MDBD - Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

As I was thinking of writing this blog, I was trying to come up with some witty title for the blog. Something like MDBD - The Great Cupcake Experiment. However, the sad fact of the matter is that I am not witty, so I guess we'll just stick with the name of the recipe. LOL!

Anyhow, anyone who knows me, or sees my Facebook page, knows that I start planning Zoey's birthday party pretty much as soon as her last party ends. Since it's in November, it makes sense that I am now planning the menu. I have already ordered her cake, but I am doing a small cake and then making cupcakes to supplement. I decided to use MDBD to experiment with different recipes. Our first experiment came from Bird On A Cake and was for Cherry Limeade Cupcakes.

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

Our Ingredients

 Ingredients

Cherry Cupcakes

• 1 box white cake mix
• 1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup oil
• 3 eggs
• 10 oz. jar maraschino cherries (cut into quarters)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line a cupcake pan with liners

I was experimenting with liners as well. I have some paper, and then both sizes of the silicone ones I have

Drain cherries, place juice to the side, and cut cherries into quarters

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, cherry juice, water, oil and eggs

You should see this kid spin a bowl. She is awesome at it

Mix until well blended

Fold in maraschino cherries

I taught Zoey all about folding ingredients in

Pour batter into prepared liners

Here are the ones I put just in the silicone liners on a baking sheet

Bake for 18-20 minutes

Frosting

 Over at Bird On A Cake, she made the lime frosting herself and you can see the recipe over there. However, when I tried to make frosting a few MDBDs ago, it was horrible. It had this terrible butter after taste. So I decided to take the easy way out and buy frosting. I was hoping to get the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations packet in Key Lime. However, they didn't have it at Walmart, so I instead went with a can of Pillsbury Key Lime.

I put it in a piping bag and attempted to pipe it onto my cupcakes. I found out that I need a WAY bigger star tip, and was also reminded how bad I am at frosting things. Hopefully practice will improve my skill. 

I left a few up frosted in case Zoey didn't like the frosting

This is how it's supposed to look

 Final Ranking (1-10)
     1= Throw Directly in the Trash
     5= Not Bad, but Not Great
     10= Best Thing I've Ever Eaten

Scott: 6.5 (Good but frosting had a slight aftertaste and cupcakes were light on cherry flavor if the bite didn't actually have a chunk of cherry)

Kristin:7.5 (I thought these were actually pretty good. I agree with Scott that there wasn't a huge cherry flavor, and it didn't really remind me of a cherry limeade. However, I still thought they had good flavor and were moist)

I normally don't list a rating for Zoey, but I don't think she was a huge fan. The first one we gave her, she picked all the cherries out and fed them to Tempe. She also didn't finish her cupcake, which is kind of big deal cuz the kid doesn't have a hunger turn off switch and will eat anything she likes. I don't think these will make the cut for her birthday, but I will keep the recipe in the "Things I made that kind of turned out" file.