Strawberry cupcakes forever...

Nothing says summer quite like a ripe, juicy red strawberry. You know the kind that are red alllll the way through and deliciously sweet without anything on them? Well luckily, here in LA you can find strawberries like that practically all year long.

Great, right? It almost makes up for the traffic. (I said almost.)
So, speaking of traffic, we were invited to a friend's house in Malibu for dinner last Sunday. I have a love-hate relationship with Malibu. Sure it's gorgeous and all that, but the traffic to get there always puts me in such a sucky mood that it's really hard to like such a place. Do the celebrities who live there helicopter in? Is that why they like it??

Anyway, so I offered to bring dessert (don't I always?) and since I had these gorgeous strawberries on hand, decided to make strawberry-vanilla cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting. Everything tastes better with cream cheese frosting, trust me on this.

The recipe was adapted from Sprinkles cupcakes, which is kinda like the cadillac of cupcakeries.

2/3 c. fresh strawberries, pureed
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. whole milk (I used 1%)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg, room temp
2 egg whites, room temp

Sift dry ingredients and whisk.
In small bowl, mix milk, vanilla, and about 1/3 c. strawberry puree. (You'll have a bit left over.)
Cream butter on med. high speed til light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and beat til fluffy. Reduce speed to medium & slowly add egg & egg whites until just blended.

With mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add milk mixture. Slowly add remaining flour mixture. I stirred in a few fresh chopped strawberries for fun.

Bake 22-25 minutes at 350 degrees or until they feel just done to the touch.

Once cooled, you can add the cream cheese strawberry frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, cold
5 tbsp butter, room temp
2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 c. powdered sugar
2 tbsp. fresh strawberry puree

Beat top 3 ingredients together until well combined. Gradually add sugar as you continue beating. Lastly, stir in vanilla & strawberry puree.

These were a HIT at the dinner party. There were none left. The cake is rather dense, but I enjoy it that way. It's all a matter of taste, I guess. Enjoy!