Pink Lemonade Mini Cupcakes

I’ve been thinking about pink lemonade cupcakes alllllll summer but it hasn’t really seemed warmed enough, until now!  Thank you, Washington for finally bringing back the sunshine!

I’m a little jealous that Betsy is already thinking about Fall because I would love to be making pumpkin cookies right now but I can’t really bring myself to it when it’s super sunny and nice outside!  I feel weird complaining about the sun-btw.

LOL… anyways, back to the pink lemonade cupcakes!  They’re so fun!  And pink, and lemony!  So fun!  If you’re looking for one last hint of summer, make these cupcakes :)

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes (Starting to Simmer)

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 packets Pink Lemonade  “On The Go” Crystal Light
• 2-3 drops of red food coloring (as desired)

Yield: 2 dozen

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line 2 muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a standing bowl mixer with a paddle attachment, on medium speed, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, at least 2-3 minutes.
4. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
5. In a liquid measuring cup, mix together the milk and Crystal Light packages until combined.
6. With the mixer on low, add the flour and milk mixture in 3 additions, beginning and ending with the flour.  (Add the red food coloring, as needed) Mix until the batter is smooth, but do not over mix.
7. Fill each liner with an ice cream scoop full of batter and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean from the center of a cupcake.
8. Cool completely before frosting.

Pink Lemonade Buttercream

• 1 cup (2 stick) of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4-5 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
• 2-3 tablespoons of heavy cream, as needed to achieve desired consistency
• 1 packet Pink Lemonade  “On The Go” Crystal Light
• 2-3 drops of red food coloring, as needed to achieve a pretty pink color
• Lemon candy wedges (lemon drops would be a great substitute)

1. Cream butter in a standing bowl mixer, with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth 2-3 minutes.
2. Turn the mixer down to low and add the powdered sugar one cup at at time, mixing until smooth.
3. Add the Pink lemonade packet, a little at a time.  I used about 3/4 of the packet, to get the flavor that I wanted.
4. Add the heavy cream as needed to achieve your desired consistency.
5. Add a few drops of red food coloring, until the buttercream is the “right” shade of pink for you.  I wanted it to be a light pink, so I only used 2-3 drops.
6. Mix on medium-high for 1-2 minutes, until the buttercream is light and fluffy.
7. Pipe with a closed star tip and garnish with lemon candy wedges.

Tons of recipes out there use boxed white cake mix and pink lemonade from concentrate for pink lemonade cupcakes.  I’m not hating on those versions, I just don’t ever boxed cake mix in my pantry-so from scratch works best for me.  If that’s your cup of tea-please, let me know how they turn out! :)

I made these into mini cupcakes for a sweet 16 birthday party and they were fantastic, BUT, for some reason they decided to detach themselves from the liner. IDK why, that’s never really happened to me before, so I decided to take all of them out of the liner they were baked in and put them in a fresh mini liner.  Could just be a baking fluke on my part-but wanted to put it out there, just in case that happens to you as well.

PS. Here’s a peek at the other mini’s from the party :) in order: Banana & Dulce de Leche, Pink Velvet, and Chocolate Chip Pancake.