AHHHHH, yay? {Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes}

Lately I have been watching a lot of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.  Yes, this a show whose target audience is presumably children but so was the movie Shrek and all those Disney movies/shows.  At least I'm not obsessed with the show unlike my husband a self-described:

BRONY [bro-nee] noun:  A name typically given to the male viewers/fans (whether they are straight, gay, bisexual, etc.) of the My Little Pony show or franchise. They typically do not give in to the hype that males aren't allowed to enjoy things that may be intended for females. Other spellings: Bronie, Plural spellings: Bronies

Female 1: Have you seen the My Little Pony cartoon?
Female 2: Yes! It's so cute and awesome!
Male 1: I've seen it as well.
Female 1: You're the coolest brony ever!

Peter made me watch every single episode available on Netflix.  It would have been torture if I hadn't enjoyed so dang much.  This show is awesome!  

Peter suggested that I should make cupcakes based on the MLP characters and I agreed.  I had an idea involving Kool-Aid flavor packets and the coloring and personalities of the ponies would definitely themselves well to cupcakes/cakes/desserts/cocktails.  I had also bought some sprinkles just because they were sparkly and caught my eye.  I'm such a magpie sometimes and I needed a good reason to justify their purchase.

I decided to make a cupcake based on MLP character Pinkie Pie.  Pink lemonade Kool-Aid?  Sounds right up Pinkie Pie's alley.  Strawberry cake?  Yes, please!  Oh, and guess what I found.  Cupcake wrappers with balloons on them!  See:

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She is pink and has party balloons as her cutie mark!  *Squee*  I was so excited, my plan was perfect.  IN THEORY.  

This was an experiment.  Could Kool-Aid added to cake mix really work?  Let's find out.  So put on your smiles and bake with me.

I bought a box of strawberry cake mix and had on hand some Pink Lemonade drink mix.  I have a confession.  I hate strawberry cake.  It tastes so fake.  Hoping the lemonade mix improves the taste.

At the suggestion of my roommate I added the drink powder to the water called for on the cake's mixing instruction.  That way all the powder will be dissolved.  Worked great, thanks roommate!

Make the cake mix as directed, pour into cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.  Fill each cup almost to the top.  Usually you would want to leave a space but I discovered that lemonade mix does a funny thing and interferes with the leavening properties of the cake mix.  No biggie.  The cakes just don't rise as high.

The cake came out the perfect shade of Pinkie Pie.  But here is where things go wrong.  The cake flavor.  It's subtle.  I nice hint of lemonade and strawberry.  Definitely better than straight strawberry cake.  My icing colors.  Well...not very Pinkie Pie.  The sprinkles.  Not very Pinkie Pie.  The flavor.  Not very Pinkie Pie.

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Fluttershy!  How'd you get in my cupcake??  And I thought she was the shy one!

Light pink and yellow icing and delicate sprinkles reminiscent of Fluttershy's butterfly cutie mark and a lightly flavored cake is what I end up with.  The actual color of the cake is still totally Pinkie Pie though.  I think next time I make these I'll make the icing color darker.  I used lemon flavored icing btw.  Really helped bring out the lemon flavor in the cake.

 

And take a look at these sprinkles.  I love them!

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 box strawberry cake mix

1 packet pink lemonade drink powder (no sugars added)

lemon icing

Directions

Prepare cake mix as directed by package adding drink powder packet to the water to dissolve before adding to the cake mix.  Bake as directed on cake box keeping in mind that cake will not rise as high due to addition of drink powder.

Let cake cool completely.  Ice with lemon icing.  Add cute sprinkles.  Devour.