Are you looking for a festive, but easy treat to take to work, or to your kid’s class? Look no further. I whipped these up last night in between Wheel of Fortune and Lost. They baked during Lost and I frosted them right after.
Frosted Cupcake
The following recipe makes 12 regular sized cupcakes. Just double it if you need more.
Bake these in a preheated 350 degree oven.
Cupcakes:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter (unsalted)-everything is easier if the butter is softened a little
2 eggs
2 tsps vanilla
Cream all of these ingredients together. Then add 1 3/4 tsp baking powder and 1 1/2 cups flour and mix well.
Add 1/2 cup milk and mix until batter is smooth.
To make the totally rad pink insides, put a little less than half the batter into a separate bowl. Add a few drops of red food coloring to this batter and mix well. Take the white batter and drop a big tablespoon full of batter into each of your muffin tin holes (line them with fun Valentine’s day liners). Each muffin spot should be about 1/3 full. Now take the pink batter and spoon it into a ziploc (again, one you don’t mind ruining). Snip off a corner of the bag and stick the bag corner into the middle of the white batter in the muffin cups. Squeeze some pink dough into the white batter. Do this with the rest of the muffin cups. If you have pink dough left over just distribute it across the muffin cups to fill them a little more. This batter doesn’t rise too terribly much so muffin cups can be 3/4 full, or even a little more. Stick them in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops spring back when you lightly press your finger onto them. You can also use the toothpick test, but I find the top test to be better for cupcakes. Save your toothpicks for regular sized cakes. 🙂
Frosting: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup butter (again, softened is easier), 1 tsp vanilla, 1 1/2 Tbsp milk
Cream the sugar and butter. Add vanilla and milk.
The great thing about butter frosting is you can doctor it to suit your tastes. If it is too thin, add powdered sugar. Too thick, add milk. You won’t mess it up, I promise! If you want chocolate frosting instead of vanilla just add about 2 Tbsp cocoa powder. This may cause you to have to add some milk to thin the frosting a little. A little secret…sometimes when I’m having an especially stressful week I make up some chocolate frosting and eat it on saltines. Salt and chocolate=YUM!
The finished product looks like this. Aren’t they pretty!
Pink Cupcakes!
If you are feeling really energetic you can actually add a third layer of color to your cupcakes. Use the same about of white batter, but split the pink batter into two parts-one larger than the other. Die one part a darker red and pipe it into the middle of the pink in the muffin cups. That might not make sense. Sorry! I decided not to try it because it seemed like an extra unnecessary step-they look good with just the pink. But if you want an extra challenge, go for it!
Enjoy!
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