Shirley Temple Cupcakes

I love sweets. At least, lately I have. I'm normally a salty type of girl, but for the last few months, I crave sweets every day. Not a good thing for my waistline... but lucky for me, my waist is already ruined, soooo, like I said; lucky me. ;)

If your head isn't under a rock, you've probably heard of pinterest. If you haven't, you are missing out. Ask me for an invite and I will gladly send you one. Beware, the site is addicting, and you are likely to spend lots and lots of time there.

While browsing one day, I found a recipe for Shirley Temple cupcakes. I love Shirley Temples. I am not much of a drinker, but there is nothing worse than going to a Christmas party where it's an open bar, and being pregnant, so you can't drink anything. Ok, I'm sure there are many worse things; in fact, I know there are, but at the time it sure didn't feel that way. That was what happened to me in 2009 AND 2010, as I was pregnant both times. (Wouldn't change that for the world, though, of course.)

While sitting at the bar, watching everyone else sip on their tasty drinks, I felt left out. I am perfectly happy with virgin drinks, don't get me wrong; but when you CAN'T have something, that makes you want it all the more. So I asked the bartender if she had a simple virgin drink she could make me. That's when she told me about the Shirley Temple drink. Can you believe I've never heard of it? Honestly, I hadn't. So I tried one. Not anything really special. 7-up or Sprite or whatever, and splash of grenadine, with a cherry on top. Of course, there are other versions, but this is the one she served me. It worked. I had a "fancy" looking drink to sip on, and that made me happy.

So, when I came across these cupcakes I had to try it. I've heard of a soda cake before but had never tried it. This recipe called for a diet 7-up. I didn't have diet 7-up and only had regular Sprite, so I used that instead. From what I hear, you also aren't supposed to use cold soda either, but I did. And it turned out just fine. In fact, the cake was soooo moist! Loved it.

I am not going to post the recipe, but link it at the bottom instead. These cupcakes would be AWESOME to make for your sweetheart for Valentine's Day. Even better, if you use the marble trick, and turn your cupcakes into heart shaped cupcakes. I'll post that link at the bottom too. 

I really hope you make these cupcakes. They were delicious. They only think I can tell you that I did differently is I added 2 tablespoons of cherry juice to the topping instead of 1. Next time, I'll add even more, so there is more flavor, and the topping ends up pinker.  I also used regular cream cheese, instead of lite.

Find the recipe here: Shirley Temple Cupcakes

Find out how to make heart shaped cupcakes here: Heart cupcake