April Cupcake of the Month

According to Jack, these are cupcakes are "breakfast cupcakes" -- meaning they're acceptable to eat first thing in the morning because they are fruit-based. I have to agree they're fantastic with a cup of coffee -- but I also think they're perfect as an afternoon snack, a late-night treat, and basically any other time of day.
I used Eat Live Run's strawberry cupcake recipe and I knew it was going to be something special when the batter tasted like strawberry ice cream. For the frosting, I did something crazy -- I made it up. From the start, I wanted a banana frosting but plain ol' banana buttercream wasn't cutting it. So I added some cream cheese to the mix and voila! Amazing-ness.
Not to toot my own horn but this frosting is legit. It's fruity and creamy and you can eat it by the spoonful if you're super classy like me. I think would also make an excellent fruit dip -- it tasted so good with just strawberries!
Recipe after the jump!

Strawberry cupcakes with banana cream cheese frosting

Ingredients
For the cupcake (from Eat Live Run)*

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups whole strawberries, pureed in a blender or food processor
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cups sugar
• 1 eggs
• 2 egg whites

* I halved Jenna's recipe (12 cupcakes instead of 24) and increased the strawberry puree slightly.


For the banana cream cheese frosting (from my mind)

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 8 oz of cream cheese, softened
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line or grease 12 cupcake tins.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the pureed strawberries, lemon zest, milk and vanilla. Set aside.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and egg whites slowly, beating after each, until combined. Alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the wet strawberry ingredients to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
4. Scoop the batter into the cupcake tins and bake for 25 minutes or until golden. Let cool.
5. For the frosting, cream together the butter and the bananas. Add in the cream cheese and continue to mix. Once combined, add in the powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Mix for several minutes until super light and fluffy. If you need to adjust the consistency (i.e., if it's too thick), add a tablespoon or so of milk. 
6. Frost the cupcakes.