Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

I'd promised some friends strawberry cupcakes a looong time ago. Just plain strawberry cupcakes sounded a bit boring for my taste though so I decided to turn this into a cheesecake deal. Not in that it is actually cheesecake, but the frosting is cheescake-y.

I love, love, love these frozen strawberries in syrup. I use them all the time- waffles, cupcakes, toast, even frosting. I got them at Kroger, but I'm pretty sure you can find them in any grocery store.

So here's the deal. Boxed cake. Strawberries. Done.
Cake:
1 box golden vanilla cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
*1 cup strawberry milk
frozen strawberries- let them thaw. Your life will be much easier. I did not.

*For the strawberry milk- I poured up about 1/8 cup of the syrup from the frozen strawberries and added milk to get 1 cup.

I mixed the cake with the liquids. I mixed by hand because I the cake turns out much better because I'm too lazy to clean the beaters twice. Then I stirred in a few spoonfuls of strawberries. I'd tell you how much but mine were still pretty frozen so I just stirred a little in. Feel free to add a lot for more strawberryness.
Threw them in the oven at 350 for... about that long (sorry, somebody buy me a kitchen timer).

Frosting:
1 tub of Strawberry cream cheese
1 stick butter
3 tbsp syrup from the frozen strawberries
Powdered sugar to reach desired consistency
Add strawberry pieces to taste

I did a really thin frosting and spooned it on, but go ahead and add more powdered sugar if you want to pipe on some pretty frosting.

Use a cupcake corer (or a knife) to core the cupcakes. Fill the resulting hole with strawberries, then cover with frosting. Top with a sliced strawberry.

-Happy Baking!