Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

My daughters teacher is retiring this year and they are having  retirement picnic today for her. The school sent home a note asking people to bring stuff potluck style and divided it up by last name (salad, main dish, side dish, dessert). Luckily her last name landed us in the dessert category. I told her I would make cupcakes if she wanted and she could pick. She enthusiastically settled on Pink Lemonade Cupcakes. I found a recipe online for them (where I find most of my recipes) and gave it a try. I have never had as much trouble with a recipe proportion as this one. The recipe I found was supposed to be for one dozen. I decided to triple it to make 3 dozen cupcakes since this picnic is going to be kind of a big thing and I wasn't sure how many people would be there. As I was filling the cupcake liners, the batter that was supposed to be for 3 dozen, only filled enough for 2 dozen. I had to make some more batter pronto. It was kind of frustrating. So I am going to put the amounts down and say that this will make 2 dozen cupcakes!

Cupcake Ingredients:

*3 Cups Flour
*1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
*3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
*1/4 Teaspoon Salt
*1 1/2 Cup Sugar
*3/4 Cup Applesauce
*6 Egg Whites
*1 Cup Thawed Frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate
*3/4 Cup Buttermilk
*Red Food Color

***Like the in my last entry, the recipe called for vegetable oil. I switched it with applesauce for a healthier alternative. It seemed to work fine in the Orange Chai Spice Cupcakes, so I did it again here.***

*Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Line 2 muffin pans with liners.

*In a bowl combine the Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt. Set Aside.

* In the bowl of your mixer, combine the Applesauce, Sugar, Egg Whites, and Pink Lemonade Concentrate.

*Add the Flour Mix in 3 additions, alternately with adding the Buttermilk in 2 additions. Mix until smooth.

*Add the Red Food Color until it mixes to your desired shade of pink. I added a few drops, mixed it in, then added more and mixed again until it reached the color I wanted.

*Scoop batter and fill cupcake liners.

*Bake for approx. 20-25 minutes.

*Let cool before frosting.

***I bought the cupcake liners that are supposed to keep their color after baking, and I must say they succeeded. I hate when you buy really cute liners and you can barely tell what the pattern is after the cupcakes have been baked.***

***For the frosting I am putting the recipe for 1 batch of frosting. You can make as much or as little as you want. I tripled this recipe and it came out fine to frost 3 dozen cupcakes with a little left over.***

Frosting Ingredients:

*1/2 Cup Butter
*3 Cups Powdered Sugar
*Pinch of Salt
*2 Tablespoons Thawed Frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate
*Red Food Color

*Beat the Butter until smooth.

*Slowly add the Powdered Sugar and beat well.

*Add the Salt, Pink Lemonade, and Food Color.

* Beat well until nice and fluffy and pink.

* At this point I was over these cupcakes and needed a break. Also I wanted them to fantastic without the frosting melting or anything. So I packed everything up and decided to frost in the morning.

*The frosting was stored in an airtight tupperware and stored in the fridge overnight.

*While the cupcakes got to spend the night in the cupcake condo.

***Love this thing. I got it at Costco like 2 years ago. Its great for when I make stuff and take it to work or to friends houses.***

So I woke up this morning with renewed enthusiasm for these cupcakes. Yesterdays quantity debacle forgotten. I am not fancy at decorating, but I love to make my cupcakes look pretty and fun. I look for little things to help dress them up.

Decorating:

*I took the frosting out of the fridge earlier to let it get to room temperature, but decided to whip it in the mixer a little but to make sure it was thoroughly mixed and fluffy.

*Frosted Cupcakes

*Sprinkle Station!

*Top top it off, I put a candied lemon slice, like you would find a slice of lemon on the side of a glass of pink lemonade. I found these at a random candy store by my house.

*The finished product.

*Time to pack the back up into the cupcake condo for transport to the picnic.

*Enjoy!