Fancy Pants Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

It was one of my friend's birthday's this weekend and her boyfriend decided at the last minute to surprize her by inviting everyone out to celebrate with them. He texted me and asked if I could pick up a cake, since bringing the cake himself would have ruined the surprize. I said sure and asked him what kind of cake she likes- Thinking I'd get a response like "chocolate with chocolate frosting, or yellow cake with white frosting" This is an exact quote of his reply text:

"Got the low down. Double layered chocolate cake, strawberry center with whip cream topping. NOT the regular butter cream"

Ummmm. Really??

I'm pretty positive that would require a bakery and advance notice. Plus dealing with plates, forks, and cutting the cake up in a crowded bar seemed like it would be a hassle. The answer was cupcakes. There is an amazing bakery in Hillcrest called Babycakes that does super yummy oversized cupcakes (who knew a pistachio cupcake would be so delicious!) but they are a tad pricey for buying lots of cupcakes, so off to the store for cake mix I went.

Being far too overly ambitious I decided to do two different flavor/frosting combinations, fresh strawberry filling, and a chocolate covered strawberry on top of each cupcake.

This was the end result, Devil's food cupcakes with strawberry filling, topped with whipped cream frosting, And Red Velvet cupcakes, with chocolate frosting. I used boxed cake mix, and store bought frosting, but made homemade strawberry filling from the Berry Fruit Filling Recipe that I posed in an earlier blog. For some reason that sounds incredibly easy when I type it, but trying to juggle all the steps involved was a little overwhelming, and I made a HUGE mess of the kitchen, and had a minor panic attack (4 dozen cupcakes staring at you waiting to be filled and frosted as the clock ticks is medically proven to induce panic attacks and make you snap at your boyfriend) but the results were beautiful and delicious cupcakes that were a huge hit with the birthday girl. They look pretty professional if I do say so myself!