A Mother's Day Treat: Dr. Pepper Cupcakes

My mom is a Dr. Pepper freak. And she's a trekkie. So yesterday (Saturday), I made her Dr. Pepper cupcakes and took her to the Star Trek exhibition/movie at the St. Louis Science Center. In a way, my mom was a hipster before anyone else was a hipster.

The Dr. Pepper cupcake recipe I found on Pinterest had a ton of ingredients that I didn't really feel like buying, so I just tweaked it around to make it a lot easier. Originally, the recipe called for grated licorice and apple flavoring...who's going to buy that for one batch of cupcakes?

Not me. These may not have turned out tasting exactly like DP, but they're pretty close! I reckon you could do this with any of your favorite sodas as well.

{Printable Recipe}
Ingredients
cake:
1 box chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup Dr. Pepper

icing:
6-8 cups powdered sugar (buy a few boxes to be safe)
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup Dr. Pepper reduction (see below)
1/2 tsp vanilla
dash nutmeg
pinch of finely ground pepper
2 tbsp Dr. Pepper

DP Reduction:

2 cups Dr. Pepper

3/4 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the ingredients for the cake mix, scoop into lightly-greased cupcake liners, and bake until you can stick a toothpick in them and it comes out clean.

For the Dr. Pepper reduction: Bring the soda and sugar to a boil and then reduce to a simmer until it's evaporated by half. 

For the icing: whip the butter until smooth, then add the vanilla, nutmeg, pepper, and Dr. Pepper. Slowly incorporate the sugar until it starts getting fluffy and icing-like. Add the reduction. Icing is very forgiving. If it's too runny, add more sugar. If it's too stiff, add more Dr. Pepper reduction.

Let the cupcakes cool completely before icing.

Happy Mother's Day!

-Katie