Happy St. Paddys’ Day 2013: Green Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I hope you all have had a great St. Patrick’s Day weekend this year!  If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I ran the Rock ‘n Roll USA Half Marathon (my 10th half!).  The next race I’ll be participating in is the Rock ‘n Roll Nashville Half Marathon in April.  I can’t wait to spend the weekend with some of my girlfriends (who live near and far), including these two awesome bloggers: Becky and Lianne.  If you have any Nashville suggestions for us, please send them my way!  Anyone running this race?

Earlier this week we had some friends over for dinner, and although we made Mexican for the main dish- I thought we needed a something green to brighten up the dessert.  Of course, Pinterest inspired me to try a new cupcake recipe, and fortunately it turned out delicious and green!

Today’s celebration included Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner.  We topped it off with a small dessert- the last 2 green cupcakes to celebrate another great St. Paddy’s Day weekend.

Green Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Inspired & Adapted from: She Wears Many Hats & AllRecipes.com
Serving: 24 mini-cupcakes

For this recipe, I used the same frosting (just smaller amount) as I used on the Banana & Chocolate Chip Cake.

Cupcakes
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 package of Jell-o Pistachio Instant Pudding mix

Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a stand mixer cream together sugar and butter.  Then stir in the eggs, one at a time; then add a vanilla and baking powder.  Stir in the flour and mix well.  Next, add in the milk, and mix until the batter is smooth.  Lastly, add in the Jell-o Pistachio Instant Pudding mix, combine well.

Spray the cupcake tin with cooking spray.  Then fill in each cupcake compartment halfway with batter.

I used the mini-cupcake tins, so I baked the cupcakes for 15 minutes.  If you’re using a different sized tin, add additional time.  The best way to check for doneness is to insert a toothpick into the center for the dough, if it comes out clean- it is done.  After they are done baking, take them out of the oven.  Allow them to cool before taking them out of the tin or decorating with frosting.

To make the frosting, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla in a stand mixer.  Finally, add in the powdered sugar, a little at a time (otherwise it’ll make a mess).

Reservations, Cupcakes & Bacon

There are so many articles out there which relate to food, restaurants, etc.  I often come across some and really want to share them.  So, these are some for today.

The Crowded Restaurant Conundrum: Why We’re All Gluttons for Punishment

The author wonders why people wait for hours to be seated at restaurants, is the meal that amazing?  Within the last couple of months, a couple of us ran into a simliar problem- we weren’t seated on time even though we had reservations, 45 minutes later we decided to leave, it wasn’t worth the wait! 

How Bacon Sizzled and People Got Sweet on Cupcakes

How does food become popular?  In Washington D.C. cupcakes are the biggest thing here (still), but so are Food Trucks.  What’s the next big thing?  Social media plays a large part (think: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, blogs, FourSquare, etc).  I wonder what a bacon cupcake would taste like…

St. Patrick’s Guinness Cupcakes

Happy St. Patty’s Day!  We didn’t have any green beer this year, instead we decided to cook a little bit of Irish food at home.  Sam made corned beef and cabbage in the crock pot, and I tried this dish for the first time.  I really enjoyed the saltiness of the meat, delicious!

For dessert, I made some cupcakes.  Since we already had Guinness on hand, I figured this would be a great time to try out a new recipe.  I wanted to add some green sprinkles on top, but we didn’t have any.  The cupcakes had a great chocolate flavor which the beer enhanced.  I didn’t make the frosting too sweet, and the cream cheese flavor still lingered just a bit- yummy!

Also, my first batch had 2 different sized forms, one had the big one’s, while the other had the mini-bites.  I highly recommend the mini bites, the others came out a little dense.

We decided that all cupcakes should have Guinness it them! 

St. Patrick’s Guinness Cupcakes
Adapted from: Bunky Cooks Blog

3/4 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 can of Guinness (14.9 oz)
1 stick of butter, melted
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cups sour cream
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups confectioners sugar (more can be used)

In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese on medium speed with a hand mixer, until it’s lightly fluffy.  Slowly, beat in the heavy whipping cream.  Then on low speed, slowly mix in confectioners sugar, until it is smooth and incorporated.  Cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the over to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda and salt.  In a stand mixer, combine the Guinness, butter and vanilla.  Then, one at a time, beat in the eggs.  Finally, mix in the sour cream, until the mixture is smooth.  Slowly, mix in the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.

Lightly grease muffin tins.  Divide the batter between the muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until they are soft and tender.  Take them out of the oven, and cool them.  Finally, top each cupcake with some of the frosting!