Grape Soda Cupcakes

PhotobucketWhen Kirsten and I planned a purple picnic for our girls to celebrate Purple Day, purple cupcakes were on the menu.  And since I’ve become quite the baker these days, I wanted to try my hand at a new cake recipe.

So as I perused the aisles of my favorite Publix supermarket to pick another box of King Arthur Cake Flour, I spotted a special low price for Publix Grape Soda (2 for $1) and then my wheels got to spinning.  How could I do something really different besides a plain ol’ white cake with purple frosting?   I’ve heard of cupcakes with Mountain Dew as an ingredient, but can you make cupcakes with grape soda?  With a quick Google search in supermarket (yet another reason to love smart phones), I stumbled upon a Grape Soda Cupcakes by The Kitchen Magpie.

Once I purchased all my ingredients including Publix Grape Soda and a package of purple Peeps, I had a little look around The Kitchen Magpie later that day and I adored her site, her stories and all her recipes.  However, for this particular recipe, I had to tweak it a bit because the directions were hard for me to follow as it was written like she was telling the recipe over the phone to a friend rather than actual directions.  Since I’m new to cooking and baking, I lack the intuitiveness that most bakers have (or are even born with) to know how create a cake masterpiece.  Therefore, I had to really read through it, understand it and reword it to where I could follow it with ease.

With my modifications, I also used less purple food coloring than the original recipe stated as I was trying to limit my kids’ overexposure to Red #40 and Blue #1.

For icing, I followed the Joy of Cooking “Quick White Icing”, which can also be found at TasteofHome.com.

In the end, I had the grape soda cupcakes I hoped for our Purple Day Picnic and the results were perfectly purplicious and delicious.

Grape Soda Cupcakes
(Adapted from The Kitchen Magpie)

Ingredients

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

4 cups cake flour

1 tsp vanilla

½  tsp baking soda

½  tsp of salt

½  tsp baking powder

1 ¾  cups Publix Brand Grape Soda

Neon Food coloring pack

24 cupcake liners

Butter cream frosting

Purple Peeps or purple cake sprinkles

Directions

In a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar until well blended.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.  Add vanilla.

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in another bowl.

If using purple liquid food coloring, add a few drops to the egg batter to achieve desired color.  (Add a few drops for a lavender shade.  Add more drops for a darker violet shade.)

Then add the flour mixture and grape soda to the batter in mixer, alternating and ending with the flour mixture.

Ladle batter into cupcake liners about three-quarters full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes. Cool completely.

Once cooled, add icing and decorate as desired.

Yields 24 cupcakes.

Thanks for joining our weekly Friday Food Fight! Can’t wait to see what everyone is flinging this week!



*Also submitted at*

Sweet Tooth Friday

Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

15 comments

  1. Michelle says:

    Thanks for hosting! Love the pictures. The cupcakes with the peeps and purple flowers on the tablecloth are perfect. Well put-together!

  2. Becky says:

    These really stuck out to me on Foodie Friday! Check back tomorrow to see the TOP 5. I’ve linked up steak and arugula w/lime vinaigrette. Thanks for hosting!

  3. Ricole Runs says:

    Those cupcakes are adorable! What a great idea. I love the purple peeps on top! I often just use coke zero with a cake mix (no butter or eggs), I wonder if doing this with the grape soda would have made the cupcakes themselves more purply? I bet your family loved them!

    • Run DMT says:

      Yes, the kids loved them, but my oldest daughter and I are enjoying them the most. They are so yummy! We typically don’t drink soda around here, so this was a special treat for the kids. In fact, the bottle hasn’t been touch since! No, the grape soda alone doesn’t give enough purple color so you’ll need to add a just a touch of purple dye for it retain a lavender color. You’ll have to let me know if you try baking them.

  4. Natural Mothers (@naturalmothers) says:

    Hi- thanks for hosting this linky.I’m impressed you managed 50 press ups in your exhaustion test- it’s spurred me on to start this regular exercise myself! This week I posted 14 USES FOR ORANGE PEELS AND A RECIPE FOR ORANGE OIL, 40 INGENIOUS USES FOR SALT and a HOT CROSS BUNS RECIPE. I have also included your linky in NMN’s directory.
    I am looking for wonderful creative bloggers to come share their posts at Seasonal Celebration Sunday over at Natural Mothers Network. And, I really hope that some of you will put Seasonal Celebration on your list linky parties to visit and link to, every Sunday/Monday! Here’s the link: http://naturalmothersnetwork.com
    Warmly,
    Rebecca x

  5. cheerful says:

    sounds yummy and looks so cute…love the color! i bet kids loves it. thanks for sharing your recipe! visiting late from last week’s FTF, hope to see you around. thanks and have a great week. 🙂

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