The Case of the Disappearing Cupcakes

My first BBQ invite of the season was Saturday.  Of course I had to bake something to bring.  With strawberry season kicking off in the Pacific Northwest I wanted to make something out of fresh strawberries. I made a strawberry pie,{screech} wait, I thought this post was about cupcakes? 

It is. Since I wasn't sure if the pie would turn out I made cupcakes too. I had picked up Pillsbury's Orangesicle cake mix a few weeks back and decided to make them.  The Cupcake Crusaders had recently made them too and I took a few ideas from them. 

 For the frosting, like the Crusader's I used  Duncan Hines' Frosting Creations Orange Creme and just mixed it right in to a can of frosting. I too thought that it wasn't quite orange enough and added a little orange extract to give the flavor some oomf. I'm not sure how much I used, I just eye balled it. 

I liked the Cupcake Crusaders idea of making a surprise middle. Instead of making my own I used Cool Whip Frosting in Vanilla. 

These were a HIT!  The cupcakes were disappearing before the grill was even fired up. I saw people going back for seconds and thirds!

The cake was moist and light with a hint of creamsicle flavor. Adding the orange extract to the frosting uped the creamsicle experience and by adding a vanilla middle, it was like a orange creamsicle ice cream bar   in a cupcake. 

For your summertime fun I highly recommend these cupcakes.