Taste Tested Tuesday: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

04Aug

Taste Tested Tuesday: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Posted by Andrea

I recently participated in a local cupcake competition. Competitors were asked to prepare their best lemon flavored cupcake and were judged on the creativity, presentation, and taste of their cupcakes. Since lemonade is a classic summer beverage and because I didn’t want to present average ho-hum cupcakes, I baked two dozen beautiful Pink Lemonade Cupcakes.

These cupcakes are delicious, moist, and dainty and in my opinion, have a perfect level of tartness. However, if you’re concerned about the cupcakes being too tart, omit the lemon zest or lessen the amount of pink lemonade concentrate by a tablespoon or so.

I find cream cheese frosting to be a wonderfully sweet compliment to lemon cupcakes. When preparing the frosting, I recommend that you begin with 2 cups of powdered sugar and add more by half cup intervals until your icing reaches the desired level of stiffness and sweetness.

You can certainly enjoy these cupcakes simply frosted, but I wanted to make sure my cupcakes caught the judges’ eyes. I tinted the icing a gorgeously girly shade of pink using Wilton’s Icing Gel (my favorite colorant) and piped it on top of the cupcakes using my Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator (one of my favorite kitchen gadgets!). For a stellar presentation reminiscent of true pink lemonade, I filled plastic water glasses ($1 for a pack of 5 at Dollar Tree) with pink tulle and set the cupcakes atop the tulle. I inserted a striped candy stick into each cupcake to serve as a mock straw and to help the cupcake lover easily remove the cupcake from the glass.

Though I didn’t win (there were 39 other bakers!), my cupcakes were a crowd favorite. Every last one disappeared and I heard plenty of oooohs and aaaahs from children and adults.

group-cupcakes

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

zest of 2 lemons

Pinch salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 egg whites

1/3 cup thawed frozen pink lemonade concentrate

1/4 cup buttermilk

2 or more drops red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin pan with liners. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg whites and lemonade concentrate. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of buttermilk, beating until just smooth. Add just enough food coloring to turn the batter a light shade of pink.

Scoop batter into liners (fill about three-fourths full). Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. When cupcakes are completely cooled, top them with frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2-4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Beat softened butter and cream cheese until well blended. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until creamy.