From the Kitchen: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Last week I made these tasty treats for a family gathering celebrating two birthdays and they were so well-received I just had to share! And I did promise you a delicious recipe very soon...I'm a gal of my word!

I was originally inspired by Elsie's Pink Lemonade Cupcakes over on A Beautiful Mess. But hers were, of course, made from scratch. Oh the big intentions...well it got down to the wire and I really wanted something similar without all the work. So I 'Lather'ed up my own version.

You'll need:

-1 box of lemon cake mix 

Bake according to cupcake directions.

Still with me??  

PS: I used these ultra-pretty cupcake cups and flags that were given to me by the lovely gals at Fusion...sweet eh?

Now the frosting is where I show off my baking juices. Trust me - any old box cake mix tastes DIVINE with extra-indulgent icing perched on top. I love cream cheese frosting so Martha's recipe is my go to. But I wanted that pink lemonade touch, so here's my modified version.

You'll need:

-1 block of cream cheese, at room temp (8 oz)

-1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temp

-juice of 1/2 a lemon

-few drops red food colouring

-1 cup icing sugar

Whip together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in the lemon juice and continue whipping until smooth (by the way - I do this all by hand with a wooden spoon no prob - no Kitchenaid mixer required). *My new secret - add the food colouring now to the wet ingredients, the colour will blend better!

Slowly add the icing sugar, mixing it in as you go until there are no lumps.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, put the icing in a medium sized ziploc bag, seal it and snip off a tip at the bottom corner. Garnish your cupcakes with a smooth dollop of icing on each.

Now revel in all the 'oohs' and 'aaahhhh's from your guests. 

Have a very sweet weekend my friends!