Seven Days of Sweets for your Sweetheart Day 4: Strawberry Puffcakes from The Girl Who Ate Everything

I'm so glad The Girl Who Ate Everything is dropping by today to share one of her Valentine treats with us.  When it comes to dessert, Christy always does it right.  Her photos are the "I want to eat it off my screen page," mouth-watering kind of good. Just take a look....


Kristy, thanks so much for letting me crash your place today! I'm Christy, from The Girl Who Ate Everything.  With Valentine's Day coming up I've had a good excuse to come up with some very naughty treats. These Strawberry Puffcakes ironically popped in my head while I was running. Come to think of it, a lot of things I make are running inspired. My husband and I eat chocolate dipped strawberries every year for Valentine's Day and I thought why not try to replicate that in cupcake form. These are chocolate cupcakes topped with a light strawberry frosting then dipped in melted chocolate. Seriously melt in your mouth yummy!

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still slightly cold

3 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt


Chocolate Topping:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Beat butter and salt until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar slowly until combined. It will be dry but be patient...it will come together.


Add vanilla extract, and 4 Tablespoons of pureed strawberries. Mix until just blended.


Frost cooled cupcakes using the tip below.


Chill cupcakes in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to harden the frosting so that they are easier to dip. Sometimes in stick mine in the freezer to speed up the process.


Decorating Tip: An easy way to pipe frosting without using fancy decorating tips is to fill a Ziploc bag with some of the frosting and cut off one of the corners on the bottom of the bag to about the size of a nickel. Begin piping your frosting. I like to make a cone shape.


For the chocolate topping:

Place chocolate chips and oil in a microwave safe boil and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted. Let cool slightly before dipping your cupcakes. You don't want to melt the frosting right off!


Carefully dip the chilled cupcakes in the melted chocolate just once. At this point you can garnish with strawberry fans if desired. To make a strawberry fan just cut the stem off then make vertical slices starting from the bottom of the strawberry to the top, but not slicing all the way through. Then "fan" your strawberry and place on the cupcake.


Once dipped, place the cupcakes in the refrigerator so that the chocolate can set up.


Serve chilled or pull them out of the fridge for about 15 minutes before serving (that's how I like them).