Tickle Me Teal Cupcakes

A couple of weeks ago I bought the books, "Hello, Cupcake" and "What's New, Cupcake?" and found a very quick and simple recipe to make a vanilla buttercream frosting…and what better way to try it out than to make a batch of cupcakes using another recipe found in the book!

The recipes were very basic (and probably “blah” compared to all of the other fun ideas in the book), so I decided to add a little fun to the cupcakes by adding Wilton’s teal gel food coloring to the frosting.

While purchasing the food coloring at Michael’s craft store, I saw the cutest cupcake liners…polka dots…in various colors! I have a weak spot for polka dot anything…but cupcake liners…I’m in heaven! They had teal liners, but I thought that might have been too much teal for one cupcake to handle. So me, being the very indecisive person that I am, decided to make things quick and easy by asking my four year old daughter’s opinion…and well, you can see for yourself the color she picked. I think the colors turned out nicely!!

 

Vanilla Buttercream Cupcakes

1 box French Vanilla cake mix (avoid cake mixes with pudding in the mix since cupcaking requires firm cake)

1 cup buttermilk (in place of the water called for in the box)

Vegetable oil (the amount on the box)

4 large eggs (in place of the number called for on the box)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners

2. Following the box’s instructions, with the exceptions above, combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at low to medium speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and beat until thick, 2 minutes longer.

3. Spoon half of the batter into a large ziplock bag, press out the excess air, and seal. Snip a 1/4 inch corner from the bag and fill the paper liners two-thirds full. Bake until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the baking pans, place on a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Almost-Homemade Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces and softened

1 container (16 ounces) Marshmallow Fluff (I was only able to find 7 ounce jars, so I used two and it worked out fine)

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, plus more if desired

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the Marshmallow Fluff and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy. If the mixture is too stiff, soften in the microwave for no more than 10 seconds and beat well again until smooth

2. Add up to 1 cup confectioner’s sugar to taste, if desired.

To make it easier to fill the ziplock bags, I place mine inside a large container and fold the bag over the top, then fill.  

Once the ziplock bag is ready, it's time to fill those pretty liners with batter!

Mmmm...fresh out of the oven cupcakes! This is definitely my favorite "air freshener"!!

Look at these pretty little guys just waiting to be frosted!

And so the time has come for these cute little cuppy cakes to be tickled teal!

It was my oldest daughter's wonderful idea to add her teal pillow as the backdrop to these yummy treats!

Enjoy!