Cupcakes are always fun for a celebration and on Tuesday I shared a tutti-frutti snack table that had on it one of our favorite, summertime cupcake flavors…pink lemonade! It’s a really fun and easy semi-homemade recipe…and those are my most favorite! I love serving this cupcake during summer months because it has such a pretty pink color and a light, refreshing flavor that compliments any seasonal treat table or lemonade stand! And you can have so much fun topping them too…with bright colorful icings and candies that will have your guests drooling! I promise there will be no puckering after biting into this citrus cake…it’s so delicious and softly flavored! I’m sharing the recipe with you today…so make sure to grab your printable copy!
cupcakes, lemonade, & candies…oh my!
i love cakes that have refreshing flavors…and if you do too, this one won’t disappoint! what i love best is that you can use a box mix and just add some extras to make it taste delightfully original! but topping these cuties is equally as fun as baking them! i found some gummy candies in the shapes of colorful lemon wedges and knew they’d be so wonderful to crown the cakes…
i just used a toothpick to insert pointy edge first into the candy (about a quarter inch) leaving a long portion of the pick to go into the cupcake. this way if your candy is big it won’t be top-heavy!
to make the cakes extra colorful i used some basic baking supplies…pink sprinkles and yellow food color! i adore the sprinklefetti mix from The Bakers Party Shop…check out the link to see the entire selection!
my kids don’t always love a ton of sugar on top so rimming the edges of the cakes with sprinkles allowed me to use less icing. you may need to moisten the edge very slightly with water and then just dip the corners of the cake onto a plate filled with sprinkles! a bright blob of icing doesn’t have to be perfectly shaped since the candies will sit right on top!
so a few extras can turn a yummy cupcake into a showstopper…don’t forget to grab this tasty recipe!
Enjoy!
- 1 18-25 ounce box Lemon cake mix
- 1 3 ounce package Lemon instant pudding
- 4 eggs
- 1/3 Cup oil
- 1/2 Cup milk
- 1/2 Cup Pink lemonade frozen concentrate thawed
- Lemon zest to taste
- pink food color optional
- Mix dry ingredients with eggs, oil, milk and lemonade and beat until smooth.
- Add the lemon zest and pink food color. (baking will dilute the intensity of the batter color so add extra for pinker cakes. You can also substitute a white cake mix for the lemon for a brighter pink. If you substitute, increase the amount of zest for more lemon flavor.
- Fill baking cups (or cake pans) and bake according to the cake mix instructions on the box. Check often to prevent browning.
- Cool completely and frost with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing: 2 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened * 1 stick of butter, softened* 2lbs confectioners sugar* 2 t vanilla* juice of one lemon* yellow food color