By the way, this one seems to be all over the internet. I wouldn’t know who to credit for origination because everyone pretty much has the exact same recipe so I’m just going with it! I made minor tweaks because that’s always fun but it’s not a huge departure by any means.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 4 egg whites, brought to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups grape soda
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 t vanilla
- 1 box (15 ¼ oz) white cake mix (makes everything so much easier!)
- 1 packet (.14 oz) unsweetened grape drink mix (I used Kool-Aid)
- Purple food coloring
Frosting
- 1 cup butter, brought to room temperature
- 2 t vanilla
- ¼ t almond extract
- 3 T heavy cream
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- Purple food coloring
- Sparkling sugar for garnish (purple if ya got it!)
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl, mix together the egg whites, grape soda, vegetable oil and vanilla until just combined.Slowly add in the cake mix until just combined. Then, add in the Kool-Aid and mix that until just combined. Finally, add in your purple food coloring. In this case, how much you add is up to you – it’s all about getting the batter to a color you’re happy with.
Since I was going to a potluck with a lot of people, I made mini cupcakes so there’d be enough to go around. You can also make full-sized cupcakes, of course, but be aware that will affect you’re baking time – they’ll take longer.
Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners, and fill each one about 2/3-3/4 full. 
Bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the tin for a couple minutes, then take the cupcakes out and let them cool completely on a wire rack.
Once the cupcakes are cool (and definitely make sure they’re completely cooled!) you can start on your frosting.
In a large bowl add the butter, vanilla and almond and cream until smooth – just a minute or so.
Slowly add in the powdered sugar. I say slowly because if you dump it all in it will fly everywhere and make a huge mess and…no.
Once that’s all incorporated, add in your food coloring. Again, add as much or as little food coloring as you’d like – once again, it’s all about getting it to a color you’re happy with.
Finally, sprinkle the tops with sparkling sugar. I didn’t have purple so I used regular sugar-colored sugar and you know what? Turned out awesome.
Makes about 6 dozen (!) mini cupcakes. I’m guessing that’ll translate to about 2 dozen full sized ones.
Ugly Desserts 