Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I feel like this post is a cheater. I used two recipes that I previously posted and combined them for one amazing cupcake. But I have a feeling you will forgive me. These strawberry lemonade cupcakes are SO delicious and very much a spring time recipe! Something about the sweetness of a strawberry cupcake mixed with a little citrus zing makes me feel like all of this snow Utah has been getting is close to being over and warm summer days are sneaking up on us!

The biggest shock to this recipe is that it all starts with a cake mix (insert GASP here). I’m not one to typically take the easy way out but I’ve had a rough challenge finding a truly great strawberry cake recipe. They all just seem to fall flat while this one is packed with strawberry flavor. Probably because of the addition of jello and real pureed berries. I topped these with the strawberry cream cheese frosting from my previous post but you could also use my strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream to get a smooth and different flavor! The big kicker was the lemon curd. My friend Yvonne from Tried and Tasty posted this the same day that I made it! What are the chances that the two of us would be on a lemon kick?!

So just one more quick rundown…

I used my strawberry cupcake recipe.

Filled these wonderful cakes with lemon curd.

Topped them with strawberry cream cheese frosting.

AND placed a candied lemon slice on the top to give it a little WOW factor.

If you aren’t feeling the candied lemons you could try out some candied strawberries, or just stick a fresh strawberry right on the top! I used a large star tip to get that frosting swirled so pretty. The cute yellow liners were from Pick Your Plum. I got them ages ago to use at my Waffle Bar Baby Shower. The extras happened to be perfect for this bright and cheery recipe!