I came across this saying this morning & thought it perfectly described these cupcakes! You see, it all started with…
And look at what was made…Devil’s Food Cupcakes filled with Whipped Cream and topped with Ombré Frosting!
You can click here to see my post yesterday, Cupcakes {Part 1} for the recipes and the rest of the scoop on making the batter and whipped cream filling. Today, I will share the frosting. Begin with a fabulous buttercream, good for piping. My go-to recipe is American Buttercream from Heather Baird of SprinkleBakes. Click here to visit her amazing blog, SprinkleBakes.com & I have added her equally amazing cookbook to the “Some of My Favorite Things” {at Amazon.com} column over there on the right-side of this page {in case you give in to temptation and want to get a copy of dazzling dessert inspiration for yourself}.
American Buttercream {adapted from Heather Baird, SprinkleBakes}
- ½ pound {2 sticks} butter, softened
- 2½ cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract {see note below}
- Milk or heavy cream {if necessary}
- Food coloring gel {if tinting or coloring}
Note: I normally like to use a vanilla bean paste {Nielsen-Massey is my favorite} because I prefer the richness of flavor and the texture over the liquid variety. However, in baking, the paste will leave brown flecks in any light-colored batter.
- In a large bowl, mix together the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer. Hint: begin mixing on low speed until the mixture becomes crumbly. {This will save you from covering yourself and your kitchen with flying powdered sugar!} Increase to high speed and beat for three minutes.
- Add the vanilla extract and beat again for another minute until light and fluffy.
- If you find the buttercream too stiff at this point, you may add milk or heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture is workable.
For these cupcakes I wanted to play with some tinting of color, hoping to achieve an ombré so I gradually added some red gel paste. And I mean gradually…I used a wooden pick to get the smallest amount of coloring & just kept adding until I got the shade I was looking for.
I had made 24 cupcakes and I was going for 3 shades so that meant 8 cupcakes in each color. When I achieved the light pink I wanted, I piped the first 8 cupcakes. Then, I added a bit more food coloring to the pink frosting left in the bowl to get a darker pink tint. Once again, when the color was right, I piped another 8 cupcakes. I repeated this process with my final shade of red…
A little secret here…I had never used a piping bag until making these cupcakes. I followed Heather’s tips & tricks {in her cookbook that I mentioned earlier…SprinkleBakes} and it was fun! Just a note…to frost 24 mini cupcakes, I needed to make two batches of the buttercream {there was a bit leftover}.
These cupcakes will be a colorful Valentine’s treat…
See you at Dinner…
- ½ pound {2 sticks} butter, softened
- 2½ cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- {see note below}
- Milk or heavy cream {if necessary}
- Food coloring gel {if tinting or coloring}
- In a large bowl, mix together the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer.
- Hint: begin mixing on low speed until the mixture becomes crumbly. {This will save you from covering yourself and your kitchen with flying powdered sugar!}
- Increase to high speed and beat for three minutes.
- Add the vanilla extract and beat again for another minute until light and fluffy.
- If you find the buttercream too stiff at this point, you may add milk or heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture is workable.
