Iron Cupcake: Soda Pop

Sandi Oh's Ode to a Blue Cream Nehi.

When I found out we were doing soda pop for Iron Cupcake the first thing I thought of was Blue Nehi. I don't think they make them anymore, and honestly it's been so long since I had one, that I forgot if the Blue Nehi's were vanilla or blue raspberry - so I made my cupcake a little of both. Check out http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com for more cool cupcake stuff.

Our April ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
A creation by FRUITFLYPIE, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=16748
a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

Cola Cupcakes

(from Cupcakerecipes.com)

Ingredients

Part One

•1 cup coca cola or other cola drink (I used Dad's Blue Cream Soda)

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1/4 cup powdered cocoa (did not use)

• 22 large marshmallows

Part two

• 2 cups all purpose flour (plus 2 Tbsp, since I did not use cocoa)

• 2 cups sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 2 large eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. These cupcakes work best with the silver metallic liners.

Part one
In a small saucepan mix cola, butter, vegetable oil and cocoa. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and add marshmallows. Place lid on saucepan and leave until marshmallows begin to melt. Stir well.
Part two
Mix flour, sugar, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well. (I added a little blue food coloring at this point).
Combine Part One and Part Two in the mixing bowl. Spoon cupcake batter into cupcake pan liners until they are 1/2 to 2/3 full.
Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Vanilla Cream Filling

(From Baking Bites)

3 tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 cup milk (low fat is fine)

1/2 cup butter (or trans fat-free shortening)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 scraped vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the flour and milk and cook in a small saucepan over medium heat until thick. This will only take a few minutes. Sir continuously to prevent the mixture from clumping and do not bring all the way to a boil. When thickened (consistency will be that of a thin pudding or custard), strain with a mesh strainer into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool completely to room temperature.

When the milk mixture is cool, cream the butter (or shortening) and sugar together in a medium bowl until light. Add in the milk/flour mixture and the scraped vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla extract) and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 7 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape into a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip, or a large ziplock bag with the corner cut off, and set aside until ready to fill your cupcakes.

Marshmallow Frosting

(from the Cupcake Doctor)

2 egg whites

2 Tbsp water

1/2 cup sugar

1 jar marshmallow creme (7 ozs)

over low heat in medium sauce pan, beat with electric mixer egg whites, water and sugar until soft peaks form, approx 2 - 3 minutes (although, seriously I was beating for at least 7 minutes).

take off heat and add creme and beat some more until stiff peaks form, approx 3 minutes.

The blue raspberry sauce is actually just a Blue raspberry freezie thickened with some powdered sugar!!!