Fruit Punch Cupcakes

These cupcakes were an experiment.

I wanted to bake something to take for the Church fellowship dinner the Sunday before Valentine's Day.  I had some cute Valentine Cupcake Liners but the yellow cake mix I had just didn't seem festive enough.

I did some brainstorming.  Actually as I was looking at my baking cupboard, my Great Value Fruit Punch "Crystal Light" caught my eye.  And that was it.

The recipe below is changed a bit from how I made the icing.  I put a whole container of the powder in the icing and, MAN, did it have some PUNCH to it.  I'd cut that in half if I were making it again.

Fruit Punch Cupcakes

1Yellow or White Cake Mix

1 cup water

1/3 cup oil

3 eggs

1 tub Fruit Punch Drink Mix (1 tub makes 2 qts of drink)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Put cake mix and Fruit Punch powder in mixing bowl and mix.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well for 2 minutes.

Line muffin tins with papers and fill 2/3 full with cake mixture.

Bake for 18-22 minutes.

Cool completely.

Fruit Punch Icing

1/2 cup Crisco
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar
1/2 tub Fruit Punch Drink Mix (don't use whole tub unless you want some major PUNCH!)

Combine the first 4 ingredient in a mixing bowl and mix well. Add powdered sugar a bit at a time until you get a nice fluffy consistency. Add Fruit Punch Drink Mix and mix well.  Add more milk if needed. Beat on high until light and fluffy.

Put icing into a ziplock bag to pipe the icing on the cupcakes. Start with a dollop in the center and then start on the outside edge and work toward the middile and up over the center. This gives it some height.

Next I'm going to try Raspberry Lemonade or Grape!

Let me know if you give these a try.  It was a lot of fun to experiment.

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