Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

I found a similar recipe to this one on a website called spark recipes and was curious and had to try it. The best part about it is that there are endless combinations, and to be honest, I want to try all of them! I was originally going to make Strawberry Banana Cupcakes with a slice of banana and strawberry on top, but since I live in a household with chocolate lovers, the Chocolate Covered Strawberry ones won. One thing that I did read is if you are going to use a darker cake mix such as chocolate, to use diet cola instead of the diet sierra mist. Since we are using a cool whip mixture for the frosting, you need to keep the cupcakes in the refrigerator at all times, unless you will be icing the cupcakes as you eat them. In that case, just keep the frosting in the refrigerator. These things are so darn cute, that I had to put up 2 pictures! Stay tuned, tomorrow I will be posting a poppyseed chicken casserole family recipe!

Ingredients:

- 1 box of Pilsbury Moist Supreme cake mix (as I said, you can use any flavor topped with any flavor icing.)
- 1 12oz can of diet sierra mist soda
- 1 8 oz tub of fat free cool whip
- 1 box of Jell-o fat free/sugar free pudding mix powder (I used the chocolate kind.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the diet soda and cake mix. Mix for about 2 minutes, or until it is smooth. This will be your cupcake mix. Once it is well blended, spoon the mix into cupcake liners and only fill about 2/3. Place in the oven for about 18-22 minutes. It only took 18 minutes in my oven, since my oven heats quickly. For the icing, take the tub of cool whip and place into a mixing bowl. Add the powdered Jello-o mix into the cool whip. Mix for about 3 minutes until the frosting is smooth (make sure that it is not clumpy). Place the frosting in the refrigerator for about an hour. Once the cupcakes are done, let them cool for about an hour. Like I said before, since we are using a cool whip mixture for the frosting, you need to keep the cupcakes in the refrigerator at all times, unless you will be icing the cupcakes as you eat them. In that case, just keep the frosting in the refrigerator. I topped mine with halved strawberries. I also suggest that if you are going to top with any sort of fruit, to wait until the last possible minute to put the fruit on, since the enzymes in the fruit may break down the frosting. Enjoy, and be creative!

Nutrition Facts for 1 cupcake (The recipe makes about 24 cupcakes, so be sure to share!)

Calories- 138
Carbs- 21
Fat- 2
Protein- 1
Sodium- 165
Fiber - 1