Starburst Cupcakes

When coming up with new cupcake flavors, I sometimes try to think about what treats people love. A sweet, sweet boy I know absolutely loves Starbursts. I wanted to make a cupcake especially for him, but I didn't exactly know how to go about doing it. I decided to stick with the original flavors (cherry, strawberry, lemon, and orange) because they are his favorite. One day, I was skimming through the cake recipes and noticed some awesome multi-colored cupcakes! The idea came that I would make the four different flavors in cupcake batter form, scoop a little of each into the liners, and viola! Starburst cupcakes! It wasn't a huge success, but I do know what I need to fix for next time :)


The whole idea wasn't an epic fail. Everyone still liked the cupcakes, they just didn't have as much flavor as I'd hoped.

So here's how it went down:

1 white cake recipe, prepared and divided into four bowls
juice and zest from 1 lemon
1/4 c orange juice
1/2 c strawberry puree
2 T cherry pomegranate juice concentrate (couldn't find just cherry, but it worked!)

Pre-heat the oven to 325. Using this batter in the past, it works best for me to bake the cupcakes at a lower temperature for longer so they raise a little more. Add the four different flavors to their individual cake batters. One at a time, add 1-2 tablespoons of each batter to the cupcake liners until they are 2/3 full. My cupcakes baked for almost 30 minutes, but you could follow the directions on your white cake mix and bake from there.

Next time, I'll probably use all concentrate to get the flavors similar and stronger. I'll also add some citric acid to really make them pop and get more fruit flavor.

To top the cupcakes:
Frost with any vanilla frosting. I used kitchen scissors to cut Starbursts about halfway, twisted them, and put one on each cake. I had thought about melting them down, pouring them on wax paper to cool and breaking them up to make a really sweet topper, but I had to get some other things done. Maybe next time!