Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

For the chocolate cupcakes: Recipe adapted from Hello, Cupcake!
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup buttermilk (instead of water indicated on box)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a regular muffin tin with 24 paper liners
- Beat together all of the ingredients for the cupcakes with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes
- Divide batter evenly among cups and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean
- Allow cupcakes to cool in the tin for at least 5 minutes after they are done, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely
For the strawberry buttercream: Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
3 tbsp strawberry puree (from about 1/2 cup fresh strawberries)
1 cup unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
3-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
 - Puree strawberries with a food processor and strain out the seeds by forcing the puree through a fine-mesh sieve
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter on medium speed until light and fluffy
- Reduce speed of mixer and slowly add confectioners’ sugar, and beat until well combined
- Add vanilla and strawberry puree, and mix until just blended (If frosting is too thick, add more puree, if it’s too fluid, add more sugar)
- Pipe frosting on cooled cupcakes using a large star tip and top with half a chocolate covered strawberry (see below)
For chocolate covered strawberries:
12 medium-sized strawberries
Chocolate melts
- Cut strawberries in half, keeping the leaves and stems on as much as possible
- Using a double boiler, melt chocolate melts until smooth
- Dip each strawberry half in the chocolate and place on a tinfoil-lined baking sheet to dry
- Once chocolate is set, place one strawberry half on each cupcake