Strawberries & Cream Cupcakes

If you're like me, visiting the produce section of the grocery store in the middle of winter is a huge let-down.  While I do love the changing of the seasons, living in the middle of the country really limits what we can easily purchase when it comes to fruits and vegetables- yes, you can buy strawberries in January, but they are usually smaller, less flavorful and always on the verge of spoiling by the time you get them home. Because we are always left scurrying to finish fruit before it goes bad, I find myself doing a lot of baking with fruit in the winter time - banana breads, blueberry muffins, and of course these strawberry cupcakes.  Using fresh strawberries in cake really improves the flavor - in this case, there is just no comparison to the boxed cake mix. I've made this cupcake a couple of times before but it's one of those elusive recipes that I always forget to take pictures of - so this time I made sure I snapped a couple of quick ones before I delivered them. To me, these cupcakes taste a lot like good strawberry ice cream. The cake uses real strawberry puree in the batter, which not only gives them a great pink color, but it also makes them taste amazing. The swiss meringue buttercream is creamy and perfectly compliments the sweet strawberry flavor. Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes