Monday, May 3, 2010

May Cupkins: Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes!

It's the first Monday of the month!  Welcome to the May edition of CUPKINS, a collaboration between Meg at Mega•Crafty and I.  Each month, Meg shares a muffin recipe and I share a cupcake recipe with the same theme.  This month's theme is strawberries - my favorite fruit!  Check out my Strawberry Lemonade cupcakes, then head over to Meg's to see her Strawberry Rhubarb crumble top muffins!


Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
These cupcakes leave me longing for summertime (yup, the weather is still not quite summery here in Michigan!) and a cool glass of lemonade.  They're easy to make and deliciously light to eat!


Ingredients for the frosting...
4 cups confectioners sugar, 2 tbsp whipping cream, 1 cup butter, 1 cup shortening, strawberries, lemon (recipe based on Saucy's never fail buttercream recipe)

Ingredients for the cupcakes...
White cake mix, 6 strawberries, zest of 1 lemon, 1/2 cup 7up or similar citrus soda, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup butter.


Let's get started!

Check out these uber-cute cupcake liners!  They're Reynolds brand and I got mine in the regular baking aisle at the grocery store.  Cute AND inexpensive... I love it!  Whatever liners you choose to use, go ahead and line those cupcake pans now and set aside...


To make the cupcakes...

Combine white cake mix, 7-Up, butter, and eggs.  Dice about six large strawberries and zest one lemon.  Add to mix and stir gently...


Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake at 325 for 18-20 minutes.  Look how pretty!


To make the frosting...

Cut three to four large strawberries into quarters and blend in a food processor until liquid.  Do not discard solids or seeds!


Make Saucy's never-fail buttercream according to her directions minus the vanilla, then split the batch in two.  Gently stir in strawberries to one half-batch, and add 2 tbsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed) and a dab of yellow food coloring to the second half-batch.


Now it's time to frost...

Fill a piping bag with the lemon frosting and a 2D or 1M tip, and pipe one and a half circles on the top of each cupcake...


Fill another piping bag (fitted with the same tip you used for the lemon) with strawberry frosting and pipe the rest of the swirl.  Garnish cupcakes with strawberry halves and lemon slice quarters!


Have you ever seen something so delicious-looking?!  Enjoy!




Now hop on over to Meg's to check out her Strawberry Rhubarb crumble top Muffins.  Just click on the Cupkins logo to head over to her place!  Have a great day!



13 comments:

Unknown said...

WOW! I looooove this post! Your pictorial is awesome!

I like the way you layered the two icings... and then displayed the pics!

These look crazy yummy. I may use somthing similar for my daughters party!!!

THANKS for sharing!

Unknown said...

P.S. Going to post this on my Facebook Page!!!

Shell said...

Those look delicious! Bookmarking this page!

Caroline said...

To DIE for!!!! These look AMAZING. Great tutorial too--as always! :)

Sher said...

When you say to combine the cake mix per directions on the box, does that mean to add the required oil and eggs on the box recipe and then add the 7-up, eggs, and butter? Or, do you just mix the dry ingredients in the box with the 7-up, eggs and butter? I was confused about that part. I can't wait to try these!

Maiden Jane said...

Too pretty to eat! I bet these would be a hit with the men in my life - they love lemon. Thanks!

Dot said...

Hey! Featuring your may cupkins on Foodwhirl today :)
http://foodwhirl.com/spotlight/spotlight-strawberry-lemonade-cupcakes

But I also wanted to point out that your link over to mega-crafty's muffins didn't seem to work.

dot

Unknown said...

oh. my. goodness.

these are adorable. and they look delicious!!

(and i can't wait for our meet-up and walk tomorrow!!)

Joanne said...

Sher - I fixed the directions... should be clearer now!

And Dot - link is now working! Thanks for the shout out at Foodwhirl!

Meg@MegaCrafty said...

These look great- and perfect for a summer picnic! Great job Joanne!

Sher said...

Thanks so much for the clarification! Can't wait to make these! They will be perfect for my niece's first birthday!

rachel said...

These are just too pretty! And strawberry lemonade sounds like such a yummy (and summery) combination.

Amber Marie said...

I made these over the holiday weekend, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint. Everyone loved them, friends with the most refined taste buds to my meat and potatoes father in law. I've redirected at least two people so far to your page so they can make them themselves. So thank you for this great tutorial and recipe!!