Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
I had to take a break from blueberries to share these adorably delicious cupcakes with you! These pink lemonade cupcakes just scream “Summer” to me. They are light and fresh and pink – always a good combination. 🙂 The actual flavor combination is a lemon cupcake with strawberry buttercream. I was planning to call them strawberry lemonade cupcakes, but every single person I fed them to said they tasted just like pink lemonade. So pink lemonade it is! The ones you see in the picture are minis, but the recipe is written for full-size cupcakes. If you want to make minis, just reduce the baking time to about 12 minutes. We love these cupcakes and can’t get enough of them – I hope you feel the same way!
Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
Yield: Makes 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
Cake:
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
lemon zest from two lemons
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
Strawberry Buttercream:
1/2 cup strawberries (blended into a puree and pushed through a fine mesh sieve to remove seeds)
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of strawberry extract
1 1/2 pounds confectioner’s sugar
2-4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Directions:
For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcake tins by using liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Add the extracts and beat until combined. Add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed, then half of the milk-egg mixture. Repeat, ending by adding the final third of the flour mixture. Beat on medium for two minutes to ensure that the batter is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divde the batter evenly among the cupcake tins. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then continue cooling on wire rack.
For the icing:
Cream the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add extracts and strawberry puree and combine well. Add the sugar in increments and mix thoroughly after each addition. Add the cream, one tablespoon at a time, mixing on medium-high speed after each addition, until you reach the desired consistency.
*If you don’t have strawberry extract, simply add a little bit more strawberry puree until you reach your preferred level of strawberry flavor. If you add more puree, cut back on the cream.
adapted from Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
Welcome! I'm Megan and it's my hope that here you'll find food that has been made with love and recipes that are shared with joy. Thanks for stopping by! 
Wow, those look decadent! I plan on finally investing in some cake flour this weekend and trying this recipe out. I just have one question: approximately how many cupcakes does this recipe make? Thank you!
It makes 24 regular sized cupcakes – sorry, I just updated the recipe to say that. 🙂 As a general rule of thumb, you can get 3 minis out of 1 regular cupcake.
These are absolutely stunning! Just look at that vibrant pink!
Those look so tasty! I can’t wait to get somewhere with an oven so I can make these right away!
I love these, Megan! They are so cute!!
I can’t wait to make these! They look lovely.
Pingback: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes « The Cupcake Blog
Pingback: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes — Cupcake Pictures
So pretty! Perfect for summer or all kinds of fun showers and birthdays 🙂
These are beautiful! Lovely idea!
Pingback: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes | The art of cupcake
I just bought pink lemonade cake mix at store, a can of frenchvanilla frosting,added lemon juice and red food coloring to frosting. Keep cake in fridge and it is very refreshing!
Thank you for posting these. Someone in our store just had a baby girl and I think these would be lovely for the family and for our employees to snack on!
These are so fun! They sound delicious!
These are the prettiest little things I’ve ever seen! Can’t wait to try!
I am going to be making reg sized cupakes, what tip size do I use for the frosting to create the effect you have?
I would use a Wilton 1M tip, or even a Wilton 2D, or any large size Ateco star tip. I got my Wilton tips at Michael’s, but got the Ateco tips off Amazon. Hope that helps!
Pingback: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes | Cupcake Lust
These were such a hit when I brought them to a picnic. Even though I made an “oops” and used all purpose flour instead of cake flour they still came out good. I also ended up using real strawberries when I couldn’t find any strawberry extract…I would definitely do that again when I make them next time….So Good!
Yay! So glad you liked them 🙂
Hi, looks wonderful. Question if I want to bake as a cake how would I convert?
Thank-you!
For the icing recipe is it 1/2 cup of strawberries and then you puree them or 1/2 cup of strawberry puree?
If Im using frozen strawberries how do I adjust the recipee?
Thanks!
It’s 1/2 cup strawberries, then you puree them. Although, to be honest, I don’t generally measure this exactly. I just add a little bit of strawberry puree to the icing, then add more to adjust the texture and flavor as I go. No need to adjust for frozen strawberries, just let them thaw and then puree them. Just make sure they don’t have any added sugar or anything.
Oh my goodness….I stumbled across this recipe yesterday when I was looking for cupcake recipes to make for a coworker’s retirement. I made them last night and WOW, they are fantastic! I’ve never made cupcakes from scratch before and these blew me away. My husband said they’re the best cupcakes I’ve ever made, and my coworkers seem to be enjoying them so far. They are light and delicious. I thought about making 1/2 strawberry and then trying the other half as blueberry but for the sake of time, I did 2 batches of strawberry.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! It’s a keeper! 🙂 And by the way, I used a Wilton 1M tip and they look beautiful!
Pingback: Party Cake Inspiration | My Blog
Pingback: Party Cake Inspiration – My Blog
Can this recipe be used for a cake instead of cupcakes ? They are sooo good i thought I’d ask.