Cherry Limeade, in a Cupcake

It is a cold and dreary day today. I have soup in the crock pot and bread rising. Honestly, I really like wintery days. I decided though, that since I had a little icing leftover from a previous cupcake recipe, I needed to bring a little summertime sunshine to the table. In my family, we LOVE cherry limeades, especially from Sonic. Since I am currently CONSUMED WITH CUPCAKES, maybe I should turn that lovely flavor into a cupcake.

Cherry Limeade, in a cupcake

For this cupcake, I followed my standard method: I started with a cake mix. This time I used a Betty Crocker Cherry Chip cake mix. I had a jar of cherries that I drained so I could use them as a decoration on top of the cupcake. The drained syrupy cherry juice is what I used for the water in the cake mix. I decided to do something fun with my cupcakes too. My mom had bought me some silicone heart shaped baking cups. I thought it might be cute to do a cupcake in that too. There is a little fill line in them and that helps too.

After cooling my cupcakes, I need to frost them. I used my Wilton #1M tip and my leftover lime icing that I made in a previous blog here.

Heart Shaped cupcake

After putting the frosting on, I then put the cherry on top. I would suggest either letting the cherries dry on paper towels a bit, or waiting until the last minute to put the cherries on top. Some of the liquid might eek out onto the frosting. It might be pretty, but I would rather be safe :)

My overall thoughts on this cupcake: It looked very nice. It was easy to do. I would love to have MORE cherry flavor in the cupcake. It is a very delicate cherry flavor that is almost overpowered by the lime icing. I am sure I will make this one again, but if anyone has any ideas for upping the cherry flavor, please let me know. I am not certain if there is a "cherry extract" I actually looked, but did not see one in my local grocery store. I might do a cherry puree that might make it a bit stronger. I would love to know if someone tries this and what they think of it. I still like this cupcake, even without a strong cherry flavor.

Summertime on a Wintry Day :)

*****I talked to my mom after I posted this and she gave me some great ideas. She said the McCormick does make a cherry extract, that is a bonus. In our discussing, we came to the conclusion that I could do a Cherry Limeade, Part 2 by taking the cupcake and filling from my Key Lime cupcakes (I linked it earlier in this post) and making a cherry icing. I will try that one, too. Thanks, Mom!!!*********