Chocolate dipped strawberry cupcakes

So I signed up to make cupcakes for my son's class. I wanted to do something different, and I thought about one of my DH's favorite indulgences - chocolate dipped strawberries. So I asked myself "How yum would it be to turn that into a cupcake?" Answer: soooo yum! Here's what I did:


Chocolate dipped strawberry cupcakes:

1 strawberry cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup sourcream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mini chocolate chips (semi-sweet)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners. I made mini-cupcakes, and this recipe made 68, if you make regular sized it should make about 34.

Mix cake mix, eggs, oil, sourcream and vanilla on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl, then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add mini-chocolate chips and stir into batter. Fill mini-cupcake pans (I used a regular sized scoop from Target and it filled almost to the top of the muffin cup). Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until done. I had to bake 15 because my oven is new and bakes slow...you should start at 10 minutes and check for doneness, then set the timer a few minutes more if not done. Note: when baking cake, cupcakes, or muffins - I do not want the toothpick to come out clean - if it comes out clean you may have overbaked and end up with dry goodies...I like the toothpick to have a few moist crumbs, but not batter on it.



Let cupcakes cool. You can stop here and still have a yummy treat.



I wanted to kick it up a notch. I reheated some leftover chocolate from yesterday's chocolate peanutbutter escapade and dipped to my hearts content. Just place the cupcake upside down in the chocolate, give it a little swirl, until the chocolate covers the top of the cupcake, extending to the liner.




You can stop here...





Or give it some cupcake bling. To get the sprinkles on the sides, place sprinkles on one end of plate, holding cupcake sideways, gently roll the edges of the cupcake in the sprinkles.





So after all of that, I decided that these might be a little too mature for 4 year-olds, so for the kids' class I used some left-over buttercream from a previous cake and then topped with a conversation heart...also very cute :)



Happy Valentines' Baking!

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