Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

   For a friend's birthday party I decided to go all out and make some cupcakes:)  I had two different recipes I had been wanting to whip up, so what better time than a birthday?!  One of the cupcakes that I  tried out was a strawberry lemonade cupcake.  I got the idea for this concoction from Easy Baked's Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake but went for the full touchdown by making cupcakes instead.  The cake recipe called for a boxed strawberry cake mix, so I used a strawberry boxed cake mix and followed the directions accordingly. However, the baker noted that the lemonade filling she used was not a good consistency to ice cakes (or cupcakes) so I followed her tweaked recipe for lemonade frosting.

Fluffy Lemonade Frosting

8oz package of cream cheese at room temperature

1 packet of Kool-Aid Lemonade

yellow food coloring

7 ounces of marshmallow creme

1/3 cup powdered sugar

8 ounces cool whip

Directions

1.  Cream together the cream cheese, Kool-Aid packet and food coloring (to your desired color) until well mixed.

2.  Then add the marshmallow creme and powdered sugar.  After that mix beat in the cool whip until everything is mixed and has a fluffy texture.

3.  Refrigerate the icing until right before serving.

   The frosting was a cool consistency, light and fluffy, but with enough base that the icing didn't run off or melt.  I am usually impressed with boxed cake recipes, and this strawberry mix was no different- the cupcakes turned out moist and delicious.  All in all, they really did taste like strawberry lemonade and were a fun summer twist to usual strawberry cupcake!