V-Day Cupcakes.

Remember when I said I was going to try some new Valentine's Day treat recipes in this post? Well, since I had a day off yesterday, I decided to make one of those. I ended up making the cupcakes that are half strawberry cake and half brownie. YUM.

These were mine! The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

• 1 (19.5 oz) package brownie mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 (18.25 oz) package strawberry cake mix
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 3 egg whites

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In one bowl, combine the brownie mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup canola oil, and 1/4 cup water. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine the strawberry cake mix, the 2 tablespoons canola oil, 1 1/3 cups water, and 3 egg whites.

Line cupcake pans with cupcake papers or spray with cooking spray. First spoon the brownie batter in so the cup is about 1/3 full (I didn't judge the amounts so well on the first batch so the chocolate taste covered up the taste of the strawberry cake a bit. I fixed it on my second batch).

Then, layer the strawberry batter on top so the cup will be about 2/3 full.

Bake approximately 20-25 minutes. Times may vary depending on your oven, so just keep an eye on them because the brownie mix seemed like it needed a little more time. If you stick a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean, then they've been cooked enough!

 Let them cool and then frost with whatever frosting you like! I used cream cheese frosting.

Options:

I had some extra white chocolate chips left over from another recipe I made a couple weeks ago so I decided to throw them into the strawberry cake batter. I highly recommend it!

Also, I used store bought cream cheese frosting because I was lazy (and Walmart was out of the cream cheese I wanted. Seriously, Walmart?), but you could use regular vanilla or even chocolate would be good. If I make them again, and let's face it, I probably will because they are delicious and Valentine's Day hasn't come yet :), I would definitely make homemade frosting because it's super easy and it tastes sooo much better than store-bought. Here's the recipe for that!

Cream cheese icing:

Combine 1 (8 oz) block of softened cream cheese with 1 stick of softened butter, 3-4 cups of powdered sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and as much half-and-half or milk as needed for the desired consistency. For regular buttercream icing, just don't put the cream cheese in!

Happy Baking!