Recipe of the Week: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

The other day I was severely craving cupcakes. Since I am obsessed with lemon desserts, I really wanted to make cupcakes that had at least a hint of lemon. I should also mention that one of my favorite drinks is lemonade. Even though summer is over, I still crave this sweet but sour drink. Thus, the idea of making pink lemonade cupcakes was born.

These cupcakes are great for birthdays because they are not only visually pleasing but delicious too! The cupcake itself is a sweet lemon cake topped off with frosting that contains pink lemonade mix, giving it a tart flavor. This duo combination is simply addictive  and will leave your guests licking their plates.

This frosting is my own recipe and is made to my preference of tartness. When making the frosting, I would suggest adding a little bit of pink lemonade mix first. If later you decide you want to add more mix, you can always do so. 

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 3/4 cup whole milk plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup butermilk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup sugar
• scant 1 T lemon zest, about half a lemon
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/8 t salt

For the frosting:

• 2 cups of confectionate sugar
• 1 stick of unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1/4 cup of water
• 2 tsp of pink lemonade mix (I used Kool Ade)

Directions

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your cupcake pan lined with cupcake liners.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, buttermilk, oil, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Add the eggs one by one, whisking well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together right over your yogurt batter. Stir with a spoon until just combined. It may appear lumpy, but don’t bother over-mixing.

Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake pans and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 20 mins.

For frosting:

Beat the sugar and butter together. Mix water and pink lemonade mix together and add to the bowl. Continue to beat the ingredients until all mixed. Fill a pastry bag with the frosting and frost the cooled cupcakes.