Limeade Cake With Cherry Buttercream Food

LIMEADE CAKE WITH CHERRY BUTTERCREAM

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 8-inch round cake pans.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
• In stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together room temperature butter and sugar on mediumhigh until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add in eggs, one at a time and mix until just blended.
• Add in vanilla, 2 tablespoons of lime juice and milk and mix for about 30 seconds on low. Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
• Remove from mixer then fold in lime zest with spatula.
• Divide batter evenly between two cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-22 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick is removed clean.
• Transfer cakes tin to a wire rack.
• Use pastry brush to brush remaining 1 tablespoon of lime juice over the top of the each cake.
• Let cakes cool completely and dry before topping with cherry frosting.

CHERRY LIMEADE CAKE

Steps:

• Combine cake mix with oil, water, eggs and dry Kool-Aid; mix on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed for 2 minutes.
• Pour cake batter into a 9 X 13 pan and bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.
• Heat limeade concentrate in microwave about 2 minutes until hot; dissolve lime Jello in limeade. Using chopsticks or wooden skewers, poke a LOT of holes all over the still-warm cake. Slowly pour the limeade-jello mixture over the cake, allowing the cake to absorb the liquid. Cover and chill 2 to 3 hours, until cake is cold.
• In a large bowl, combine milk, instant vanilla pudding mix, cherry jello and cherry extract. Beat with electric mixer until smooth and gelatin is mostly dissolved. Fold in Cool Whip and frost cake.

CHERRY LIMEADE CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and set aside. In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter until smooth then add the sugar and cream together. Once the butter and sugar are creamed add in the limeade concentrate. Mix in one egg at a time. Add in flour mixture 1/3 at a time. When flour is thoroughly mixed, mix in the yogurt. Batter will be slightly lumpy, but should be smooth kind of like pancake batter. Divide the batter evenly into lined muffin tins and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool.
• Once the cupcakes have cooled, poke a few (5ish) holes in the top of the cupcake, not quite to the bottom of the cake. Mix together the remainder of the limeade concentrate (about 3/4 cup) with about 1/2 cup powdered sugar (You can add more or less, depending on how tart you would like your cupcakes to be. I like tart, so I went with about 1/4 cup.) Whisk the mixture well, so there aren't any lumps. Pour about a tablespoon of the syrup over the holes in the cupcake, slowly, so that the syrup absorbs into the cake. You can add more if you like, just go back over the cupcakes a second time if there is any syrup left.
• For the icing I made a standard buttercream, but I used the maraschino cherry juice in place of the milk and vanilla extract. I added a little extra food colouring to the icing to make it even more pink, but you can make it with just the juice and it is still a delightfully pale pink colour.
• Keep the cupcakes refrigerated, if only to enhance the flavour. They can be left at room temperature for a day or two once iced, if kept in an airtight container, but I wouldn't suggest leaving them out any longer. They taste best cold!