Culinary Concoction's By Peabody's Dr. Pepper Vanilla Float Cupcakes

Here is where you can find this fun recipe, one I have been wanting to try for a while.  I hadn't been able to find Dr. Pepper Vanilla Float soda, and so I have held off making these, but when I found my store had the pop again, I made these.  They are cute, fun, easy and flavorful, but unfortunately, they didn't taste enough like a vanilla float to us :(.  Anyway, I followed Peabody's recipe exactly, so follow the link to the recipe, and for 24 cupcakes, each cupcake was 307 calories.  We all gave these an 8.

Make It With A Cakemix's Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

This wasn't my favorite thing, but my boys really liked it.  I gave it a 7, and the boys gave it a 9, and Aaron gave it an 8.  This was super easy, as it uses a cake mix, but the frosting was really delicious, and this was a fun idea.  I made a few changes from the recipe, because we didn't want fruit in this.  Also, the frosting has to be piped from a wide tip, since sometimes you can get little bits of cereal in your frosting unless you sift it.  Each cupcake is 345 calories, and here's what to do:

Cake:
1 box butter pecan cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 c melted butter, cooled
1 c buttermilk
2 t vanilla
1 c cinnamon baking chips

Frosting:
1/2 c Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, finely crushed
1 c butter, softened
2 T milk
1 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
4 c (or a little less) powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 and line your cupcake pans.  Combine the eggs, butter, buttermilk, and vanilla until smooth.  Stir in the cake mix and cinnamon chips.  Fill muffin liners and bake for about 17 minutes or so.  Let cool.
Beat the butter for 2 minutes, then add in the cereal, milk, vanilla and cinnamon.  Then add in the powdered sugar.  Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Make It With A Cake Mix's Maraschino Cherry Cupcakes

As you can tell from the name, this was a cake mix recipe.  I bought this cookbook, Make It With A Cake Mix recently, and when Aaron told me he needed something for a potluck for work the next day, I decided to try this one out.  The boys helped me decide which one to try, and this one turned out so well.  We all gave these a perfect 10, and they are super easy to make, and only 258 calories each, so not too bad!  The calories will differ based on cake mix brands/types, but that is what ours turned out being with 24 cupcakes.

1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 c oil
3/4 c milk
1/2 c sour cream
2 t almond extract
1 c maraschino cherries, roughly chopped

1 c butter, softened
1 1/2 t almond extract
3 1/4 c powdered sugar (may need more or less)

sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 350, and line muffin tins with liners.
Mix together the eggs, oil, milk, sour cream, and almond extract.  Sift in the cake mix, then fold in the cherries.  Fill the cupcakes, and cook for about 18 minutes, checking often.  Cool completely.

Beat the butter for a few minutes, then add in the almond extract.  Mix in the powdered sugar, then pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, and top with sprinkles.  Serve

Pinoeer Woman's Dr. Pepper Cupcakes

I bought myself the Pioneer Woman's newest cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, A Year Of Holidays a little while ago, and the first recipe I tried was her Dr. Pepper Cupcakes.  I want to start by saying that almost every recipe I have tried by the Pioneer Woman, and I have tried a lot of them, has been delicious.  I believe this must have been a user error, because after making this and receiving such negative reactions, I realized I had used orange flavored prunes instead of original prunes.  This may have contributed to the downfall of these cupcakes.  Anyway, as you can read, these were a major upset in our household.  Everyone was so excited for Dr. Pepper cupcakes, because we love Dr. Pepper around here, but these didn't taste like Dr. Pepper, not even the frosting which had 4 cups of it in there. 

 

So these cupcakes were each 351 calories, and they are super moist, have great texture, and should've been delicious.  I didn't think they were so terrible, but Aaron actually threw his away, so I'm saying he gave them a 1.  Owen and Noah and I gave them a 6, but everyone said they wouldn't have any more of them.  Sigh.  I'm sure the orange flavored prunes were part of the problem, since they did taste overwhelmingly of orange.  Here's what you do:

 

For The Cupcakes:

1/2 c prunes, roughly chopped

1/2 c dried cherries, roughly chopped

1 c Dr. Pepper (I used caffeine free)

1 c butter

1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 c boiling water

1/2 c buttermilk

3 eggs

1 t baking soda

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

2 c all-purpose flour

1 1/3 c sugar

1/2 t ground nutmeg

1/2 t anise seed

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t ground allspice

1/2 t ground cardamom

For The Frosting:

4 c Dr. Pepper

1 1/2 c salted butter, softened

1 t ground ginger

2 1/2 c powdered sugar

1 T grated lemon zest

1 T grated orange zest

1/2 t vanilla extract

 

Preheat oven to 325.  Line two 12 cup muffin pans with paper cupcake liners.  Add the prunes and dried cherries to a medium saucepan.  Pour in 1 c of Dr. Pepper, then bring it to a slow boil over medium heat.  Cook it for 5 minutes, then remove it from the heat and set it aside to cool, about 20 minutes.  In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the cocoa powder, then add in the boiling water and whisk it together until smooth.  Set this aside to cool.  In a small pitcher, combine the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla and whisk until combined.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour, sugar, nutmeg, anise seed, ginger, allspice, and cardamom.  With the mixer on low, drizzle in the butter-cocoa mixture.  Then pour in the buttermilk mixture, and the Dr. Pepper fruit mixture.  Mix until it's all combined, then scoop the batter into the muffin tins.  Bake the cupcakes for 18 minutes (mine went for about 25 minutes), then cool completely before frosting them.

 

Gently boil 4 c Dr. Pepper over medium heat until the mixture has reduced to 1/2 c, about 25 minutes (mine took more like 35).  Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer, then add the ginger, powdered sugar, zests, and vanilla.  Beat it until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Add the Dr. Pepper reduction very slowly with mixer on low.  Continue beating until the frosting is smooth.  Frost cupcakes and serve.

 

Sounds delicious, right?  And it should've been.  I am blaming the orange prunes :).  Try these and tell me how they turn out, would you?