IronCupcake_009: "Drink Cheerwine" Cupcakes

Iron Cupcake:Earth_009
Theme: Soda Pop
My entry: "Drink Cheerwine" Cupcakes
Voting begins: Tuesday, April 28 @ http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com/ and will be open through Monday, May 4 at 12 noon Central.

As soon as I saw that this month's theme for Iron Cupcake:Earth was soda, I knew immediately what drink I was going to use! Since I was born, we've been going to my Grandma's house in North Carolina for every major holiday. While we're there, it's always a treat to get a bottle of Cheerwine. Until recently, Cheerwine was hard to find oustide of NC. Thankfully, now you can get it at most grocery stores in the South. For my Iron Cupcake entry, I went in the direction of red velvet. I wanted to emphasize the color of the soda, and I also needed a recipe that called for water. (Substituting water in recipes that call for milk can result in gummy cupcakes.) I adapted a recipe called "Wacky Cake" from the 1983 book, The Southern Heritage Cakes Cookbook. Instead of using cold water, I used cold Cheerwine. I also added a tablespoon of red gel food coloring. The flavor of Cheerwine wasn't really detectable in the cake, so I knew I had to bring it in the frosting! I made a 7-minute frosting, again subbing Cheerwine for the water. I also added a tiny bit of cherry and almond flavorings. Finally, some Cheerwine flavor! These cupcakes are 100% delicious. The cake part is moist and tender, and the frosting is so light and airy! I am very pleased with these "Drink Cheerwine" Cupcakes as my Iron Cupcake entry for this month!

Ingredients... I promise that's not a jar of blood! I'm thinking the original cake was called "Wacky Cake" because of the strange order the ingredients are mixed.
Finally, it looks like batter! Ready for the oven...
Making the frosting...
I'm pretty proud of these cuppies! ;)

Cheerwine Cupcakes
Makes 12-14 cupcakes

1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon red gel food coloring
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup cold Cheerwine soft drink

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Add vanilla, vinegar, food coloring, and butter; beat well. Slowly stir in water; beat well.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Finish cooling on wire racks.

Cheerwine Frosting
1 ½ cups sugar
2 egg whites
¾ cup Cheerwine soft drink
¼ teaspoon cherry flavoring (or 1 drop cherry candy flavoring)
¼ teaspoon almond flavoring

Combine sugar and egg whites in top of a double boiler; add water, and beat on low speed of electric mixer for 30 seconds or just until blended.
Place over boiling water; beat constantly on high speed of electric mixer about 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Remove from heat. Add flavorings, and beat 2 additional minutes or until frosting is thick enough to spread.


Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 5

Prizes provided by Etsy artists:
A creation by FRUITFLYPIE
A pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
Also, CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice!
SWEET CUPPIN CAKES CUPCAKERY will be tossing in sweet surprise.
Corporate prize providers:
HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS
HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
JESSIE STEELE APRONS
CUPCAKE COURIER
TASTE OF HOME books
UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers

Mountain Dew Cupcakes & JOB UPDATE!

One will never know the maximum joy of licking the beaters until after being told you can't... Not that I had to be told. But it's common sense that when you work in a bakery you DON'T lick the beaters! At work I'm surrounded by cake mix, cookie dough, chocolate ganache, etc. all day. It's torture holding my tongue back from what it truly desires! (PS: I LOVE MY JOB!) So naturally when I got home today, I began my usual Tuesday cupcakes with an unusual sense of intensity. As soon as the cupcakes hit the oven, my heart became filled with satisfaction as I proceeded to lick every speck of batter off the beaters, spatulas, bowls, hands, elbows, and ice cream scoop. Oh the wonders of being a home baker! Anyways... let's get to the cupcakes! Mountain Dew Cupcakes won with 51% of the votes. Awesome! I used a recipe from Quirky Cupcakes (ya know, the genius behind Cupcake Hero!). I tweaked it just a bit because Mt. Dew is an orange based soda, and the recipe was solely lemon/lime. I cut back on some of the lemon/lime flavor and added orange juice concentrate. They came out great! I completely invented the frosting. I kinda made it up as I went along. I know if Natalie (from Bake & Destroy) reads this, she'll probably have a myocardial infarction when she sees the high fructose corn syrup cocktail that goes into it!

Ingredients...Ready to be baked!Cooling and smelling good!Citrus waiting to fulfill it's destiny...
A small scoop of frosting on each one...

(There are only 11 because one "accidentally" broke when I was taking it out of the pan)

Flatten out the top...Throw on some sprinkles... and BAM!
Mr. Mountain Dew Cupcake, welcome to the world.

So overall, these cupcakes do not taste like Mt. Dew... but as close as you can get without having access to the wondrous ingredients that make Dew so tasty! They are a delicious triple citrus cupcake. So suck on that.

Mountain Dew Cupcakes (adapted from Quirky Cupcake)
Makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar (could cut back to 3/4 next time because the Dew adds sweetness)
2 large eggs, at room temp
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Mountain Dew
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (do not use ready-to-drink orange juice)
zest from 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime (you will used the zest from the other half in the frosting)
1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a measuring cup, combine Mt. Dew and concentrated orange juice.
3. Combine butter, sugar, and zest in a large bowl. With a hand mixer on medium-high speed, beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Scrape the sides of the bowl before adding flour.
4. Add dry mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the wet in 2 additions, beating on low speed until just combined. (I like to finish mixing with a spatula after the last addition of flour.)
5. Pour batter into cupcake papers about 2/3 full. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

For the frosting (invented by me):
1 cup Mountain Dew
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
zest from 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime (you might not use all of it)

1. In a saucepan, bring 1 cup of Mt. Dew to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat until it no longer bubbles (medium-low or low depending on your stove). Let Mt. Dew evaporate for about 15 minutes. It should reduce by 3/4. You should end up with between 2 tablespoons and 1/4 cup of syrup. Pour it in a small glass measuring cup to cool.

2. Sift the confectioners' sugar into a mixing bowl. Add butter and beat, gradually increasing speed to high, until combined. Pour in heavy cream and Mt. Dew syrup. Continue mixing on high until fluffy. Add OJ concentrate, zest (and food coloring). Mix on low speed until combined.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 4 (too sweet for me!)