Alice in the Kitchen

Mountain Dew Cupcakes

My dear boss, a recovering Diet Mt. Dew addict, recently retired, and in his honor, I wanted to make Diet Dew Cupcakes.  A little browsing on the web led me to this recipe (and wonderful blog), Nothing But Country – and I duplicated her recipe, only replacing the regular Dew with Diet Dew.  And they turned out great!  I also didn’t think my frosting turned out as pretty as hers, so I also tried mixing the colors into the frosting, then adding them in layers in the piping bag, and that turned out pretty as well.  Enjoy!

Cupcakes:

• 1 box lemon cake mix
• 1 box of instant lemon pudding
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups of Diet Mountain Dew
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Mix cake mix, pudding and eggs well.  Add oil to the batter and mix for 2 minutes.  Slowly pour in your soda and mix for another minute.  Beware – it can get pretty foamy!

Add to cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees for 13-17 minutes, when the cupcakes are golden.

I almost let these get too brown, but they were still very moist.

Frosting:

• 4 cups Confectioners Sugar
• 2 sticks of softened butter
• 1/2 cup approx of Diet Mountain Dew
• 1 T of lemon juice

Beat the butter well till smooth.  Slowly add in 1 cup at a time of confectioners sugar, followed by the juice and soda.  Add all of the sugar and check for thickness of the frosting.  (If it is too thick, add a teaspoon at a time of soda until you reach the correct consistency to pipe or frost your cupcakes.)

Here’s my attempt at duplicating the blogger’s frosting technique:

And here’s how I filled the bag for my second decorating method: