Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberries & Cream filling

This dessert is semi-homemade but no one will ever know with how delicious the cupcakes taste and fancy they look. The strawberries and cream filling is a melt-in-your-mouth suprise that adds freshness to the rich chocolate cake and sugary frosting. I like mine super-filled with strawberries and cream so the cupcakes almost burst at the seams, Yum! On a side note: I made a whole batch of fancy ones for pictures but my camera wasn't working and they all got eaten before I could get a good shot. These cupcakes go fast.

Serves: 18 cupcakes
Start-to-Finish: 1 hour
Recipe By: www.TidyMom.net

Ingredients:

Cupcakes
1 box chocolate cake mix
3 large eggs
1/2 cup melted butter (butter not margarine)
1 cup water

Filling
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
6 strawberries

Frosting
½ cup butter, at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
4 cups powdered sugar
2 TBSP heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Blend all cupcake batter ingredients together for 5 min.
3. Pour into paper lined cupcake pan.
4. Bake for 20 min.
5. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool on wire rack.
6. Meanwhile, make the strawberry cream filling.
7. Chop strawberries in blender until they are thick and liquidy.
8. Set stawberries aside.
9. Beat heavy whipping cream and vanilla until mixture starts to thicken.
10. Mix in sugar.
11. Fold in strawberries.
12. Once cupcakes have cooled completely, cut out a section from the center of each cupcake. (I used an apple corer, it worked perfectly.)
13. Fill the cupcake hole with the strawberry whipped cream. (Don't worry about covering the hole we are hiding it with frosting.)
14. Make the frosting by placing butter and cream cheese into a large mixing bowl and blend until combined.
15. Add cocoa powder and fully incorporate.
16. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined.
17. Increase to medium speed and beat until mixture begins to get fluffy.
18. Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met
19. Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
20. Pipe frosting on to cupakes to cover the strawberry cream filling.
21. Ganish with a fresh strawberry slice and enjoy!