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Hey everyone! It’s Chelsea back from Chelsea’s Messy Apron to share a fun dessert recipe with you today! These cupcakes are rich with a chocolate fudge flavor. The frosting is a lightly-whipped strawberry mousse. The airy frosting balances out the dense chocolate cake creating an awesome cupcake combination that is a favorite in my family and a hit at any event I bring these to.
When I make cupcakes, I generally doctor up and change a pre-made cake mix. This makes the cupcakes super easy and quick to make, but they taste great! One of my favorite additions to a cake mix is adding a dry pudding mix. I used a chocolate fudge pudding mix in these cupcakes and it lends an incredibly rich chocolate fudge taste. I also start with a cake mix that already has pudding in the mix. So it’s basically double the chocolate, and double the fudge. And I don’t know about you, but I can never have too much chocolate 🙂
The other additions include the following line-up: 3 eggs, sour cream, vanilla Greek yogurt, some vegetable oil and a touch of vanilla extract for good measure. If you want, you can switch up the quantities of the yogurt and sour cream. You can use all sour cream in this recipe or all yogurt. I like a mix of the two, but these cupcakes will turn out great if you decide to use just one or the other.
To balance out the rich and over-the-top chocolate cupcakes, I wanted a light frosting. With Valentine’s Day just ending and plenty of leftover strawberries, I thought a strawberry frosting would be great. This frosting isn’t your ordinary frosting by any means. The frosting is more of a very light strawberry mousse.
The ingredients are easy – pureed strawberries, strawberry pudding, and Cool Whip. Not your traditional line-up for frosting, but the perfect complement to these chocolate cupcakes. I love piling frosting on my cupcakes a mile high, but if you aren’t a huge frosting fan, feel free to halve the amounts for the frosting and put less on the cupcakes.
Seriously, these cupcakes will melt in your mouth. Making it just that much easier to shove another twenty couple down!
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Chocolate Cupcakes with a Strawberry Mousse Frosting
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 (15.25-ounce) box chocolate fudge cake mix
- 1 (3.9-ounce) box chocolate fudge pudding mix
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt, or plain
- 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
Frosting:
- 2 cups strawberries, washed and trimmed
- ½ cup instant strawberry pudding mix
- 2 cups whipped topping, thawed
- fresh strawberries for garnish optional
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners, spray lightly with pan spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the pudding and cake mixes
- In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, sour cream, Greek yogurt, vanilla, and buttermilk.
- Mix the cake mix mixture with the egg mixture until just combined.
- Fill up the cupcake liners ⅔ of the way full and bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cupcakes spring back when lightly pressed in the center.
- Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool completely.
Strawberry Mousse Frosting
- Add the strawberry puree to a bowl and stir in the strawberry pudding until fully combined. Fold in the whipped topping.
- Use a star tip to pipe the strawberry mousse on top of the cooled cupcakes.
- If desired, top with fresh strawberries before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’d like to know where on earth you found strawberry pudding! This would be a great combo with many cake recipes!!
It is delicious! We have it here in our grocery stores! It was very popular when TROLLS the movie came out. Poppy was on the front of the box. Hope that helps and it is available where you live. XOXO
I really love this recipe, I’ve use the cupcake recipe twice now substituting vanilla for chocolate cake and white mousse frosting with raspberry filling. It turned out great.
WARNING: However the first time I used the recipe I didn’t notice that the buttermilk wasn’t added to the instructions for mixing the wet ingrediants and burned out the motor on my mixer whe adding the wet to the dry!
I would use 3 oz. cream cheese, softened in place of the strawberry pudding , add 1 tsp. strawberry extract and a little red food coloring.
these look wonderful. but where do you find strawberry pudding? I don’t think I have ever seen that
I tried this recipe and the frosting did not come out. It turned into goo. I tried adding more cool whip and powdered sugar to thicken it. It got better but not much. It looks like strawberry pancake batter.
Hi! I’m about to make your cupcakes this week end for a baby shower. When it comes to the frosting, do you mean jello or pudding? Because I haven”t found strawberry pudding only jello
I am sure that she meant jello and not the pudding…. I can email her and ask! 🙂
I just tried these and they were amazing. My whole family really loved them. Already planning to make them for an upcoming baby shower. Thanks so much for the recipe Alyssa!
Hi, these look yummy! I was just wondering if the strawberry pudding mix equals to 1/2 c in 1 box or does it take 2 boxes? Thanks!
These look amazing….wondering how sturdy the frosting is….I am thinking of making them for an event in the deep south in April (translation humid and warm)….it will be inside but I have to get them to the location…does this frosting seem to hold up pretty well? Thanks!
Will the frosting melt if left at room temperature? or should it be kept cool in the fridge?
I’m concerned that the frosting may melt. Any thoughts? experiences? —THANKS!
Yumm! I made these today and the cake is absolutely delicious! soft and yum. I’m working on the frosting, and mine is just turning out goopy, unlike how yours is in the picture. I wanted them to be a bit prettier. Do you have any tips on solidifying the frosting? Did I put too much pulverized strawberry? I used 2 cups of strawberries, and then that turned into about 1.25 cups of puree.
Thank you! Even if they won’t be as pretty as I want, they taste AMAZING!
One cup puree worked perfectly for mine
Do you have to refrigerate the cupcakes? How long will the frosting hold?
Can I make the frosting and refrigerate it to use the next day?
Where did the buttermilk go? In with the other wet ingredients? I’m normally terrible at following instructions and I’m trying to get better!
Yes mix the buttermilk with the wet ingredients. 🙂
Where does the buttermilk come in? Its not listed in the instructions…though I assume it goes with the wet mixture.
Yes sorry! It goes in with the wet ingredients.
Strawberry and chocolate fudge – great combination! I love tons of frosting on my cupcakes too!
These are absolutely gorgeous, I love that light fluffy frosting deep enough to get my nose in!