Pink and Swirly

For as long as I can remember, every year for my birthday my mom has made me this homemade strawberry cake with strawberry icing. This year I got her recipe and decided to give it a whirl. They were just as fantastic as I remembered. The icing can be a little tricky, you don't want to put too much juice from the strawberries or it will be runny...not enough it won't get that great strawberry flavor. These are my favorite cupcakes in the world!

And here is a good how-to on icing cupcakes that I found via Pinterest.

Here is the cake recipe:

Amy's Favorite Birthday Cake

1 box white cake mix

1 3 oz box strawberry jello

3 tbsp flour

½ cup water

¾ cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

½  cup frozen strawberries - thawed

Mix cake mix, dry jello and flour.  Add water.  Mix together, then add oil, eggs - 1 at a time. Add vanilla and strawberries.  Bake at 350.

Icing

1 stick butter

1 box powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

½  cup strawberries

Mix butter, sugar, add strawberries gradually (might not need entire ½ cup)

Option, coconut and chopped pecans can be added to icing.