Lemon Pudding Cupcakes with Strawberry Lemon Frosting

May 20, 2014October 15, 2014by Adrian in Desserts, Recipes 15 Comments
lemon cupcake

Making these cupcakes over the weekend with my daughter brought back memories of my childhood. Not necessarily the cooking and spending time together part (my mom and I are both introverts so we would spend time apart rather than together) but the tartness of these wonderfully delicious cupcakes. When I would get my weekly allowance I would spend my money on rolls of SweetTarts, whereas my siblings and friends would spend their money on chips and sodas or ice cream. They were and still are my favorite tart candy.

The cake part of these cupcakes has a slight lemony flavor but the frosting has the tart flavor of those beloved candies of my youth. The frosting is a basic homemade butter frosting with the addition of my secret ingredient that could give them pretty much any flavor you could think of. Well, I’ve yet to see a chocolate flavor but you never know. I’ve seen weirder things happen.

Do I have your interest peaked? Would you like to know what that secret ingredient is? Well, I’m gonna tell you.  The secret ingredient is KOOL-AID! Yep, those little packets of unsweetened drink mix that you mix with sugar and water. The flavors are pretty much endless but I figured since I was baking lemon pudding cupcakes I would top them with a lemon flavor topping.

lemon_cupcake

I like to use a whole packet of the Kool-Aid but if REAL tartness isn’t your thang, then start with a 1/4 of packet and add more if you want it.

These little babies are so good to eat on a hot summer Florida day with a big ol’ glass of ice cold (insert favorite drink) and no, mine is not Kool-Aidsmile

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Lemon Pudding Cupcakes with Strawberry Lemon Frosting

Yield: About 18 cupcakes

Serving Size: 1 cupcake

Ingredients

    FOR THE CUPCAKES
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 3.4 oz pkg lemon instant pudding and pie filling
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp lemon extract
  • 2 eggs
    • FOR THE FROSTING
  • 1 cup butter
  • 3-4 cups confectioner's sugar
  • 1 Tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4-1 .17 oz package unsweetened strawberry lemonade Kool-Aid drink mix.

Instructions

    FOR THE CUPCAKES
  1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and instant pudding.
  2. Add butter, milk, vanilla extract and lemon extract.
  3. Mix until combined.
  4. Add eggs and beat for 1 minute.
  5. Scoop into a paper lined cupcake pan.
  6. Bake at 350 for 18-24 minutes.
  7. Cool completely before frosting.
    FOR THE FROSTING
  8. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until fluffy.
  9. Add 3 cups sugar, desired amount of Kool-Aid (I suggest starting at 1/4 package), 1 Tbsp milk and vanilla extract.
  10. Beat until combined.
  11. If frosting is not thick enough add more sugar. If it is too thick add more milk(1/4 tsp at a time).
https://lifewithgarnish.com/lemon-pudding-cupcakes-strawberry-lemon-frosting/

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