{Recipe for Kids} Pink Cupcakes with Raspberry Swirl & Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Kids love surprises, making messes and sweets! Give your little ones all three with the chance to use a piping bag for both filling and frosting the cupcakes. They’ll learn to follow instructions, practice dexterity and explore their creativity (make a mess, really). So forget about making perfect looking cupcakes today and prepare for lots of over-squeezing, blobs and spills! Here’s our easy Valentine’s Day baking project featuring 1 Mommy, 2 Pre-Schoolers and 1 Kid-Friendly Recipe. Enjoy!

When baking with our 4 year old twins I ALWAYS use a boxed mix to keep things moving quickly. But there’s nothing better than a fresh, homemade taste so we add pureed strawberries to pink cake mix for a super moist and fruity cupcake. The cream cheese frosting is homemade and we add raspberry puree to give it a lovely pink color and tangy taste. Here’s the recipe:

SHOPPING LIST – For the Cupcakes

Pink Velvet Cake Boxed Mix (follow the instructions on the box and add Eggs, Butter, Oil as directed)
1/2 Pint Fresh Strawberries (frozen can work just thaw prior)
2 cups Raspberry Filling (fresh raspberry will also work if you have it)
Red Sugar Sprinkles (or similar meaning super fun and messy, too!)
Cupcake liners (we scored a Valentine’s Day cupcake kit including liners and heart-shaped picks from Dollar Tree)
A Cake decorator tip for piping the frosting (if you don’t have one cutting the tip off the end of the plastic piping bag works). We use a 12-piece cupcake decorating set from Wilton.
Plastic Piping Bags (use a Ziploc if that’s all you have handy). We use a Hand-E-Grip 12″ Disposable Pastry Bag which comes in a roll and is made of disposable plastic.

SHOPPING LIST – For the Frosting

2 (8 oz) packages Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter
2 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Cup Raspberry Filling (or fresh if that’s what you’re using for the filling)

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix up the cake batter according to the instructions on the box. Puree the strawberries in a blender or food processor and add to the batter.
Fill the lined cupcake tins about 1/4 full with batter.
Fill a plastic piping bag with the Raspberry filling. Watch this video tutorial on how to fill a piping bag.
Use the piping bag to add a dollop of raspberry filling (or puree) to each cupcake.
Then add more cake batter to cover the Raspberry and fill the cupcake tin about 3/4 full. We use a small scoop to easily fill the cupcake tins.
Bake according to the timing on the package and let cool completely.
To make the Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting check we use this recipe from Recipe Girl. Once you’ve made the frosting blend in the Raspberry filling – that’s it!
To frost the cupcakes fill the piping bag with frosting. Watch this video tutorial on how to make pretty, frosted cupcakes with a pastry bag.