Yesterday I decided the best way to handle current stress was to bake some delicious cupcakes. You can always lift your mood with baked goods. I found a great recipe on JavaCupcakes for Shirley Temple Cupcakes.
Who doesnt love the flavors of a Kiddie cocktail?
Shirley Temple Cupcakes (The Curvy Carrot)
- 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup Cherry 7-Up, at room temperature (use regular...I dont trust diet)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (I used about 3/4 tsp of almond)
- 1 tablespoon maraschino cherry juice (I used almost 2 tbs)
- Red food coloring (2-3 teaspoons, more if desired) (I used 2, but I think for a lighter color you will use a little less)
Yield: 1 dozen (12) or 2 mini dozen (24)
- Preheat oven to 350F and line cupcake pan with liners
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour (1 1/2 cups), baking powder and sea salt.
- In a standing bowl mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and butter and cream until light and fluffy at least 2-3 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
- Reduce speed to low, alternate adding half of flour mixture and half of the Cherry 7-Up, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix until combined.
- Add the vanilla & almond extract and mix until combined.
- Reserve 3/4 cup of batter in small bowl and combine with 1 tablespoon of flour, maraschino cherry ice and red food coloring.
- Evenly distribute pink/red batter in each cupcake liner and smooth out before adding the regular batter to each liner.
- Try not to mix the 2 batters.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes (for regular sized cupcakes) and 8-10 minutes for minis. It took about 13 minutes in my oven with the mini cake pans. I started checking around 8 mins (very runny at this point)
Buttercream
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Pinch salt
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (I think 2 1/2 cups was too sweet. I will start with 1 cup and add by 1/4 cup increments)
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract (I used almost 1 1/2 tsps)
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (Since my frosting was too sweet I used about 2 1/2 tsps to tone it down)
- 1-2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice (Start with 2 and add little by little to get the flavor you want)
- 12-24 maraschino cherries with stem, for garnish
- In a standing bowl mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until light and fluffy at least 2-3 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add the pinch of salt, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract and lemon juice and mix until combined.
- Whip the buttercream until smooth and add the maraschino cherry juice to the buttercream and mix until combined.
- Pipe with a star tip and garnish each cupcake with a cherry.
These were great! I am so so happy with the texture and consistency of the frosting. I used the full 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar and I thought it was a little sweet. I would have liked the cake to have a little more cherry flavor, but I think this is easily fixed.
A little note about the almond extract...it brings out the cherry flavor. Just like coffee brings out chocolate. The 7Up gave the cake nice moisture.
I will definitely make this again!!
In case you were wondering how I practice decorating the tops:
