So, apparently when I thought I was getting lemons, I was really getting Sweet limes.

For appearance sake, they did look like lemons when I first got them, but after sitting in the fridge for a few days, they started turning green in spots, which seemed sort of strange, since, at least in my experience, when things ripen, they tend to turn MORE yellow, not more green (unless they’re molding, but these definitely weren’t molding). Some of the limes were still a spring green kind of colour, but most of them darkened slightly, and were just a few shades more yellow than a regular lime, only they’re bigger.

Anyways, These cupcakes were originally intended to be Pink Lemonade cupcakes, but they ended up being Cherry Limeade cupcakes, which is just fine by me, since I happen to be a bigger fan of limes myself, and being a big lime fan, I always have a couple extra cans of limeade in the freezer.

I also just so happened to have a jar of Maraschino cherries in my fridge left over from the NYE drink-fest.

Anyways, so I thought these cupcakes were pretty cute, so I took a ton of unnecessary photos of them.

…Ok, also, I got a new camera late last week (long story involving crows en masse a set of slippery stairs and my cute, sweet and slightly equilibrium challenged husband) so I’ve been trying to get used to it by taking tons and tons of photos of stuff.

…But come on, they’re cupcakes. Its not like you really mind looking at photos of them. *smile*

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes***:
This recipe should make about 24 cupcakes

3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp limeade concentrate
3 eggs
3/4 cup plain yogurt (you can use milk, but I think the yogurt adds a nice TANG! to the flavour.)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and set aside. In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter until smooth then add the sugar and cream together. Once the butter and sugar are creamed add in the limeade concentrate. Mix in one egg at a time. Add in flour mixture 1/3 at a time. When flour is thoroughly mixed, mix in the yogurt. Batter will be slightly lumpy, but should be smooth kind of like pancake batter. Divide the batter evenly into lined muffin tins and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, poke a few (5ish) holes in the top of the cupcake, not quite to the bottom of the cake. Mix together the remainder of the limeade concentrate (about 3/4 cup) with about 1/2 cup powdered sugar (You can add more or less, depending on how tart you would like your cupcakes to be I like tart, so I went with about 1/4 cup.) Whisk the mixture well, so there aren’t any lumps. Pour about a tablespoon of the syrup over the holes in the cupcake, slowly, so that the syrup absorbs into the cake. You can add more if you like, just go back over the cupcakes a second time if there is any syrup left.

For the icing I made a standard buttercream, but I used the maraschino cherry juice in place of the milk and vanilla extract. I added a little extra food colouring to the icing to make it even more pink, but you can make it with just the juice and it is still a delightfully pale pink colour.

Keep the cupcakes refrigerated, if only to enhance the flavour. They can be left at room temperature for a day or two once iced, if kept in an airtight container, but I wouldn’t suggest leaving them out any longer. They taste best cold!

I decorated my cupcakes with some white sprinkles, a slice of lime, a maraschino cherry half and a plastic drinking straw, since they are drink inspired.

*** If you want to make what I originally set out to make (Pink lemonade cupcakes rather than Cherry Limeade cupcakes) just substitute lemonade concentrate (or even pink lemonade concentrate if you wish) where I used limeade concentrate, and for the icing, follow the original recipe and use either lemon extract or strawberry extract in place of the vanilla extract.

Oh, and a tip about icing-

If you want really smooth icing, first, make sure your icing is just slightly below room temperature. Warm icing usually turns oozey, and cold icing is usually too hard. After you’ve finished icing your cupcakes, put them in the fridge for about half an hour.

Get a mug of very hot water. Take your cupcakes out of the fridge and working quickly, dip your icing knife into the hot water, remove it, shake it off and very lightly go over the icing again with the knife, pressing with gentle, long, flat strokes from the center of the knife.

Be careful doing this with darker coloured icing, as they tend to streak, and if you have too much water on the knife when you use it, the water will absorb the colour of the icing and drip, leaving a lighter shade underneath it. It may take a little practice, and you might have to perfect your “shake” a bit, but you’ll get to the point where there is just enough water to keep the blade from sticking to the icing, and not so much as to drip all around the cupcake.

If you do notice that there is too much water on your cupcake after you’ve smoothed it out, get yourself a paper towel and lightly touch the edge of the paper towel to the wet spot, and it will absorb the extra water.

I’ve noticed over the years that a lot of people ice cakes with the edge of a knife rather than the center of the knife. Its always best to hold the knife flat and press from the center. Using the edge will just create a scraped, straggly edge and form bubbles in the icing (especially if you’re icing a cake rather than a cupcake.)

But really, the water trick works. Back when I worked in a bakery and iced wedding cakes, that was our little trick for making the icing perfectly smooth.

Enjoy!
-A.

Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll be making some non-cupcake recipes shortly, I just haven’t been feeling so well lately, and cupcakes are.. well.. They’re easy and fun and pretty.

Next week I think I’m going to try making my own version of eclairs and possibly some more “fun with phyllo”…

Ok, so there will definitely be more fun with Phyllo. I love that stuff. Also, fun with puff pastry, though it just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it that “fun with Phyllo” does. hehe..

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 3:38 am and is filed under January 2008, The Cupcakes!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.