Pinterest Mtn Dew cupcakes

So my son was watching me pin items a few months ago on Pinterest and we ran across these .  He was immediately in love!  My nearly 16 yo proclaimed You HAVE to make those. Now.

Um like I don't have anything else going on.  So we agreed that I would make them for his birthday.  Well sadly my little boy is now a bonafide 16 year old.  When, just when did that happen.  ok be fore the tears a start I better get going with the additions that I made to the recipe.

 now my photography skills are not the best so you must forgive...

Cupcake girl at All Things Cupcake has posted a deliciously delicious recipe for these cupcakes.
Warning:  The recipe is wonderful and makes a LOT of cupcakes...way more than your standard box mix.  (which sadly is my go to in the daytoday)  I ended up with 24 regular size cupcakes and then because I had run out of standard cupcake liners I made mini and got 24 of those.


I gotta be honest when I read the recipe and then the comments section I was a little worried.  about 1/2 the comments stated that these delights were awful.  What ever happened to the "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all" rule?!
I did notice that many of the comments remarked that while delicious they didn't taste much like Mtn.Dew.  Since I am not much of a Dew fan myself, this actually came as a little bonus ;)

 On commentor posted that she had added orange concentrate to reduce the lemonyness...hmmm is lemonyness a word...yup I just decided!
I thought since I was already juicing a lemon and limes, why not just juice an orange as well.  Plus concentrate has a kinda bitter taste to me for some reason.  I use it to make juice, but when I use concentrate in a recipe I can totally taste it and not in a good way.

Anyways....
so I made a few changes to her already wonderful recipe.  And they worked out!

Mountain Dew Cupcakes

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3/4 cup Mountain Dew
1/4 cup of citrus juices (orange, lemon and lime juice (juices from 1 lemon and 2 limes and 1/2 an orange)--reserve the rest for frosting
zest from 1 lemon and 2 limes and 1/2 an orange (separate into 2 piles, one for buttercream)
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Beat butter on medium for 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar and lemon, lime zest. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, Scrape sides of bowl in between additions
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add to mixer bowl. Turn on low for 5 seconds.
5. Add the Mountain Dew and citrus juices . Mix to combine.
5. Scoop into cupcake papers about two-thirds full.
6. Bake @ 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Mountain Dew Buttercream

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
4-5 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons Mountain Dew
Citrus juices reserved from batter recipe or juices from 1/4 of an orange  half of 1 lemon and half of 1 lime.
Orange, lemon and lime zest (rest of zest from cupcake recipe. Or zest from half of 1 lemon and 1 whole lime)
neon green food coloring (yellow and blue if you dont have green)  I only had Kelly Green --still worked

1. Beat butter at medium-high speed until creamy
2. Add half of the sugar, turn mixer on low for 5 seconds.
3. Add the Mountain Dew and zest . Beat until combined.
4. Add food coloring to the desired color.
5. Gradually add remaining sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.

I filled a good old fashioned generic ziplock bag with frosting and snipped the tip and frosted away.  I like doing this better than using a knife, cuz then I can put more frosting on the cupcake.  I mentioned that the recipe made a lot of cupcakes, well I actually had frosting to spare.  Then I added green sprinkles cuz that's how I roll.  I had to girly them up a bit ;)  Not very manly for my 16 yo, but hey that's what you get with me.

Anyways....

and people commented that they could totally taste the Mtn. Dew-ness.  (another addition to my personal dictionary)