Mai Tai Cupcakes

This morning, I woke up thinking that this afternoon is my fortnightly team social, and it may just be my turn to bring something. After my Margarita cupcakes a couple weeks back, my mind went to work on a new recipe, using what was in the house. I bought an entire case of Cherry Chip cake mix about a year ago, because Dan's sister loves it, and still have a bunch of boxes around. Starting with cherry as my first ingredient, I somehow realized I could add orange, pineapple, lime, almond, and rum flavors to create a cupcake that tastes like a Mai Tai - which is one of my favorite drinks. They turned out better than the Margarita cupcakes, mostly because you could really taste the booze, and seemed to be successful (most people ate 2). I thought the flavor was pretty darn close to sipping a real Mai Tai, right down to the rum 'floater' on top, in the form of icing. The only problem with them is that they're not much to look at, owing to the lack of a gorgeous dollop of frosting on top, so I may need to adjust the recipe to make them prettier.

But my next cupcake cocktail recipe attempt will be a pina colada (a request from my coworker Anne).

Mai Tai Cupcakes
1 box of Cherry Chip Cake Mix
3 Eggs
1/3 cup mashed banana
6 oz of pineapple juice
1 Tbspn lime juice
1 tspn orange extract
1/2 tspn almond extract
1/4 cup + 2 Tbspn Dark Rum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put all ingredients into a mixer and blend until smooth. Distribute batter evenly between 2 lined cupcake pans (to make ~24 cupcakes). Bake for 20 minutes, then cool.

1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup Dark Rum

Mix sugar and rum to create a glaze. Pour on cupcakes just before serving. Best flavor is attained by biting through the entire cupcake, top to bottom, to get the taste of rum followed by the fruity finish.