Anyway, these cupcakes looked a lot cuter than they tasted. But at least they made for pretty pictures for the blog, right?! Sometimes we just need a good picture to get us through a post. I debated not even writing about them because of how awful they turned out, but no…the pictures are too adorablenot to share with you guys. Why were they so bad, you ask? Because I can’t read, apparently. The word “superfine” next to sugar seemed to completely disappear and I used granulated like I normally do while baking, not thinking anything of it. Until Emma and I tasted the batter. Then we looked at each other and made the same wrinkly-nosed face. It was grainy with not much flavor. We could help the flavor by adding a little bit of ICEE lemonade to enhance the lemon in the batter, but that texture…it was beyond repair. So we crossed our fingers and convinced ourselves that it would all be okay and the graininess would bake out. We popped ’em in the oven and went to work on the glaze and frosting.
After they came out of the oven, we poked lots of holes into the tops of the cupcakes, brushed the glaze on top and let it seep in. We let them cool and then piped on our pretty pink frosting, dusted some rainbow sprinkles, and for fun, added little straws to mimic pink lemonade. They looked near perfect with all the bright colors and decorations. But how did they taste…?
Still grainy.
Next time I’ll make sure I read every single word in the recipe.
Oh well. Here it is anyway.
Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
adapted from The Cupcake published by LOVEFOOD of Parragon Books Ltd.
Makes 10 cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
scant 1 cup self-rising flour
¼ tsp baking powder
½ cup butter, softened
generous ½ cup superfine sugar
2 extra large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp ICEE lemonade (our addition to the recipe)
pink food coloring
For the glaze:
¼ cup granulated sugar
juice of 1 small lemon
For the buttercream frosting:
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
juice ½ lemon
1 tsp ICEE lemonade (again, our addition)
4 tbsp heavy cream
1 ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar
pink food coloring
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the butter, superfine sugar, eggs and ICEE lemonade beat using a stand mixer. Once the batter is smooth, beat in the pink food color to your liking. Use a cookie scoop to fill your lined cupcake tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
To make the lemon glaze, heat the granulated sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Gently stir until the sugar has dissolved and let cool for 15 minutes. Poke holes in the tops of the warm cupcakes with a skewer or toothpick and brush on the glaze. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to let cool.
To make the buttercream frosting, beat the butter and lemon juice together in the bowl using an electric mixer until it is pale and creamy. Beat in the cream and then sift in the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until it becomes fluffy. Add pink food coloring to your liking.
Using your piping tool of choice, decorate your cupcakes with the frosting and then have fun with whatever decorations you’d like!
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