Cupcake Wars

I was watching Cupcake Wars this weekend and got inspired. I love making cupcakes but I wanted to try something different. I only had a yellow cake mix in the house (I didn't want to make one from scratch - it was late in the day and since it was a test, well, I just wanted to see how it worked first). I took the mix and added one pkg. of lemon pudding/pie filling mix which I also had. Instead of using all water, I used half water and half fresh lemon juice. I was craving lemon cupcakes. Now what goes good with lemon - I started thinking about some strawberry lemonade I had a week ago and though, why not put a strawberry in the batter before baking them. When they came out of the oven, they felt heavier than a normal cupcake but looked intact. I decided to make a lemon glaze (powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice, water and a tiny bit of oil for shine) - once cooled, I dipped them in the glaze, let them set up and dipped again so they had two coatings. Bottom line - they were very good and pretty too - it's something unexpected when you bite into a cupcake to find a cooked strawberry but the combination works!

Black Cherry Mojitios

I made these yesterday and they were really good and different, a twist on the typical Mojito. This is the recipe but you can tweak it to your taste - I found it a bit sweet so I just added more lime juice and it was perfect.

Bag of frozen pitted black cherries (I used a 12 oz. bag)
2 cups of crushed ice, plus extra to serve (you can also use regular ice if you have a really heavy duty, good blender)
1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
1 cup lite citrus rum (Bacardi Limon is a good choice ... you could also replace with a citrus vodka if you don't like rum)
1 2/3 cups Lime Simple Syrup (recipe below)
Lime wedges for garnish

Place the frozen cherries, crushed ice, mint leaves, lime juice, rum and lime simple syrup in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into chilled tall glasses and top with more crushed ice. Garnish with lime wedges (you could also garnish with a mint leaf or a black cherry)

Lime Simple Syrup
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
Zest from 3 limes
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water and lime zest over med. heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes stirring occasionaly until all the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool for 20 minutes and then strain and store until ready to use.