Pinkalicious Cherry Chip Cupcakes with Strawberry Milkshake Buttercream Frosting
Valentines Day makes me really happy. It always has, whether I was single or coupled up. It has nothing to do with that for me. Pastel colors and glitter filter over a cold harsh winter. Shiny brand new merchandise exclaims LOVE! on the shelves of every store. In a wild and sometimes scary world, I am hypnotized by giant poofs of huggable stuffed animals that explode out of store displays. If you’ve ever seen the movie ELF with Will Ferrell, my excitement for Valentines Day pretty much embodies the passion that Buddy the Elf has for Christmas.
This year I celebrated Valentines Day early by making cupcakes on TV with my friend Amy Hanten! I love that I am the quirky pink haired cupcake lady that Rebel & her friends get to watch sprinkle glitter all over the television screen, LIVE from my living room ♥.
Cherry Chip Strawberry Milkshake Cupcakes. I think that this cupcake completely embodies all of the flavors of Valentines Day and as my Rebel girl might say, they are “Pinkalicious.”
The cupcake part is cherry chip. The buttercream frosting swirls are strawberry milkshake flavored (thanks to Quik Strawberry Milk Powder and sweet cream coffee creamer-instead of milk!!) Before I made the cupcakes, I asked myself – how was I going to make it obvious that the frosting was strawberry milkshake flavored? (Besides baking the cherry chip cupcakes in a little polka dot “cup” and topping each cupcake with a paper straw). When I found these little heart shaped cupcake pipettes on Amazon, and they showed up on my doorstep, my cupcake dreams came true. I filled each one with strawberry milk and “spiked” each cupcake swirl with a pink milk “shot!”
Confession: When prepping the candies for TV, I had to post on social media and ask what this GOAT message meant on the candy heart. It kept popping up, I think it was the most popular message on my candy hearts. I try so hard to stay young and keep up, I thought I was a kid at heart! Turns out, I needed to be schooled a bit. GOAT=”Greatest Of All Time.” Maybe the universe was just trying to tell me something. ♥ Hah!
If you look closely, you can see the cupcakes are sitting in a pile of snow. The day I made these cupcakes, it was blizzardy outside. I thought the snowy lighting outside was perfect for capturing the glitter on my cupcakes so I took them outside for a mini wintery photo shoot. But I will confess, I slipped in the snow, my booty sat down hard into the soft snow, my cupcakes went flying in the air, and soon these 6 cupcakes were snow cakes. Still completely edible though. It was brand new snow!
Recipe for PINKALICIOUS Cherry Chip Strawberry Milkshake “SNOW” Cakes ♥:
Cupcake Ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
1 1/4 Cups Sugar
4 Eggs
1/2 Cup Oil (or Melted Butter)
1/2 Cup Chopped Up Maraschino Cherries
1/2 Cup Finely Ground Cherry Chips
1/4 Cup Maraschino Juice
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/4 Cup Milk
2 Teaspoons Almond Extract
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Frosting:
1/2 Cup Softened Butter
1/4 Cup Nesquick Strawberry Milk Powder
1/4 Cup Sweet Cream Flavored Coffee Creamer
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
4-6 Cups Powdered Sugar
Optional: 1 box dry instant strawberry pudding
For Decorating:
Cupcake pipettes filled with strawberry milk for strawberry milk “shots
Printed paper straws
Assorted sprinkles
Maraschino cherries with stems
Valentine’s candy
Edible sparkles
Cupcake Mixing/Baking:
Preheat oven to 325. Combine dry ingredients in bowl. In stand mixer whip eggs, oil and extracts together until combined. Pour milk into liquid measuring cup. Place all dry, whipped and liquid ingredients to the side. Prepare cherry ingredients. Open jar of maraschino cherries and drain juice into liquid measuring cup. Chop maraschino cherries into tiny pieces. Set chopped cherries aside in a small bowl. Finely ground cherry chips using a blender or food processor. (Hint: to stop cherries and cherry chips from sinking to the bottom of cupcake while baking, combine cherries & cherry chips with flour before adding to the batter).
Once ingredients are prepared, gradually alternate the addition of dry ingredients and milk/cherry juice to the eggs and oil in stand mixer. Batter will start to turn pink. Scrape down bowl to incorporate all ingredients. Once batter had formed, fold chopped cherries and ground cherry chips into batter by using flat beater attachment on low or by hand with spatula. Fill cupcake liners with batter, about 1/2 full. Bake for appx 18-22 minutes.
Strawberry Milkshake Buttercream:
In stand mixer, cream butter, dry strawberry pudding, strawberry milk powder, milk, and vanilla extract together until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar until frosting forms stiff peaks.
For Decorating:
Place an open star tip at the end of piping bag and fill piping bag with strawberry buttercream. Swirl buttercream frosting on top of cupcake and sprinkle with cherries, paper straws, candy and cupcake “pipettes” filled with strawberry milk. Dust frosting swirls with edible glitter and sprinkles.
Amanda Cupcake
I moved out to Los Angeles from a small Wisconsin town to become a fashion designer, and unexpectedly started my life as a fashion designer for cupcakes instead of people (back in my hometown, a decade later). I am a public figure, locally known as the pink haired quirky & soothing sweet baker who bedazzles my cupcake designs on local television morning shows. I thought my dream was to sell my cupcakes in retailers all over the nation, but in the process discovered that my cupcakes are a medium for me to use my voice. Through my hardships I searched for a light, and that is how I discovered this character I created-Amanda Cupcake. People have called me a real life Rainbow Brite. I think that this pink haired cupcake queen is what my soul looks like! I'm also a 40 something mom to a little ginger named Rebel, who is quickly growing!
