Pimm's Cup Cupcakes!

One of my favorite gifts I've received was given to me twice, separately by two different friends: copies of a cookbook called "Booze Cakes."  it's a cute little book packed with recipes for sweets that are inspired by popular "adult beverages" or are traditionally made with spirits.  I think my annual Carbomb Cupcakes are what's inspired the purchase by both friends, as I love the idea of bringing cocktail favors into dessert.  My favorite recipe in the book is for chocolate merlot cake bites, but I will save that for another time.  Today I want to share a recipe that I made up myself for Cupcake Camp 2012, inspired by my Booze Cakes book- Pimm's Cup mini cupcakes.  Cupcake Camp was a blast and I will be sharing a recap soon!

A Pimm's Cup is a traditional and refreshing spring/summer cocktail that mixes Pimm's #1 licqueur with lemonade and or ginger ale, and is topped with a variety of garnishes, usually mint and cucumber.  I am excited to share my dessert version- Pimm's Cake with Pink Lemonade buttercream and a minted, candied cucumber garnish.   The finished product is a nice nod to the classic drink, with a little twist thanks to the pink lemonade flavor.  The candied cucumbers are definitely different, but worth a try.  They'd also be great in a cucumber martini!

If any of you attended Cupcake Camp and tried one, let me know what you think below!  And if you want to try these yourself, here are the recipes:

Pimm's  Cake
1 c. Pimms licquor
2.5 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
.5 tsp kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter
.5 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs


1) Pre-heat oven to 350.
2)  Pour put 1 cup of Pimm's and set aside.
3)  In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  Set this aside too :)
4)  Cream butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.
5)  Add one egg to the bowl, mix well, and then add the other egg and mix well
6)  With the mixer on low, add in 1/3 cup of Pimm's, mix then add 1/3 of the flour mixture and combine.
7)  Repeat step 6 two more times until all Pimm's and flour are incorporated.
8)  Beat all together for one more minute.
9) Line mini cupcake tin with liners and use a teaspoon to fill the liners with batter about 2/3 full
10) Bake!  Mine were perfect at 9 minutes.


Pink Lemonade Buttercream
7 tbsp. frozen pink lemonade (thawed)
4 cups confectioner's sugar
2 sticks of butter
3 drops red food coloring (you can adjust this or leave it out depending on the color frosting you would like)


1) Cream butter in mixing bowl until smooth.
2). Add confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.  I added 1 or 2 tablespoons of the pink lemonade with each cup of sugar until it was used up, and the red food coloring at the end.


Minted, Candied Cucumbers  (my take on the recipe shared by the Cupcake Project)
1 cucumber
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of water
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint


1) Slice cucumbers into thin rounds and cut into quarters.
2) Use a wide pan at least 2" deep and pour in the water and sugar.
3) Heat on medium high and stir until sugar is fully dissolved.
4) Add the cucumbers in a single layer and reduce heat to medium-low.  Most pan sizes require this be done in two batches to keep the cucumbers from overlapping.  Cook each batch for 20 minutes.
5) While the cukes are poaching, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
6) When the 20 minute cook time is complete, use a slotted spoon to transfer the cucumbers to the parchment-lined cookie sheet, again in a single layer.
7) Place the cookie sheet in a 180 degree oven for 2 hours to dehydrate.
8) Finished candied cucumbers will be a bit sticky.  Peel off from the parchment paper and garnish your cupcakes!

Cupcake Camp 2011

We came. We baked.  We conquered...the cupcakes!  My buddy Christina of All's Fare Food Blog and I participated in Boston Cupcake Camp 2011 as two of about 50 amateur bakers at the event.  Cupcake Camp is a very cool gathering of cupcake lovers in the city.  Professional and amateur bakers bring dozens of pretty frosting-topped treats to share, and anyone who wants may come in and taste 'til their tongues fall off for FREE!  The folks at the front were collecting donations for Lovin Food Rescue, and Boston Blogger/ Cupcake Camp co-organizer Beantown Baker reported more than $2,300.00 was raised for the org- awesome!

Christina and I agree that there were three basic phases of Cupcake Camp...the first was my favorite, we called it Cupcake Heaven:

Being on the amateur baking team granted us early arrival.  After a quick set-up of our own cupcakes, we got to watch as everyone else set theirs up too.  It was a huge room of baking enthusiasts and their creations.

Christina's setup was so cute and full of Boston pride:

Brand new cupcake truck "C-Cups Cupcakes" had super cute cake toppers with their logo

Christina and I spent most of our Cupcake Heaven time snapping dozens of photos.  Here she is capturing a tray of really unique (and delicious) mini cupcakes.  By the way, the people who made mini-cupcakes were really smart.  Christina and I were trying to share some of the full-size ones, and without utensils, that was tough!

So after Cupcake Heaven, came 7PM which meant the floodgates were opened.  We called this phase Cupcake Mayhem.  The place was swarmed with cupcake-cravers (awesome!)  We tasted a few of the flavors we eyed during set up.  My favorite one was the very first one I tried, and I'm so sad I didn't get a better photo, but the #1 best tasting cupcake for me was the Cookie Dough cupcake by Beantown Baker.  This is definitely going to be one of the next recipes I try out.  Beantown Baker also made Frito Cupcakes that were a huge hit, but I didn't try one.

Another one of my favs was the salted caramel & chocolate cupcake from Mix Bakery:



We tried the "Achin for Bacon" cupcake too...probably the most unique cuppie there!  I really, really wanted to like it, but the bacon bits in the cake were just too weird for me. I loved the maple frosting and the bacon brittle was really interesting too. 

I loved how many people were taking pictures everywhere throughout the entire night.  One of the biggest hits was Party Favor's design-your-own-frosting station, it was Coldstone style with mix-ins. Very cool!

So as you can imagine, the cupcake supply did not last very long during Cupcake Mayhem!  This resulted in the third and final phase of the evening, which we dubbed Cupcake Destruction.  Here's the "after" photo of Christina's area:

And the after of my area...someone even swiped my empty box!

The cupcakes were pretty much gone by the time we left around 8:30PM, but there was still a line going down the block!  Needless to say, Cupcake Camp was a huge success, and we can't wait til next year!!