicious Valentine’s Day!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm water

For the Buttercream Frosting

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
pinch of fine grain sea salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted
6 ounces strawberries, pureed
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

For the Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla and water. Beat for about two minutes on medium speed until well combined.
3. Using a large cookie scoop, distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells; about 3 tablespoons of batter per well.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick entered into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool inside muffin tins for about 10 minutes.
5. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.

For the Buttercream Frosting

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, cream butter on medium speed until fluffy. Turn your mixer down to low speed and slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and strawberry puree. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 1 to 3 tablespoons of heavy cream until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy
3. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and finish with a chocolate covered strawberry.

Notes:

- Frosting was piped onto cupcakes using the large round tip from Bake It Pretty.
- Find a simple recipe for chocolate covered strawberries here.
- Cupcakes will store in a sealed container within the refrigerator for two days.