Strawberry Cream Cupcakes

I put a spin on the presentation with mini stacked cakes. To create, I simply baked the angel food cake in a 13×9-inch glass baking dish. I would suggest putting a piece of parchment paper at the bottom before adding the batter to make it easier to remove from the dish. Angel food cake likes to stick. I did lightly grease the sides of the dish as well. After it has cooled, remove from the baking dish and using a biscuit cutter, cut into tall rounds. I then sliced the cake rounds in half. Instead of mixing the cream filling with the strawberries, I spread a layer of filling and then topped it with the strawberry slices. Top with the second piece of angel food cake and then with the whipped cream.

Ingredients

1 box (16 oz.) angel food cake mix
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. (1 cup) condensed milk
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries plus 15 slices for garnish
2 cups heavy cream, cold
5 Tbsp. confectioner’s sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 6-cup jumbo cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Prepare the angel food cake batter according to package directions. Fill the cupcake liners ¾ the way full with batter. Bake until the cupcakes just start to turn golden brown, 15-17 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a baking rack to cool completely. Let the cupcake pan cool and repeat for 2 more batches. (the last batch will only be 3 cupcakes)
Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth. Beat in the condensed milk. Fold in the 1 cup strawberries. Refrigerate until it firms up, about 40 minutes.
Once the filling has firmed up and the cupcakes have cooled completely, using a sharp knife carefully cut a wide 1-inch deep hole into each cupcake. Remove cupcake top. Fill hole with strawberry cream filling. Place cupcake tops on each cupcake to seal in filling.
Beat heavy cream in a cold bowl until soft peaks form. Beat in confectioner’s sugar until combined. Fill a pastry bag or zip top bag with whipped cream. Cut a big snip in corner of the bag.
Pipe whipped cream in a circular motion, onto the tops of each cupcake. Top each cupcake with a strawberry slice. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.