POM Wonderful Chocolate Cupcakes

A few weeks ago, the fabulous people at POM Wonderful sent me a free sample of their pomegranate juice!  Yay!  Have you guys ever tried this stuff?  It’s delicious and the health benefits from it are amazing.  

Here are a few outcomes of numerous studies done by POM Wonderful where patients drank 8oz of POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice daily:

Cardiovascular

• In 13 healthy male volunteers who drank POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice for 2 weeks, the amount of LDL cholesterol oxidation decreased by 20% and antioxidant activity in the blood increased by 9%. Read the study.

Prostate Cancer

• • In a clinical study involving 46 men with rising PSA after prostate cancer treatment (surgery or radiation) who consumed 8 ounces of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice daily over two years, PSA doubling time increased from 15 to 54 months (p <0.001).5 A longer term (6-year) continued evaluation of active sub-group patients showed a further increase in PSA doubling time to 88 months. Read the study.
  * PSA doubling time is an indicator of prostate cancer progression.

Pretty awesome, right?  Major health benefits from such a little bottle.  Anyways, beside just drinking this juice, I wanted to make something with it.  After searching the POM website, I found a chocolate cupcake recipe!  Chocolate cupcakes made with pomegranate juice??  I was intrigued and decided to make it.  The chocolate cupcakes were delicious and had just a hint of pomegranate flavor in them…and of course, they were 100% healthy because of this juice and had zero calories in them (I can’t dream can’t I?). 

Along with the cupcakes, I also found a recipe for cream cheese frosting on the POM website, but I had some issues with it.  It calls for 1 1/2 cups of juice.  That seems like an awful lot for frosting, doesn’t it?  I’ve made many frostings in my day, but never one with so much liquid.  In fact, I only added 1/4 cup of juice because it made the frosting so runny.  There was no way that my frosting was going to turn out like this picture.

 

Has anyone else tried to make this recipe before?  What did I do wrong?  Anyway, it turned out to be more of an icing, so I just dunked the cupcakes in them and viola!  Deliciousness.  Thank you POM Wonderful for sending me some juice.  I already feel healthier! :)

Enjoy!

 

Cupcake ingredients.

Iced cupcakes.

Frosting ingredients.

Mmmmm.

POM Wonderful Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water, heated to boiling
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar (not wine vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F with rack in the center, place a paper baking cup in each of 24 regular sized muffin cups.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients to combine well, in a large measuring cup.
3. Combine pomegranate juice and boiling water.  Add oil, vinegar and vanilla to the pomegranate juice mixture.
4. Add to the flour mixture all at once and whisk to combine (batter will be lumpy).
5. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups (about half full), bake 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and free of crumbs, let cool.

POM Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
• 4 oz. soft unsalted butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 14 oz. powdered sugar

Directions

1. Place butter into electric mixer bowl with paddle attachment and cream on medium-high speed for 1 minute, add the cream cheese and continue to mix for 2 more minutes,
2. Turn the speed down to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar and the pomegranate juice, mix until the sugar is fully combined.
3. Remove icing from the mixer and place into a piping bag with a round or star tip.
4. OR just dunk your cupcake into the runny icing! :)

Surprise Center Cupcakes

This recipe/idea is SO simple, that I almost feel bad posting about it...almost.  We had Jake and Kayla over for dinner last week and I wanted to make a dessert too.  Jerm asked me, "Well, do you really need to make a dessert?"  Ummm, hello?  Desserts/sweets are my favorite thing to make, plus it was Kayla's birthday!  Yes Jerm, I needed to make a dessert! 

Anyway, it was a busy week, so I wanted something simple to throw together.  When I think simple, I think cake mix.  But how could I jazz up the cake mix and make it a bit special??  Hmmm...this is where that bag of mini Snickers, that I bought on sale, come into play.  I'm a big fan of adding candy to baked goods.  Candy can easily spice up your treats and add a pleasant surprise! 

For the cupcakes I decided to make, I added one mini Snickers to the center of each and topped it with a bit of additional batter.  The outside chocolate layer of the Snickers melted into the batter, making it extra chocolately, while the caramel and peanuts added a scrumptious center to the cupcakes.  Frosted with "Funfetti" frosting, these cupcakes were delicious!  I ate one with breakfast the other day. :)  So, next time you're looking to jazz up your cake mix try adding some candy to the batter for a tasty surprise.

Enjoy!

Ingredients.

 

Batter and Snickers.

Frosted and sprinkled.

 

About to be my breakfast!  Look at that yummy center.

Surprise Center Cupcakes, by me

Ingredients

• 1 box cake mix (any flavor you'd like)
• eggs, oil and water (amount that cake mix brand calls for)
• 1 jar of frosting (any flavor you'd like)
• Mini chocolate candies (Snickers, Peanut Butter Cups, Twix, etc.)

Directions

1. Follow baking directions on the box, but just add one candy to the center of each cupcake or randomly throughout the cake pan that you're using.