Cupcake a Week: St. Patrick's Day Green Velvet

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Hope everyone remembered to wear some green today! I've never really been one to get into all the crazy St. Patty's Day festivities, but my favorite color is GREEN and I needed a cupcake of the week recipe so I figured why not make a cupcake to fit the theme! And how cute is this mini cupcake pedestal???? This is my newest addition to my baking display pieces and I absolutely love it! My friend Molly gave this to me for my birthday and I have been dying to use it for a special occasion! Don't worry this won't be the last time you see this cupcake pedestal featured on my blog...afterall, I still have oh about 41 more weeks left this year to post a "cupcake a week" recipe so I'm sure you will be seeing it featured in many more photos to come! Thanks Molly for such a fun gift!

I picked up these Wilton St. Patty's cupcake wrappers at Michael's a few weeks ago since I knew I would be doing some cupcake baking! Cupcake wrappers have gotten to be so fun these days. When I was a kid all I remember seeing were the 3 pack of pastel pink, yellow and blue wrappers...wow have the times changed since then! Wrappers of all shapes, sizes, textures, colors, themes...there is sure to be something out there to celebrate each and every special event these days...and the latest craze seems to be cupcake kits with party themes and matching cupcake toppers! Whoever thought of that idea is a genius!

So now that we've got a cute cupcake wrapper, let's make a matching cupcake to go inside, shall we? Don't be afraid of the green batter though...it is super tasty! Basically it is the recipe for a traditional red velvet cake with the red food coloring swopped out for green food coloring.

I love how vibrant the cakes baked up. Now they just need some cream cheese icing and a few green sugar sprinkles and they will be ready to go!


These went to work with my husband today and all of his co-workers loved them!

Green Velvet Cupcakes (adapted from Martha Stewart's Red Velvet Cupcakes)
Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
-2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 tablespoon cocoa powder
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
-2 large eggs, room temperature
-1 oz green food coloring
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 cup buttermilk
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard cupcake tin with paper liners.
• Whisk together flour, cocoa and salt.
• With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.
• Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.
• Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake for 16 minutes or until cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool completely and then ice with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
-8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
-1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
-3 cups confectioners' sugar
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Beat butter and cream cheese with electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla and mix until smooth.
• Place icing in piping bag fitted with round tip 1A and swirl on frosting. Sprinkle with green sugar crystals. Take a bite!
  

ENJOY!