Heavenly Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cupcakes

With Valentines day this week, I decided that I was going to devote this whole week to posting about valentines related things. To me the classic Valentines day treat would have to be chocolate dipped strawberries. It is strange to think that this is probably one of the biggest selling holidays for strawberries, and they are out of season. Either way, I still love chocolate dipped strawberries.

Although I am no Martha Stewart, I do love baking. I don't tend to go too far creatively with actual recipes, but I do like making a showy presentation (if i can). So I decided that I was going to try to make a Valentine's Day cupcake, inspired by strawberries. Now this was my first attempt at creating my own design for any type of dessert. I used angle food cake as the cupcake (because I havent had it in forever and I thought that the lightness of the cake would compliment the heavier chocolate), topped it with chocolate-strawberry frosting and a chocolate dipped strawberry piece.

Heavenly Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cupcakes

1 box of Angel Food Cake mix

1lb of Strawberries (a carton)

8oz. of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

12oz. of Milk Chocolate Frosting

1 1/2tsp. of Strawberry Extract

Start out preparing the strawberries by rinsing and cutting out the green leaves. Then slice the strawberries into a 1/4 of an inch thickness and set aside. Continues this for the entire carton of strawberries.

Once all of the strawberries have been sliced, prepare the chocolate dip. Place the chocolate chips into a bowl (you will only need about 3/4 of a bag) and microwave/double boil the chocolate until it has metled with a drizzly consistency.

The strawberries will be a little slippery, so you may want to wipe them off with a paper towel. Then dip them half way into the melted chocolate. Place them onto a sturdy piece of aluminum foil (this way you can peel them off later, rather than breaking the chocolate coating). For extra support while carrying, place the aluminum first on a plate or baking sheet. Place in the refridgerator for approximately 15minutes, or until the chocolate coating has hardened.

While the chocolate dipped strawberries are drying in the fridge, you can make the cupcakes. Follow the directions on your box of angel food cake mix (mine just had to add 1 1/4 cup of water). Once the batter is prepared, place muffin cups into the cupcake pan. Fill each cup 1/2-3/4 the way with the batter. Place in the over for 15 minutes on 350.

Next prepare the chocolate frosting while the first batch of cupcakes are in the oven. To do this, take your can of milk chocolate frosting. Add in the strawberry extract and stir. (Depending on your brand of frosting, you can add more or less extract to taste. I would suggest adding 1tsp at first, and then judging from there).

Once the cupcakes have cooled for 5 minutes out of the cupcake pan, you may frost. Place a chocolate dipped strawberry (..or two) and enjoy!

(This can yeild up to 30 cupcakes)

I enjoyed these, and thought it was a good first try for a recipe. The angel food cake is not so sturdy, but it is fun to eat, and still tastes good!

If you are daring enough, and want to attempt to make these, let me know how yours came out!