Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

My first friend is having a baby!  I met Michelle during our second year of law school but we didn't become friends until we ended up in the worst class ever: Catholic Social Theory. No offense to Catholic people, but to this day I have no idea what it was we were supposed to be learning.  Michelle and I bonded over that miserable experience.  The semester before that class, unbeknownst to me, we had Evidence together;  I sat in the very front row and she sat somewhere in the back.

The socratic method is a painful experience-- you have to always be prepared to answer and pray to God that the professor moves to the next person quickly.  What I didn't know was that during this class, on a couple of occasions, the professor called on Michelle, and I opened my big mouth and answered for her!  I can literally count on 1 hand how many times I've had a class with another person named Richelle.  Seriously, it's only happened once!   Anyway, Michelle and I ended up taking all of the same tax classes together and we really hit it off. Michelle and her husband Chris tied the knot last fall and they are now getting ready to welcome their precious little girl to world.  AWWWW.  So as my first friend to take the baby plunge, I felt like some very cute cupcakes were necessary for the baby shower that Michelle's mom and sister threw. If you know Michelle, then you know that anything pink is going to be a winner, so I thought pink lemonade cupcakes would be perfect.



What you need:
1 box white cake mix
4 egg whites
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup pink lemonade concentrate
2 sticks of butter room temperature
powdered sugar
6 tbs. pink lemonade concentrate
pink gel dye


What you do:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.   Line your muffin tins with cupcake holders and then combine the first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth.  Make sure to add enough pink dye to the batter get your preferred shade of pink, for Michelle it was pretty pink ;)
• Bake the cupcakes according to the instructions.
• For the icing, beat the butter with an electric mixer until it is smooth and slowly alternated sifting in a cup of powdered sugar with the lemonade concentrate.  I wanted to have lots of frosting so I used 2 sticks of butter and 6 cups of sugar.  If you're not piping then you can half that amount.  Add a pinch of salt to cut the sweetness from the lemonade concentrate. 

Notes: 

Michelle opening my Clemson orange present ;)

• I didn't taste these cupcakes. (GASP)  I was getting over bronchitis and the thought of dairy just wasn't appealing.  Michelle's baby sister, Stacy got a cupcake during the shower and took a big bite of the frosting and said to me " There's too much lemonade!"  This is why I LOVE Stacy.  She would make the best kitchen taste tester because she's going to tell it like it is!  In summary, maybe cut back the amount of lemonade concentrate in the icing.