Strawberry Cupcakes

My mom has been experimenting a lot with cupcakes the last little while and came up with some yummy versions. Here's a couple that I made for my niece's birthday party.

Vanilla Cupcake (can be tweaked for any white based cake) Makes 24 cupcakes

1 cup canola oil

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

4 extra-large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the oil and sugar until light, about 5 minutes
3. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. With the mixer running on low, add eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition.
5. Add the vanilla
6. In three parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry.
7. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
8. Fill each cup 2/3 full using all the batter.
9. Bake for about 16 minutes, turning the pan halfway through the baking time.
10. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a baking rack and cool completely.
11. Frost with your choice of frosting.

Strawberry Frosting

1/4 cup soften butter

1 - 8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 - 10 oz package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed. Use 1/4 cup. OR 1/4 cup strawberry pastry filling (bought at your local bakery or cooking/candy supply store)

1/2 tsp strawberry extract

7 cups powdered sugar

1. In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy
2. Beat in 1/4 cup of the strawberry puree and the strawberry extract. (the leftover puree can be used for ice cream or smoothies, etc.)
3. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.