Green Velvet Cupcakes and Creamy Vanilla Frosting
Ahhhhh green food. Everyone’s favorite. Right? Ok, so I realize green is not generally related to appetizing but I figured since St. Patrick’s Day is coming up we could get into the spirit 
I do not make a lot of cupcakes because Mr. Nutmeg Nanny and I cannot finish them all by ourselves, but this time I had him take them to work. He left yesterday with 25 cupcakes in tow and came home with an empty cupcake caddy. Hooray they were well liked! I asked him about twenty times what everyone thought. He nicely told me each time everyone loved them and the frosting was a big hit. I can’t help but love hearing when people love my food. Are you like that too? I get very nervous when I send out food because you never know what people will think. You know what I’m saying?
The recipe I used for the cupcakes and frosting were from Magnolia Bakery in New York City. Obviously their original recipe was for red velvet cupcakes and I just switched it to green for the holiday.
Green Velvet Cupcakes with Creamy Vanilla Frosting
Yield: 30 cupcakes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes for cupcakes, 15 minutes for frosting
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
For cake:
3 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter - softened
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs - room temperature
6 tablespoons green food coloring
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
For frosting:
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
4 sticks unsalted butter - softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Source: Epicurious
Directions:
For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Use 2 muffin pans, each with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups, and line each cup with paper liner.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk together the food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.
In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
Divide the batter among the prepared cupcake tins. Arrange the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and bake the cupcakes, switching positions of the pans halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on the rack before icing.
For icing:
In a medium-size saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk until smooth. Place over medium heat and, stirring constantly, cook until the mixture becomes very thick and begins to bubble, 10-15 minutes. Cover with waxed paper placed directly on the surface and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
In a large bowl, on the medium high speed of an electric mixer, beat the butter for 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating continuously for 3 minutes until fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat well.
Add the cooled milk mixture, and continue to beat on the medium high speed for 5 minutes, until very smooth and noticeably whiter in color. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes (no less and no longer—set a timer!). Use immediately.
I’m going to make these for my office. What fun!
I am definitely making these!!! The green is so pretty! Green food is expected in March:)
Great idea to turn them green! And I love having a new frosting recipe!
Thanks for joining in the fun at Cupcake Tuesday!
~Liz
oh wow this is so cool, will tweet it Rebecca
I’m ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. At first I was like “Green Velvet”????? Hahaha… Nice twist to one of my fav cupcakes
Wow, beautiful. What a great shade of green you got. Emerald green is my favourite colour.
*kisses* HH
Cute cupcakes! I have a strange thing about eating food that is the “wrong” color, though… Remember that purple ketchup a few years ago? Just can’t do it!! Perhaps I’ll make these and add some green sprinkles on top, instead!
I am going to make these for a youth mother/daughter St. Paddy’s day luncheon.
awesome idea! Having been a red velvet cake fan, using my great grandmother recipe, I LOVE your twist! Great job!
This is such a great idea! I’ve started a file of green recipes that I could make for St. Patrick’s day and I think this is my favorite. I suspect these will be a big hit at my office.
We must of both had cupcakes on the brain! Green cupcakes – I love them! I don’t like making cupcakes for the same reason. I was going to mention in my post today but totally forget – I have a great cupcake book with recipes for batches of 12 and 18 cupcakes. It has ‘master’ recipes for the cupcakes and frostings with a whole bunch of variations for them and really cute decorating ideas. The book is called A Bakers Field Guide to Cupcakes by Dede Wilson. I bought it off Amazon used – I’m not sure if you can buy it new.
Your green cupcakes are a fantastic idea! I always get a little nervous when I send out food too — but I can imagine that these little beauties were a huge success! Happy (early) St. Patty’s Day!
These look AWESOME!
If I have time I want to make them for St. Patty’s day. But just think of the possibilities! Purple for my Daughter’s birthday.. or Blue for my sons! Any color! lol Looks great! Can’t wait to try them.
what fun! i enjoy eating radically-colored foods every now and again, particularly those of the frosted variety.
They look great! I love green, I use AmeriaColor food coloring and it only takes a drop or 2
I make cupcakes often and hope this tip helps, I sometimes bake 1/2 a batch at a time and freeze the other 1/2, it doesn’t take long to thaw it and if you want to bake without over indulging or don’t have anyone to share with quickly this tip really works 
I’m going to check out more of you blog!
I’m stopping by from Cupcake Tuesday!
Great twist on a classic recipe. I love making green food for my kids on St Patrick’s day. When they were small I would put a dash of green food coloring on the bottom of their cereal bowl and load the cereal on top. Everything looked normal, but when they poured on the milk it turned green, of course I blamed it on the leprechauns.
Mimi
I love these festive cupcakes! You make the most awesome looking desserts.
btw – I live in Central NJ, near the shore – there is a Wegmans in Woodbridge – 5 minutes from my office and also closer to home in Ocean Township
They look so cute!! What a nice way to celebrate St Patty’s Day!
Outstanding and and very timely! I never would have thought of this. I stopped by to say hello and stayed much longer than I planned. You have a wonderful blog. I’ll be back often to see what you have conjured up. Have a great day…Mary
Green velvet – what a cute idea! I’m hoping to make something green in the next day or two!
Green velvet cupcakes is such a terrific idea! Very cute and so delicious!
I thought I’d never say this, but your green cupcakes look really yummy!
There are many more icing recipes that don’t call for 4 sticks of butter. That’s way too much. It’s also expensive.
nutmegnanny replied: — March 11th, 2010 @ 10:06 am
There is no requirement to use that frosting recipe. Feel free to use whatever icing recipe you prefer.
What a great St. P day treat!
Just yummy ingredients and a soft dreamy cupcake! I would give anything to have a few!
Thank you so much for linking up
I love this cupcake!!!
st pattys day here i come with these! i love the idea.
Fabulous idea! Our family favorite is, surprise, red velvet. Can’t wait to make them. We also celebrated a “gotcha day” on the green holiday; extra special.
Sweets are calling my name right now!!
ATTENTION: Your recipe is most likely wrong. You have that it calls for 1 1/2 TBSP of salt, and I’m pretty sure you mean TSP. It’s a small mistake that makes a huge difference!!!!
Brandy replied: — March 17th, 2013 @ 5:52 pm
Naomi: Thank you for the heads up! I was changing the format on my recipes and I must have mistyped. Thank you! I changed it to be the correct measurement.