Strawberry Cupcakes with Banana Cream Cheese Frosting

Produced for the annual Appeals Court law clerk appreciation party. No strawberries were harmed in the making of these cupcakes. (Actually, that's a lie.)

1 quart pack of fresh strawberries, or half of a large Trader Joe's pack
3 Tbs sugar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin tins with paper cupcake cups.
In your food processor, whirl strawberries with 3 Tbs sugar until stewy, but still chunky. Cream butter and sugar in stand mixer. Beat in vanilla and eggs, then flour and baking soda, then strawberry mixture.
Fill cupcake cups halfway and bake 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

While cupcakes are cooling, combine in your stand mixer:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 - 2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 banana, mashed

If frosting is too thick, thin with plain yogurt or sour cream; if not sweet enough, add more sugar. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and garnish with sliced strawberries (if they're ripe and sweet) or a sprinkling of brown sugar (if, let's say, you happened to run out of confectioner's sugar and wanted to hide the crunch of the homemade icing sugar you used for the rest of the recipe :)