These green Grinch cupcakes are super cute! They have a red heart inside and are topped with a Grinch face and Santa hat made out of icing. Perfect for a Christmas party.
piping tips: 2A, 18, 2, 6 (optional) - 6 is only required if you are piping on the eyes
piping coupler
Ingredients
Red Velvet Hearts
¼cupbuttersoftened
¾cupssugar
1large eggat room temperature
1Tablespoonliquid red food coloring
1Tablespoonunsweetened cocoa powder
¼teaspoonsalt
1cups plus 2 Tablespoonscake flour
½cupbuttermilkat room temperature
½teaspoonvanilla extract
1Tablespoondistilled white vinegar
1½teaspoonsbaking soda
Lime Cupcakes
1Tablespoonlime zest
¼cupfresh lime juice6 or 7 key limes or 2 regular limes
2cupsall-purpose flour
¼teaspoonbaking soda
2teaspoonsbaking powder
¼teaspoonsalt
¾cupbuttermilk
1teaspoonvanilla extract
2eggs
¼teaspoonneon green gel food coloring
Buttercream Frosting
1cup (2 sticks)buttersoftened
3to 4 cupsicing sugar
⅛teaspoonsalt
2Tablespoonsbuttermilk
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
Decorate The Cupcakes
24candy eyesoptional
neon green gel food coloring
red gel food coloring
black gel food coloring
white gel food coloringoptional
Instructions
How to Make Red Velvet Cake Hearts
Heat the oven to 350° F
Grease a 9" cake pan (or line the bottom with parchment paper).
Beat the butter, sugar, and eggs with the mixer until they are light and fluffy (2 to 3 minutes).
Mix in about 1 teaspoon of the red food coloring and beat until the color has been evenly distributed.
Add the cocoa to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat just until combined.
Then mix in half of the buttermilk.
Add the next third of the flour, followed by the other half of the buttermilk and then the last third of the flour, beating until combined between each addition.
Add vanilla, vinegar and baking soda to the shortening mixture in that order, mixing in between each addition.
Pour the batter into the cake pans.
Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely.
Use a small heart cookie cutter to cut heart shapes from the cake. Cover and set aside.
How To Make Lime Cupcakes
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Grate 1 Tablespoon of lime zest.
Then juice the limes to get ¼ cup of lime juice.
In a small bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, mix ¾ cup buttermilk, ¼ cup lime juice and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Set aside.
In the mixer, beat butter, sugar and lime zest on medium speed until light and fluffy (2 to 3 minutes).
Add the first egg and beat until it is combined, scraping the sides with a spatula when necessary.
Do the same with the second egg.
Mix in ¼ teaspoon neon green gel food coloring until the color is evenly distributed.
Reduce the speed on the mixer to low.
Add in 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix just until it is combined, scraping down the sides with a spatula when necessary.
Then add in 1/2 of the buttermilk mixture and mix just until it is combined, scraping down the sides if necessary.
Repeat the process with the next 1/3 of the flour mixture, the rest of the buttermilk mixture and then the last 1/3 of the flour mixture.
Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them about 3/4 full.
Then push one of the red velvet hearts down into the center of each cupcake.
Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted beside the hearts comes out clean.
Move the muffin tin to a wire rack and let the cupcakes cool completely.
Put a pencil mark on the front of every cupcake liner so you know which way the heart is facing.
How To Make Buttercream Icing
Cut 1 cup (2 sticks) butter into ½ inch chunks
In the mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth.
Reduce the mixer speed to low.
Then add 3 to 4 cups of icing sugar (depending on how thick you like your icing) to the mixture in batches. Wait until the previous addition is completely combined before adding the next one.
Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy and pale in color.
Then mix in 1/8 teaspoon of salt, 2 Tablespoons of buttermilk and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
How To Decorate Grinch Cupcakes
Divide the icing into 4 bowls:- move about 2/3 of the icing into the first bowl (for the green icing)- move a small scoop of the remaining icing into the second bowl (for the black icing)- move a larger scoop of the remaining icing into the third bowl (for the white icing)- move the rest of the remaining icing into a fourth bowl (for the red icing)
Make Green Icing
In the bowl with the most icing in it, add ½ teaspoon neon green gel food coloring. Mix until evenly distributed. Add more coloring if needed.
Pipe the Grinch Head Onto The Cupcake
With a large round piping tip (Wilton 2A), pipe green icing onto the cupcake starting at the outer edge and circling inwards until the top of the cupcake is completely covered.
Make Red Icing
In the bowl with the next largest amount of icing, add about ⅛ teaspoon of AmeriColor super red food coloring. Mix until evenly distributed. Add more coloring if required.
Pipe The Santa Hat Onto The Grinch Head
With the same round tip as above, pipe the red icing on top of the green icing starting at about the second circle. Create tight circles going up to a point, like you would if you were making a soft ice cream cone.
(Optional) Whiten The Icing
To make the white icing whiter, add a small amount of white food coloring to the bowl with the larger spoonful of frosting in it.
Pipe On The Santa Hat Trim
With a small star-shaped tip (Wilton tip 18), pipe white trim around the bottom of the red Santa hat so that it covers the join between the red and green icing.
Then add a little ball of white icing at the top of the hat.
If you are making your own eyes, switch the piping tip to a small round one (like a Wilton 6). Then make two circles close together on the green icing just below the Santa hat. Remember to do this on the front of the cupcake (where the pencil mark is).
Make Black Icing
Add a small amount of AmeriColor super black food coloring to the last bowl of icing and mix until evenly distributed. Add more if necessary.
Pipe On The Grinch Face
Add the black icing to a piping bag with a small round tip (Wilton 2).
If you are making the eyes with icing, add a black dot in the middle of each of the white dots you made earlier.
If you are using candy eyes, put them on the green icing just below the Santa hat on the side of the Grinch where the pencil mark is.
Then add an eye brow over top of each eye with the black icing.
Notes
For the best texture, make sure to use cake flour and sift it before measuring for the red velvet cake. Regular flour does work, but the cake will be much heavier.
Using room temperature eggs and butter (or shortening) and then beating them with the sugar until they are light and fluffy will add air to the cake and prevent it from turning out too heavy and dense.
Bring the buttermilk to room temperature for the best results.
Grating the limes before juicing them makes the job much easier.
To prevent the cupcakes from getting tough, only beat the flour as much as is necessary to combine the ingredients.
Using clear vanilla will keep the icing looking whiter.
To make sure you have enough of each color of icing, only make one color at a time. Then pipe it onto the cupcakes before continuing to the next color. That way if you run out, you can use some of the icing from the other bowls to finish the layer.
If you don't have neon green food coloring, you can make your own by adding 2 or 3 drops of blue food coloring with 15 to 20 drops of yellow food coloring. Then adjust the color as necessary.
Keep in mind that food coloring gets darker as it sits.
Use only as much food coloring as is necessary to get the right color since it can alter the taste of the frosting.
Making the eye brows slant in towards each other makes the Grinch face look meaner.
For an easier way to make this recipe, substitute red velvet cake mix for the hearts, white vanilla cake mix for the cupcakes and store-bought buttercream for the icing. Then follow the directions on the boxes to make the cupcakes and decorate as described above.