Look at what I did!

My mother in Law sent me a cook book filled with only cupcakes a while ago called "Cupcakes Galore" and I was determined to make cupcakes! I'd never done it before so this was to be a new and possibly really traumatic experience. Last week I was doing my regular reading of the blogs I follow and I happened to stumble across a Pink Lemonade Cupcake recipe by A Beautiful Mess and tada- I had found the recipe I was determined to master. So, I went out, bought the ingredients I needed and did just that. So, I am sharing with you this week what I learned to do last week Enjoy! 

This recipe makes 22-24 regular cupcakes.

Cake Batter: 2 1/2 flour

2 cups sugar

2tsp Baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cups oil (canola or veg.)

1 3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp vinegar

juice and zest from 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl (flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and zest) , and the wet ingredients(oil, water, vanilla, lemon juice, and vinegar)  together in a separate bowl. Stir wet ingredients in slowly with the dry ingredients. This should be a really wet and smooth batter. NOTE: You can add a little bit of red food coloring in with the batter to make it pink (i did) Pour batter into lined baking cups 3/4 full,. Bake for 20 - 22 minutes.

Frosting:
I made the mistake of following the instructions for a butter frosting, and I don't really like butter frosting. I had to add a LOT of powdered sugar to make it not taste like butter. So i'm giving you the recipe for a really simple Cream Cheese frosting. I LOVE cream cheese frosting!
8 oz (1 package) of cream cheese at room temp.
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temp.
1 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 cups of powdered sugar

And for a lemonade taste: juice from 1/2 a lemon.

NOTE: proportions are pretty flexible. You can add more or less powdered sugar according to taste. You can also add some red food coloring to this for the pink look too.

The cupcakes ended up perfect! Everyone loved them and they are really perfect as a summer desert. I hope you enjoy!