Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
Today is the last day of cupcake week. I hope you guys have enjoyed it as much as I have (be sure to enter in my cupcake giveaway by midnight Aug 28th). I wanted to make something light and summery and when I saw these in my Google Reader earlier this week, I knew they’d fit the bill. Pink lemonade is the perfect summertime beverage. It just doesn’t feel right to drink it any other time of year. And, they’re so darn cute with the pink frosting and pink cake.
For the frosting on these guys, I added an extra two Tbsp of the concentrate and also a couple Tbsp of milk to thin it out. Hubby thought these cupcakes were too sweet because of the frosting, but that’s so something he’d say. I loved them. I was eating the leftover frosting by just piping it onto my finger. It is very sweet, and very good. Although next time, I might use more milk and less of the concentrate to help Hubby’s lack of a sweet tooth!
I am also submitting these as my entry for Flavor of the Month on Bake at 350. This month, the flavor is Pucker Up! (lemon or lime)
Don’t forget to enter in my 2nd blogiversary giveaway by midnight on August 28th!
Check out my week of cupcakes here.
Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
Yield: 20 cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes
2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 egg whites
2/3 cup thawed frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate
1/2 cup buttermilk
Pink food coloring
For the Frosting
3 cups + 3 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbsp pink lemonade concentrate
Milk to reach desired consistency
Pink food coloring
Directions:
For the Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin pan with liners. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg whites and lemonade concentrate. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of buttermilk, beating until just smooth.
Add just enough food coloring to turn the batter a light shade of pink.
Scoop batter into liners (fill about three-fourths full). Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting (see below).
For the Frosting
Add the butter, confectioner’s sugar, salt, lemonade concentrate, and a few drops of food coloring to the stand mixer and mix on low using the paddle attachment until combined.
I wanted to clarify my comments above about the frosting being too sweet. I was silly and added 4 Tbsp of the pink lemonade concentrate to try to thin it out. Then I tasted it and was like what the heck and I doing! I should be adding milk to thin it out. So if you use the recipe as written with the 2 Tbsp, I don't think it will be too sweet. Just use milk to thin in instead of more concentrate like me!
Turn the speed to med-high until the buttercream is fluffy and uniformly pink. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.
Recipe from Sweet Cheeks
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. 
This sounds amazing! I’d be shocked if the people you manage don’t think you’re the best boss ever!
beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 7:56 am
Ha, I’m ok with bribing them with baked goods into feeling that way 🙂
I wish my boss would do something like this for us. This cake sounds phenomenal! Anything that tastes like a donut gets an A+ from me!
beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 7:57 am
I had a boss once who would bring a store bought cake and cut it into the same number of pieces as there were people at the meeting. And he made us sing. It was horrible.
Definitely the best boss when you get homemade cakes that have been compared to a glazed donut! Congrats!!
beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 9:05 am
Thanks 🙂 I am pretty lucky in that my team is pretty awesome too.
Congratulations on the promotion! Your team sounds lucky to have you and this cake looks gorgeous!
beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 4:21 pm
Thanks!
Congratulations on the promotion!! This looks and sounds delicious!
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 9:05 am
Thanks
oh my! a giant glazed donut in cake form??!! yes please! i am sort of curious though as to why it’s called a kentucky butter cake 🙂
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 9:04 am
I have no idea why it’s called Kentucky butter cake. I did a quick Google search and it doesn’t look like anyone knows.
I’m glad there’s no explanation as to why it’s called a Kentucky Butter Cake, because I am making this for a themed food fest at work next week, and I’m changing it to Hawaiian Butter Cake so that I don’t have to find another recipe. 🙂
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:07 pm
I like the way you work 🙂
The staff meeting treat sounds like a regular monthly blog post…cant wait to see what is on deck next month
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
For sure! I have already started asking my team members who have May birthdays about what they’d like. One said anything with chocolate. One said anything but chocolate. So that’s going to be a challenge! Luckily I’m the only June birthday so I’m going to go all out for June!
Ever seen The Office? Hehe… they looove birthday parties! And that’s so sweet that you’re acknowledging your workers like that. I’m sure you’re a great boss!
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
Ha – if only we could all have parties like they do on The Office…
best boss ever 🙂 this looks fantastic!! we have birthday buddies that we bring cake for, and it’s a pretty awesome tradition 🙂
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 4:13 pm
Oh I like the birthday buddies idea! I’m not sure that would work for my team since it’s ~80% guys… I do joke that everyone needs a buddy cause sometimes I look around and can’t tell who we’re missing. It would be a lot easier to just ask if everyone’s buddy was here like when we were kids on field trips.
Yum! Looks devine! Such a perfect looking cake and the glaze makes it look extra shiny and pretty!
Oh, this is such a perfect looking cake 🙂
Oh, I so want a slice of this! Love cakes that are soaked with syrup. So yummy!
i made this on Friday for a brunch on Saturday. It was delicious and I got lots of compliments! I was surprised when i made it because there were no instructions about adding the butter to the batter. I assumed that the butter should be softened and mixed in, but I would’ve expected it to be mixed in earlier so that it would incorporate more fully. You might consider adding clarification to that step.
beantownbaker — May 6th, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
Glad you enjoyed the cake. The second sentence in the second step talks about adding the butter. Are the instructions confusing?
I think I’ve seen this recipe elsewhere on the interwebs… (of course my eye is drawn to anything Kentucky, my home state!) Glad to hear it’s so good!
beantownbaker — May 6th, 2013 @ 5:47 pm
It’s definitely out there on the web! I couldn’t find any info about why it’s called Kentucky Butter Cake though. Do you know anything about it? Do you guys eat it in Kentucky?
So the glaze is on the bottom of the cake correct? You don’t reserve any to pour over the top?
beantownbaker — May 13th, 2013 @ 8:24 am
Yep, you pour it all in to the bottom of the cake while it’s in the pan.
Hi there! Wonderful cake. Just wondering — did you let the cake sit overnight with the syrup soaking?
beantownbaker — September 10th, 2013 @ 7:58 am
Yep, I let the cake sit overnight after adding the syrup.