dr pepper cupcakes with cherry almond frosting

This started as a completly experimental recipe and uses some of my favourite flavours. Sometimes it's just got to be done. This is a little trashy but good. Go on, you know you want to.

Ingredients
100g unsalted butter
330ml can dr pepper
100g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
2 tbsp dark cherry jam/conserve
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
150g dark muscovado sugar
2 eggs

Makes 10 cupcakes.

1. Start by reducing the dr pepper in a saucepan over a low heat until it is 1/3 of the original volume (110ml)
2. Preheat the oven to 180C fan oven. Put the paper cases in the muffin tray and fill a large oven proof dish with water and place in the bottom of the oven. The steam that is produced will help the cakes to rise and be lovely and light.
3. Put the butter the saucepan with the dr pepper reduction and melt over a low heat. Remove from the heat then add the vanilla and almond extracts along with the cherry jam
4. Sieve together the dry ingredients, including the sugar, to get rid of any lumps, then beat in the dr pepper mixture followed by the eggs until thoroughly combined. It is aboslutely fine to do this by hand or with an electric mixer. This recipe does not require a huge amount of physical effort.
5. Put a dollop of the mixture into each of the paper cases, if you have a cup measure it's about 1/4 cup per case.
6. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool completely before decorating with frosting.

Cherry Almond Frosting

It has been difficult to decide what to top the Dr Pepper cupcakes with. The flavour is quite complex and I was unsure what to accentuate. Anyway, I decided upon this sweet but slightly tart topping. The tartness comes from the fact I used a polish sour cherry cordial but feel free to experiment with maraschino cherry syrup, cherry brandy or other cherry cordial you may have to hand. Of course you could also go for a cherry variation of my berry frosting. 

Ingredients
120g butter, at room temperature
240g icing sugar, sieved
1-2 tbsp sour cherry cordial to taste
1 tbsp cherry jam

1 tsp almond extract

1. In a bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until soft.
2. Gradually add the sugar until thoroughly combined, smooth and creamy.
3. Next, the almond extract and jam followed by the cherry cordial a bit at a time. You may not need to add it all but keep going until you have your desired colour, flavour and consistency. 
4. Chill for at least 30 minutes before using.

spicy dr pepper shredded pork

I discovered this recipe from the pioneer woman while searching the web for inspiration the other day and just had to try it. It looked and sounded like a great combination of flavours and very easy to do so here goes.

NOTE: If you can't get hold of the canned chipotle peppers in sauce, you could try using a tin of tomatoes, a good couple of tablespoons of spicy smoked paprika and some added fresh chillies (whole) or some chilli powder.

Ingredients
c. 2kg Pork Shoulder Joint. This is what I used.
2 cans of Dr Pepper
2 x 212g/7.5oz cans of Chipotle chilies in adobo. (I bought mine through amazon.)
1 large onion cut into quarters
salt and pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 150 C. 
2. Put the quartered onions in to the bottom of your pan and then put the pork shoulder joint on top. 
3. Next pour in the canned chipotle peppers and the Dr Pepper. Season with salt and pepper if you wish, put the lid on your dish then put in the oven. The aim here is to cook the pork long and slow so the meat eventually just falls apart. It will take around 6 hours for this happen. Turn the meat over every hour or so that all the meat gets chance to cook in the spicy, Dr Pepper sauce. 
4. Once the pork is cooked remove the meat from the pan and put on a plate and cover until needed.
5. A lot of fat will have been released form the pork shoulder, so unless you want this in your sauce I recommend you strain this off. It is easier to do this if you allow it to sit over night in the fridge and the fat will solidify at the top.
6. Once you have dealt with the fat (you may also wish to make the sauce smoother by blending it or passing it through a sieve), return the sauce to a saucepan and reduce down a little over a gentle heat. While this is happening use two forks pull the pork into shreds and then put in the sauce.
7. Once your sauce is at your desired consistency, I like mine quite thick, the pork is ready to serve. It will work brilliantly with jacket potatoes, in a sandwich with good crusty bread or as we had it, in corn tortilla with a little cheese and a crunchy salsa.