St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes

St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes

Delicious, festive cupcakes for St. Patty's Day!! :)

Line cupcake pans with liners.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy.

Add one egg at a time, then the vanilla extract.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, 1/2 of the milk, another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the remaining milk, then the remaining flour mixture, mixing well

Dye green to preferred shade.

Spray all liners and large ice cream scoop (1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons-size) with non-stick spray.

Fill all liners with one scoop (1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons cake batter)-- if you need more liners, just add more, until the batter is totally distributed.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out cleanly from the cupcakes, rotating the cupcakes 1/2 way through baking.  Let cool for 10 minutes in trays, then let cool completely on cooling racks.

For the frosting, cream together the butter, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt on high speed until smooth.  Make sure that, if the butter isn't completely soft, you cut it up unto cubes.

Sift the confectionery's sugar into a medium bowl.

Add the confectionery's sugar to the butter mixture in portions, until smooth.

Once all sugar is incorporated, whip on medium-high for about 5-10 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Place frosting in a large bag and cut a medium-large hole in a corner to pipe.

Swirl.....

Sprinkle with green sprinkles.

Done! :)

St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes

Cooking time: 15 minutes
Prep time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Servings: 29 (one cupcake)

Nutrition info per serving (one cupcake, with icing):
Calories: 280 calories
Fat: 16 g
Sodium: 229 mg
Carbs: 30 g
Fiber: 0 g
Protein: 2 g

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk (I used skim)
 Frosting:
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) butter, softened and cut into cubes
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extracct
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups confectionery's sugar, sifted

*Note: you will have about 1 cup extra frosting

Directions:
1.  Line cupcake pans with about 25-30 liners and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Cream together the butter and the sugar on medium-high until smooth.
3.  Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla extract.
4.  Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
5.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, then another third of the flour mixture, the remaining milk, then the remaining flour, mixing well in between each addition.
6.  Dye mixing to preferred shade of green. :)
7.  Spray liners and a large ice cream scoop (or a measuring cup that's 1/4 cup in size) with non-stick spray.  Place 1/4 cup batter in each liner.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out cleanly from the cupcakes, rotating the cupcakes halfway through baking.
8.  Once cupcakes are done baking, let sit in pans out of the oven for about 10 minutes, then let the cupcakes cool completely on cooling racks.
9.  For the frosting:  whip the butter, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt on high until smooth.  Then, add the sifted confectionery's sugar in portions until incorporated.  Then whip on high speed for about 5-10 minutes, until light and fluffy.
10.  Using a bag, pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.  Top with green sprinkles.  Done! :)

**Adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book's Classic Yellow Cupcakes recipe
The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book's Vanilla Frosting **

Super festive and fun!  Enjoy! :)