Valentine's Day Strawberry Cream Cupcakes

I decided to make Valentine's Day cupcakes for my hubby and his crew at work.
I didn't really have a specific recipe, so I used the recipe from my Banana Pudding Cupcake recipe, made a couple of small adaptations to make it strawberry flavored and voila!
Instant success.

These came out really good too. The only thing is that I forgot to add my whipped cream to my frosting so I didn't have as much as I normally do when I make my homemade cake icing. Even without the whipped cream added, both the cake and the frosting came out to be quite delicious.

These cupcakes were easy to make even with the adaptations and the unintentional omission.
I give them two thumbs up. Will have to wait to see what the hubby & his co-workers think. Here are the ingredients and directions. If you are a strawberry lover, you've got to try these cupcakes. They are great!

INGREDIENTS
• 1 box French Vanilla Cake Mix
• 1 box Instant Strawberry Cream Pudding (3.4 oz)
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup milk
• 10 oz. of PHILADELPHIA Original Cooking Creme
• 1 cup of frozen sweetened strawberries – thawed & pureed
• Red and pink sugar crystals (optional)
• Chocolate heart candy (optional)

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. Cream Cheese
2 Tbsp butter – melted
4 Tbsp milk
2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp imitation strawberry flavoring
4 oz Cool Whip (½ of 8 oz container)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, add in the first 7 ingredients.
3. Mix until all of the ingredients are combined.
4. Fold in the pureed strawberries.
5. Line cupcake pans with cupcake baking papers.
6. Spoon the batter into the cupcake baking papers (about 3/4 full)
7. Place the cupcakes into a preheated oven for 18-20 minutes.
8. When cupcakes are done, remove them from the pan and place them on a baking sheet.
9. Allow cupcakes to completely cool.
10. Garnish with Cream Cheese Frosting, sugar crystals, and chocolate heart.
11. Enjoy!