Dessert Week! Starting out with Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

This past weekend, we celebrated my college roommate, Chelsea, getting married. I was on desserts for the shower and it turns out they were a hit. 

I'm so glad I didn't have to bring a single leftover home.There is nothing worse for a low carb diet then desserts, but I'm proud of myself. I didn't eat one thing! Well if you don't count me having to taste everything while I was baking (who serves something they haven't tried!?! Not this girl.)


This week I will go over the 3 recipes that I created for the shower!


So we will start the week out with a bang and a Cherry Limeade Cupcake.

In college we would hit up Sonic for happy hour. I would always go with the orange slush and Chelsea always got a cherry limeade. I decided to go with her favorite drink flavor profile for a cupcake!


Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

Lime Cupcakes
1 box white cake mix, plus ingredients indicated on the back of the box
3 limes
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cherry Buttercream
1 cup butter, softened 
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
1-3 teaspoons sugar free cherry jello
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Lime Simple Syrup
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water

This recipe is pretty simple. You need to preheat your oven to whatever temperature it indicates, mine was 350.

I zested 3 limes and set it to the side. Make sure you just zest the green skin, we don't want the bitter white part!

You will need to have a white cake mix that calls for water. My mix specifically required 1 1/4 cup of water. I only used 1 cup of water and did 1/4 cup lime juice. it was about 2 1/2 limes. Finish your batter the way your instructions indicated and add an extra teaspoon of vanilla and your lime zest.

Now you can make it into your cupcakes. Only fill your liners 1/2 full. This will allow you to get 24 cupcakes. I used an ice cream scoop to portion out my cupcakes!

Bake according to your box directions.

Next we make our simple syrup! To make a simple syrup you just need to add equal amounts of liquid and sugar to a sauce pot and bring to a boil. This will dissolve the sugar and reduce into a syrup. In our case we used lime juice and sugar!

Just set it to the side to cool.

While your cupcakes are baking you can work the butter cream. Cream your butter and powdered sugar together and add the teaspoon of vanilla. Then I added the 3 tablespoons of maraschino cherry juice. I tasted the mixture and decided it wasn't cherry enough. 

I then started adding a teaspoon at a time of sugar free cherry jello. This allowed me to get a more intensive cherry flavor and a nice pink color without any food coloring. You can determine how intense you want your flavor!


I allowed the cupcakes to cool on a baking rack. Once cool, I brushed the tops with our lime simple syrup. This gives an extra kick of lime flavor while keeping the cakes moist.

I allowed the buttercream to sit in the fridge while the cupcakes completely cooled. Pull your buttercream out a little before you want to use it and top your cupcakes. I used a star tip to fancy mine up a bit, but these would taste good with the buttercream just slapped right on!


I decorated the cupcakes with a wedge of lime and a maraschino cherry!

I'm so happy for Chelsea and her new hubby to be! November will be here before we know it! I'm glad I could be a part of leading up to her special day.

I hope you enjoy.


Until next time,


Kara

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