Strawberry and Mascarpone Filled Cupcakes

My parents next door neighbor was graduating from highschool and I was asked to being a dessert to his party. I am always looking to try new things and someone posted a link to this recipe on one of the forums that I read. I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to try and make these.

Ingredients:
1 box vanilla cake mix (like Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe French Vanilla cake)
1 (8-ounce) container mascarpone cheese, chilled
1/2 cup thawed and drained frozen strawberries
1/4 cup sugar, plus 1/2 cup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Make the cupcakes according to package instructions. Lightly grease the muffin tin and fill the batter almost to the rim of each muffin cup. Bake according to package directions and let cool.

In a food processor combine the mascarpone cheese, strawberries, 1/4 cup sugar, and lemon juice. Process the mixture until smooth. Transfer the strawberry mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a small tip. Push the tip gently into the bottom of a cupcake and squeeze in the strawberry mixture until the cupcake plumps. Continue with the remaining cupcakes.

In a small saucepan bring the 1/2 cup sugar, water, and vanilla extract to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved. In a medium bowl combine the vanilla syrup with the confectioner's sugar. Stir until smooth. Working quickly, use a rubber spatula spread the icing on the top of the cupcakes. If the icing begins to firm up, place in the microwave for a few seconds to warm up again.

Len- Did not think that they had a stong enough Strawberry taste and next time instead of the icing that the recipe has he wants me to do a cream chese icing.

Party-goers- They loved the cupcakes. they thought that they were a little too sweet and when I told them of Lenny's suggestion of using cream cheese icing they all really like that idea.

Recipe from Food network, picture from my kitchen.