Sunday, February 3, 2013

Sun Drop Cupcakes

I have been making a lot of cookies lately (see my last post) and I even made some cake pops over the holidays, but I haven't made cupcakes since November for my friends birthday.  My friends are the luckiest of all friends, because I often make them cupcakes for their birthdays.  Recently, a good friend asked me if I was going to make cupcakes for my OWN birthday.  I said no.  I hope they can make me some cupcakes for a change.  :)

So, a good friend of ours celebrates his birthday the day before my own!  We were set to have sushi with him, his wife & their daughter and I asked his wife if she had any cake plans (she's a bit of a "caker" herself)!  She said no, and I was SO HAPPY because I've been dying to try some "Sun Drop" cupcakes for awhile now.


For my friends in the north - Sun Drop is kind of a cross between Mountain Dew and Sprite.  It's a North Carolina soda, and our birthday boy is a true North Carolinian through and through.  He LOVES Sun Drop. 

I had actually never tasted Sun Drop before I made these cupcakes, and all of the recipes that I could find online used a box mix (even Paula Deen!) so I modified a Mountain Dew recipe.

You really just can't go wrong with lemon and lime, can you?

This recipe really appealed to me because it called for real lemon and lime juice & zest, and it was a from-scratch recipe.

My friends noted that the consistency was almost like a pound cake, which makes sense - it had 2 sticks of butter and four eggs!
Although I love to bake, every step of it (except the dishes) I really love the decor.  I was so excited to get to use up the rest of my pretty straws.


There is really nothing better than fresh citrus zest.  I just LOVE it!!!  Lemons, limes, oranges, whatever.  Give me something to zest and I'm a happy girl.

Because I was using the straws, I decided to use these little nut cups as liners.  I think they add a nice touch.



The zest didn't really come through in the raw or cooked batter, but man did they taste delicious!!!!




Sun Drop Cupcakes with lemon and lime wedges and a straw to drink up all that deliciousness!!!



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