White Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

For most people, the phone ringing at 5AM is not a pleasant sound.  But when you work in a hospital, it can be the most beautiful sound in the world.  So when I got a call this morning at 5AM informing me of the low census in the nursery, I was excited to have the day off to relax, and of course . . . bake!  When I finally crawled out of bed at 1:30PM, I started thinking about what to bake.  I really wanted to make a white chocolate frosting, and even though it could go with just about anything, I decided on fruit because of its overt sweetness.  Since I happened to have a can of strawberry pie filling in my pantry, that was it!  Keeping with the theme of the day, laziness, I decided to pair this white chocolate frosting with a ridiculously simple cake.  However, if I make this recipe again, I wouldn't use the cupcake liners, but instead just grease the muffin pan with butter or baking spray.  The strawberries tend to stick to the liner when you peel it off.  Hope you enjoy!


White Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes
1 box white cake mix
1 can strawberry pie filing (21 oz)
1 tsp of strawberry or raspberry extract
3 eggs


Frosting:
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 oz white chocolate chips, melted and cooled
3-5 T half-and-half


1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease muffin pan.
2.  In large bowl, mix together cake mix, pie filling, raspberry or strawberry extract, and eggs until combined.  You do not need to use a hand or stand mixer for this recipe, just a spoon works!  You may wish to cut the strawberries into smaller pieces by inserting a knife in the can and cutting them against the wall of the can.

3.  Spoon batter into greased muffin pan and bake for 16-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

4.  Move cupcakes to wire rack to cool completely.  

4.  To make frosting, beat butter and powdered sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy.
5.  Add in melted and cooled white chocolate and mix until combined.  Make sure the white chocolate is completely mixed into the butter and powdered sugar before continuing on to the next step.

6.  Begin by adding 3 T of half-and-half and mixing until combined.  You may need to add more half-and-half to achieve desired consistency.

7.  Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.