ICE-9: CHOCOLATE CHERRY FUDGE SODA POP CUPCAKES

It's that time of month again... Iron Cupcake Earth style. Secret ingredient: Soda pop!

I'm a soda junkie..diet soda, that is. I've had every single diet soda flavor under the sun; diet Sunkist and diet Root beer to name a few of my favorites. While perusing the soda aisle at my local supermarket for something unique I found Canfield's Cherry Chocolate Fudge soda...and...wait for it....in Diet!

I got so excited I could hardly contain myself. I rushed out of the supermarket; all the while brainstorming what I could come up with, with this fun flavor. Alas, I went with a chocolate cherry fudge soda pop infused cupcake baked in an ice cream cone with a black cherry filling, black cherry fudge buttercream, sprinkles, and a maraschino cherry on top! How could this be bad? Didn't think so.

These were so much fun. They had an authentic old school soda pop feel with rich cherry fudge flavors. I colored 1 cup of the batter red and swirled it within each cupcake. I filled each cone about 1/2 full and baked them using mini muffin tins as holders. Once cooled, I "injected" this fabulous black cherry jam I've been holding on to for months that I got at a country fair a while back.

The batter was made with the aforementioned Canfield's cherry chocolate fudge diet soda which amped up the "cherry" vibe to this cone-cake. Now, the frosting was made on a whim. I wasn't sure how I wanted to handle the best part to a cone-cake (i.e. the frosting) but I kind of just went with my gut. This frosting was a combination of cream cheese, Ghirardelli cocoa powder, butter, confectioner's, milk, and lastly, Green & Black's Organic cherry chocolate bar. This might have been the tastiest frosting I've ever made, to date. The actual cherry chocolate bar has cherry chunks in it which is very prevalent throughout the frosting.

I had some extra batter left over so I made a few regular cupcakes baked in paper liners. These were equally delicious although not as fun to eat! This month's Iron Cupcake was a great challenge which I thoroughly enjoyed.

With that said, don't forget to vote for me! Voting takes place on April 29 and will be open thru May 4th @ 12Noon. Click here to vote!

Chocolate Cherry Fudge Soda Pop Cupcakes
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups sifted self-rising flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

3/4 cup Canfields Chocolate Cherry Fudge soda

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line cupcake tins with paper liners. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Put the milk and soda in a liquid measuring cup and stir. Add flour and milk/soda mixture alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed. Scoop 1 cup of batter and put it aside. Using red food coloring, dye the batter. Divide batter equally among cupcake tins; filling each about 2/3 full by alternating between the yellow and red batter. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4 inches above counter, then dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 18-25 (I forgot how long mine took) minutes or until done. Cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes. Once cooled, fill each cupcake with black cherry jam.

Chocolate Cherry Fudge Buttercream (my own recipe)

8oz cream cheese, softened

1 stick butter, softened

4 cups confectioner's sugar (sifted)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3-4 tablespoons milk

1 bar (3.5oz) Green & Black Organic Cherry Chocolate bar, melted and cooled.

Beat cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer until smooth, about 3 minutes. While beating, add melted chocolate. Combine sifted confectioner's and cocoa powder together. Gradually add, 1 cup at a time, to the cream cheese mixture. Continue beating. Add a few tablespoons of milk until desired consistency. Pipe at your own risk!

Prizes for this months challenge include:

• 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 .