cupcakes

Honey Roasted Grapefruit Wheat Ale and Meyer Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are so good you won’t want to share

My Honey Roasted Ruby Red Grapefruit Wheat Ale didn’t win the competition, so I consoled myself by using it to make cupcakes.

I mentioned this before, but didn’t really elaborate.  I brewed this beer for a competition called Beer and Branding.  It was a really cool event where home brewers were matched up with a marketing team.  The brewers created a recipe and brewed the beer while the marketing team designed a brand and label to go with it.  All the beer had to use a secret ingredient chosen by NoDa Brewing Company’s head brewer.

You guessed it – the secret ingredient was grapefruit.  I decided to cut them in half, cover them in honey, and roast them.  It was called Groovy Red Ruby and I think it was the best beer I ever brewed.  You can even see a little bit of pink from the red grapefruit in the head.

The label was really cool too!  My team did an awesome job and created a graphic of my white boxer, Holly, riding a wave on a surfboard.  I wish I had a copy to share, but sadly, I don’t.

It didn’t win the competition, but it is an amazing beer that I’m still enjoying and will absolutely brew again.  And I might just keep it all for myself. 🙂

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Honey Roasted Grapefruit Wheat Ale and Meyer Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks butter room temperature
• 4 eggs room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/2 cup beer

For the Frosting

• 16 ounces cream cheese
• 2 stick butter room temperature
• 4 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 tablespoon meyer lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon meyer lemon zest
• 6 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

For the Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 325
2. Line 2 cupcake pans with paper cupcake liners
3. Whisk or sift together flour, salt, and baking powder
4. Add butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium high until light and fluffy
5. Add eggs one at a time making sure each one is incorporated before adding the next and scraping down the sides
6. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat until incorporated
7. Add milk and beat until incorporated
8. Add another 1/3 of flour mixture and beat until incorporated
9. Add the beer, juice, and zest and beat until incorporated
10. Add the remaining 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat until incorporated
11. Transfer to prepared muffin tins filling about 3/4 of the way to the top
12. Bake 25 - 27 minutes or until golden brown on top and done in the center, rotate pans halfway through baking
13. Cool on wire racks

For the Frosting

1. Combine butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium high until smooth
2. Add vanilla, juice, and zest and beat until combined
3. Reduce speed to medium lo and add powdered sugar one cup at a time until combined and smooth
4. Transfer frosting to a pastry bag fitted with whatever tip you like and pipe onto cooled cupcakes

NOTES: 

1. Obviously you do not have this Honey Roasted Grapefruit Wheat Ale beer, but you can use a grapefruit ale or a wheat ale and substitute some of the lemon zest with grapefruit zest
2. If you aren’t a cream cheese frosting freak like me, you can use half of the frosting recipe for a lighter frosted cupcake or substitute a butter cream if that blows your dress up
3. I thought there was a gallery of the branding photos somewhere on Facebook, but I haven’t found them yet.  If I do, I’ll update this post and include a link.