More Iron Cupcake: soda pop

Sandi Oh's Pomegranate Soda Cuppies.

My second entry for "iron cupcake: soda pop" is a vanilla cupcake made with Pomegranate Italian Soda filled with an orange candy studded white chocolate ganache and topped with a white chocolate cream cheese icing drizzled with thickened Pomegranate soda. They turned out really tasty....I was impressed.

Pomegranate cuppies

11/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 stick softened unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup Pomegranate soda

Preheat oven to 350 deg F, line 12 cupcake cups.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl. In another bowl put milk and soda together (my milk curdled - it's all good tho)

Beat the butter and sugar on med speed until light and fluff 2 - 3 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add eggs one at a time, beating and scraping well between each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. On low speed, mix in flour in three additions, alternating with the milk and soda in two additions and mixing just unitl incorporated.

Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake for 18 -22 minutes.

Orange Candy White Chocolate Ganache

(adapted from Fields of Cake's, candy cane WC ganache)

14 oz white chocolate chopped

2/3 cup heavy cream

10-12 orange and tangerine lifesavers hard candy, crushed.

Place white chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Heat cream in saucepan until almost a boil, pour over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes without stirring. After 5 minutes, stir until smooth then allow to cool. Add candy when cool. Use right away or refrigerate for a few days to let candies form pools of liquid in ganache. (It did not work for the orange candies, it must work for the candy canes in the original recipe). When ready to use, bring to room temp and beat until fluffy.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

(also adapted from Fields of Cake, who I think is the bomb!)

1 stick salted butter softened

8 0z cream cheese softened

1/2 3 0z. box of white chocolate instant pudding

1/2 cup cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the pudding mix and beat for 8 minutes, until no longer grainy. On low add cream and vanilla until incorporated and then turn up mixer and beat for another 2-3 minutes. Add sugar on low until incorporated and then turn up mixer again and beat until light and fluffy (4 minutes). My frosting was soft and held its form, but next time I make this, I might add another 1/2 cup of sugar. So evaluate your consistency and decide from there how much sugar you want.

Pomegranate syrup - enough powdered sugar in about 1/4 cup of soda to make it slightly thickened to pour on top. It's whatever you want.....

To check out more fun stuff visit http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com/.

Prizes for this month were listed in my first iron cupcake entry, so check it out!!!