Watermelon Cupcake

With all this cold weather, we could all use a little taste of summer. And nothing says summer like watermelon! Did you know that you can buy watermelon flavour? I didn't until I saw some at Bulk Barn. Now I have to admit, I was pretty hesitant about how well this would work out...but it was (in the words of my coworkers) FABULOUS. For this refreshing taste of summer you'll need...

• White Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• 4 tsp Cocoa Powder
• 1/8 tsp Watermelon flavour (plus a few more drops for the icing)
• Red Gel Food Colouring
• Green Gel Food Colouring
• Store bought White Icing
• Butter (room temperate...around 1/2 cup....but it's up to you)
• Icing Sugar (optional)
• Garnish Idea: Watermelon Candy

And now the recipe...

Step 1: Follow the directions of your White Cake Mix - preheat your oven and add in your eggs, oil, and water.  I usually just throw all three whole eggs in and don't bother separating as directed on the package. Mix together until the batter is smooth.  .

Step 2: Ok, it's time to create two flavours of batter. Remove one cup or so of the batter and place in a separate bowl.  In the small bowl of batter add 4 tsp cocoa powder and mix until smooth.  Then, in the remaining bowl of batter, add 1/8 tsp of Watermelon flavour and some Red Gel Food Colour to make it pink.  Mix well until smooth.

Step 3: Add the pink Watermelon flavoured batter to you cupcake liners, filling them around 1/2 full.  For the chocolate batter, I wanted to make them look like the seeds in a watermelon.  To do this, the easiest thing to do is to place the chocolate batter in a piping bag with a 1A tip.  Stick the tip in the batter and squeeze while you pull up - repeat two more times.  If you don't have a large round tip for your piping bag, you can use a turkey baster - but it's messy!! To use the turkey baster fill it from the top and do the same as you would with the piping bag...you'll just need to keep filling it up. 

Step 4: Place the cupcakes in the oven and bake as directed on your cake mix package. Let your cupcakes cool completely before icing. 

Step 5: On to the Watermelon icing! Mix together the vanilla icing, butter, and a few drops of the Watermelon flavour on high until smooth.  Give your icing a taste and if it's too buttery for your liking add in some icing sugar.  If you want it to be more Watermelony, add some more Watermelon flavour.  Once you're happy with the taste add a little Green Gel Food Colouring and mix well until fully incorporated.

 Step 6: Once your cupcakes are cooled, ice your cupcakes however you feel like.  When you ice your cupcakes, try to keep it near the centre of the cake so that you can see the chocolate poking out at the sides underneath.  Top with the garnish of your choice, I used a Watermelon Candy Slice, and enjoy.

Happy Faking!