Shirley Temple Cupcakes

In my opinion, shirley temples are the quintessential kid drink. They taste so good and digging the cherries out from the bottom of the glass with the straw was a beloved tradition. My sister and I used to get shirley temples anytime we went out to eat when we were little. We both LOVED the cherries and had totally different ways of eating them. My mom gets the BIGGEST thrill teasing me about it. I would always save the best for last. I would drink the shirley temple slowly, to make it last throughout my meal, and then finally, when both my meal and my drink were gone, I would savor the one or two cherries left in my glass. Grace, on the other hand, would eat all of her precious cherries right away, and then ask for more. Don't ask me why I never changed my ways. She clearly had the better technique. Since those days, I have lost my zest for maraschino cherries, but I have definitely not lost my zest for shirley temples. SO, when I found out my new little in APO liked shirley temples as well, I knew I had to whip up some shirley temple cupcakes for her. Unfortunately, since I had to be sneaky with my shirley temple cupcake gifts, I couldn't take a picture of her eating them:(. But not to worry, Marissa and Qdoba Brian were able to save the day and indulge in some cupcakes for the picture. The original recipe came from Armen Atoyan.

My friends are so weird.

SHIRLEY TEMPLE CAKE:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1 stick butter, at room temp

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sprite

Splash of vanilla

1/4 cup grenadine

Red food coloring

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend until combined. Beat in the vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture and sprite just until combined. The batter will look a little curdled because of the sprite, but no need to worry about it. 

Remove 1/2 cup batter and place in a separate bowl. Add several drops of red food coloring and and grenadine until combined and a rich red color. Place about 1 tablespoon of the red batter in the bottom of each lined cupcake tin. Fill the rest of the way with the white batter and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

CHERRY BUTTERCREAM:

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

Splash of vanilla

1/4 cup grenadine

Beat the butter until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until combined and thick. Add the vanilla and grenadine and whip until creamy and combined. The grenadine is to taste, so add more or less if you'd like. Spoon or pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes.

These shirley temple cupcakes were a nice little childhood throwback. They were a lovely addition to the weird 90s nostalgia I have been experiencing lately, especially with my recent purchase of new roller-blades.  I loved how springy the carbonation from the sprite made these cupcakes. I'll be honest though, these were a little on the bland side. Despite adding all sorts of extra grenadine and sprite, it didn't seem to really do much to enhance the taste. I really like the idea of cherry frosting though, so I want to experiment with some other ways to get that intense cherry flavor. 

Happy slurping, friends!

xoxo,

KG