Strawberry Valentine's Cupcakes

These are recipes for kid-friendly homemade strawberry cupcakes and strawberry icing, as well as a less sugary whipped cream frosting. They were simple and delicious and just in time for Valentine's day! Hence the title. As far as "kid friendly" goes, you'll really have to use your own best judgement on that. My daughter is seventeen months, and I haven't actually given her one of these with all the fancy decorations. She's tasted them with the whipped cream frosting, as I encourage her to try everything, but as you can see in the picture above I put quite a bit of decoration. So to avoid giving her unnecessary amounts of sugar, I gave her a cupcake with small amounts of the wcf. over the top. She smiled and danced around and loved it just the same!

Again, you may see giving that much sugar to a one year old differently than I do, so, use your own best judgement. I personally made these mostly for my husband and close friends, so take note of the icing recipes. The strawberry icing is sweet and sugary, so if you're wanting to make something your kids can enjoy without sending them into a sugar mania, I'd stick with the vanilla whipped cream topping. Enjoy!

For strawberry cake you will need:
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 (3 oz.) package strawberry flavored gelatin
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 4 eggs (room temperature)
- 2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
- 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup strawberry puree made from fresh strawberries

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Line two cupcake pans (24 cupcakes) with liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar and dry strawberry gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree. Divide the batter evenly into the cupcake liners.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool before topping them with your icing.


For vanilla whipped cream frosting you will need:
- 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar salt and vanilla until smooth.
2. In a small bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into the cream cheese mixture.
3. You can then use a butter knife to spread the icing over the top of the cakes or use an icing bag with large nozzle like I did to get cupcakes like in the two pictures, above and below.


For strawberry icing you will need:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft

- 1/4 cup cream cheese, very soft

- 1/8 tsp. salt

- 1/2 cup strawberry puree made from fresh strawberries

- 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp. almond extract

- powdered sugar, between 2 and 3 pounds depending on consistency preferences



1. With a food processor pulse a few strawberries until there's a half a cup of puree.
2.With a stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat all the ingredients together adding the powdered sugar a few cups at a time until desired consistency is reached.


3. You can then use a butter knife to spread the icing over the top of the cakes or use an icing bag with large nozzle like I did to get cupcakes like in the two pictures, above and below.

*Note that the frosting can be as thick and dense or as fluffy and light as you like by adding more or less powdered sugar. Keep that in mind when you're making these for a group of children. Play around with the amount and see what works for you!
* Enjoy!