Rum Punch Cupcakes
Hubby and I got married in St Thomas with 23 of our closest friends and family members (we HIGHLY recommend beach weddings!) We had a morning ceremony with lunch immediately after at a restaurant on the beach. After the meal, over half of the bill was for rum punch! Our amazing photographer (Steph Carson – check her out if you need a photographer – tell her Jen P sent you if you contact her – see some of our pics here), caught this picture of the tasty beverages coming out to the table. We love all the pictures that Steph took, but this one really takes us back.
These cupcakes are inspired by our favorite tropical drink. When I make rum punch at home, I mix cranberry juice, pineapple juice, and coconut rum. So I adapted the Sea Breeze cupcake recipe in Crazy about Cupcakes to make Rum Punch cupcakes. They turned out really good, although next time I’ll put more rum in or some coconut extract.
Rum Punch Cupcakes – makes 12 – adapted from Crazy about Cupcakes1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup cranberry juice
Zest of 1 orange
Preheat oven to 350. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy 3-5 minutes. Add the egg yolks. Beat well.
In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with juices. Fold in zest.
With clean beaters, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the whites with a rubber spatula into the batter.
Fill the cupcake liners 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.
Rum Punch frosting – adapted from Crazy about Cupcakes
3 cups confectioners sugar
6 Tbsp heavy cream
1 Tbsp rum
1 Tbsp pineapple juice
1 Tbsp cranberry juice
Combine all ingredients in medium mixing bowl. Beat on low speed until smooth. Add additional liqueur or sugar if necessary to reach desired spreading consistency.
Note: This frosting was very thin. I added more sugar, but stopped adding sugar because I didn’t want it to be too sweet.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Just beautiful! Buttercream sings to my soul. Or possibly my thighs, but either way, yum!
I love a good vanilla frosting. What I find odd though, there is only 2.5 cups powdered sugar along with 2.5 sticks of butter. Wow, that is not much powdered sugar. I would be adding like 5 or 6 cups sugar with enough milk or cream to moisten. But hey, you said this was a terrific icing and it looks damn good so I shall try it. Thanks for the white cake recipe too! Good combo: white cake/white icing.
Frosting is the best part of cupcakes and cake so I definitely think it deserves its own post 🙂
This frosting looks yummy. I don’t know how I miss this.
I agree Heidi, it does seem like a small amount of sugar to butter. But it’s quite tasty. Let me know if you try it.
Thanks for all of the go-to recipes! I can’t tell you how many variations of these things I must have bookmarked because I don’t know which is best, but now I can delete all of those! These allow those of us who aren’t really good at testing things to know that we have a good homemade basic. So much less stress!