Rach's June Challenge: Strawberries

This month's theme was strawberries. Right after I chose it, I thought "I don't have any strawberries, but I have tons of rhubarb, what am I going to do?"

It all worked out OK though. I ended up making Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes for a friend's birthday.

The cupcakes were pink lemonade and the icing was strawberry buttercream. They were delicious!

I originally found this on the "Never Bashful with Butter" blog, but it is no longer active. I substituted pink lemonade for the limeade and made my own buttercream flavored with strawberry extract.

I'll warn you that these need to stay refrigerated and if you use too much syrup in the cupcakes they get really sticky.

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. limeade concentrate
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk (I used whole)

For the lime syrup:
3/4 cup limeade concentrate
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the frosting:
3 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 tbsp. (or more) maraschino cherry juice
red food coloring (optional)
For decorating (optional):
fresh lime slices
maraschino cherries

Please stop by the follow blogs to see what everyone else is cooking:

Lisaloo

Julia Pia

Kristen

Monica