Fun Easter Cupcakes

Here are my adorable Easter Cupcakes. These were super easy to make and I think they are just perfect for any Easter party. I started by baking my simple vanilla cupcake; here is the recipe I use:

Simple Vanilla Cupcake

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

Directions

           1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.

     2.  In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the   vanilla

      3. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. 

      4. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.

      5. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

I have a convection oven so I only set it to 325 degrees and I bake them about 15 minutes. I also use whole milk; I think it makes them taste the best.

Then I made an easy buttercream icing that I colored with Americolor’s Mint Green or Wilton’s Violet Gel Coloring.

Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter, softened

1  teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons milk

Directions

 In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and vanilla. Blend in the sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the milk, and continue mixing until light and fluffy. Keep icing covered until ready to decorate

I usually don’t add milk if I am going to add a significant amount of color; I do this so that the consistency stays firm and I can pipe it well.

I then used the Wilton tip #233 to pipe “grass” on the cupcakes or I used Wilton Start tip #2E and I placed Reeses Pieces Eggs on top of both

I couldn't find my #233 tip at the time I took this picture (organization is definitely NOT my strong suit) so I just grabbed this one from Google so you could see it.

Here is a picture of the finished product.

I absolutely love them and I hope you enjoyed reading this! Please comment and/or follow me!

*The recipes on this post came from here

Mini Cupcake Adventure

I like the idea of mini cupcakes they are great one or two bite snacks and they just look so cute. This weekend I made 140 mini cupcakes. That’s right 140. I didn’t realize how many I had made until I laid them all out and began to ice them.

That’s just the table this was what the rest of my kitchen looked like

This was my first attempt at mini cupcakes so I had no idea how many mini’s that a regular cupcake recipe would make. I found out that a recipe that makes twelve regular sized cupcakes makes thirty-six mini cupcakes. That information will come in handy in the future. Everything seemed to work quite well actually. There were no major issues (other than running out of butter but that was just a minor issue that was taken care of quickly) in this adventure; which is usually not normal when I bake. These particular cupcakes were made for an event at the school my mom teaches at so I made the icing maroon because that is their school color. Here is a picture of the finished products on my new cupcake stand.

Overall this was fun experience and I am looking forward to making more mini cupcakes!