Birthday Cupcakes: Strawberry Filled Lemon Cupcakes

Yay! It's birthday time in the office again. Funny thing is, no one told me about it. I noticed an email the day of the supposed party, but no one asked me to make cupcakes. Then 20 minutes after the party was supposed to happen, our Assistant Principal of Operations and Resources went off on a rant with our School Secretary saying that I need to be the official birthday baker. Wait, what? I thought I already was? Confusing. Turns out I am now, or still am. Whatever. He gave me some money to finish out the rest of the year's birthdays, so here I am making cupcakes for the January birthdays.

As usual, when it came to deciding what kind of cupcakes to make, I asked for suggestions. The only one I got was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a request to make it filled. Then when admin heard about it, they shot down the chocolate. In light of my parents bringing me a billion bags of citrus, I suggested lemon, that way I could use up some of the beautiful lemons my parents brought me. Lemon it was. Then on the way home I decided to do a strawberry puree filling, much to Glenn's chagrin. Oh yeah, there is a lemon cream cheese frosting too.

Lemon Cupcakes with Strawberry Filling
yield 30 cupcakes

3 C all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 C sugar
4 eggs
3/4 C milk
1/2 C sour cream
3 T lemon zest (appx 2 lemons)
1/4 C lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line 30 muffin cups with paper liners. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 3 minutes or until very light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating very well after each addition. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix together milk and sour cream in another bowl. Gradually add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk/sour cream. Mix until well incorporated. Add lemon zest and lemon juice, mixing just until combined. Scoop batter into muffin cups to about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
Strawberry Puree
yield appx 2 1/2 cups

1 1/2 lbs. strawberries, cleaned and hulled
1/4 C sugar

Puree strawberries in a food processor. Pour into a saucepan and add sugar. Cook at medium to high heat until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to bubble. Allow to cool before filling.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
yield enough to generously frost 30 cupcakes

8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 T butter, softened
3 T fresh lemon juice
5-7 C powdered sugar

Beat together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add in 2-3 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Blend in the lemon juice. Add the remaining powdered sugar according to your own consistency preference.