Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake

Cake

I cheated and used a box of strawberry cake mix. 

Once cooled, I filled these cupcakes with strawberry jelly (jelly, not jam - jelly is smooth and jam has lumps - in order to avoid having your kitchen have strawberry filling all over it, definitely stick with jelly when filling cupcakes)  I used Wilton round tip #230 to fill the strawberry cupcake with strawberry jelly.

Frosting

Classic Butter cream

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 cups powdered sugar (1 box)
2-3 tbs milk

Beat the butter and vanilla together.  Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency is reached.  When using decorating tips, frosting should have a slightly thicker consistency, otherwise it will look melted on your cupcakes.  Note: if you end up with frosting that is too thin, just add more powdered sugar. 

For this recipe, I multiplied the frosting recipe by 1.5
(3/4 cup butter - 1 stick plus 1/2 stick, 1/5 tsp vanilla, 6 cups powdered sugar, 4-5 tbs milk)


Decorating

Wilton drop flower tip #2D.  Start from the outside of edge and swirl the frosting to the center.

Clean fresh strawberries.  Slice in half and dry the berry with paper towel.  Place a 1/2 strawberry on top of each cupcake.

Note: Add strawberries right before serving.  The juice from the berry will make the frosting look mushy and melted if added too long before serving.