Today I’m sharing a recipe I worked on recently inspired by my 2 1/2 year old son! We’re getting into the swing of the holiday season and I know this can be controversial, but I am definitely someone who starts decorating and watching Christmas movies early. To me, as soon as November 1st hits it’s fair game. So along with listening to Christmas music I started to share some holiday movies with my toddler. We found the newer animated Grinch and he absolutely loves it! In fact, we’ve watched is multiple times over the last week and so I wanted to create a recipe inspired by him! These Green Velvet Grinch Cupcakes are a little more complicated than your average cupcake but they result is so worth it!
Recipe tips
Underbake the red cake: Because you are double baking the heartts you will want to underbake the red cake a bit. You want it cooked through but just barely!
Freeze the hearts: In order to not have the hearts moving all over the cupcakes when they bake you are going to want to freeze the red cake for 30 minutes before cutting the hearts. You’ll also want the hearts to be frozen when they go in the batter so cut them and immediately place in the cupcakes to bake or freeze until needed!
Food coloring: I prefer to use gel food coloring. I think it creates the boldest color and you can order them online or find them in your local grocery store!
Don’t turn the cupcakes around when frosting: When decorating it’s easy to twist the cupcakes and lose track of the right way to have the cupcake so the heart shows through. Take this from someone who moved them all around and then had to cut into several to get the heart right! To avoid this I would decorate in the pan and then be organized with removing them from the pan for serving or storage!
Green Velvet Grinch Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup salted butter melted
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp corn starch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2-4 tsp red and green food dye
- white sanding sugar
- small heart sprinkles
For the frosting:
- 1 cup salted butter room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp heavy cream or milk room temperature
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350° and line a muffin tin with muffin liners. Spray a 9 inch cake pan with nonstick cookie spray and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the granulated sugar, oil, melted butter, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk. Mix on medium low until incorporated, about 1 minute. Add in the white vinegar, flour, corn starch, baking soda and salt and mix on low until smooth.
- Scoop 1 cup of batter into a separate bowl and dye red. Add green food dye to the rest of the batter then cover with saran until needed. Pour into the prepared cake pan (it will be a thin layer!) and bake for 15 minutes or until just baked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before freezing for at least 30 minutes.
- Once frozen use a ½ inch heart cookie cutter to punch out 12 hearts in the red cake. Fill each prepared muffin tin ⅓ of the way full before pressing a heart in each one. Cover completely with batter and bake immediately for 20 minutes or until baked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
For the frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add additional heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, to reach desired consistency.
For assembly:
- Add frosting to a piping bag fit with a large tip (I used 1M) and pipe a swirl of frosting on each cupcake. Top with a heart, white sanding sugar and enjoy! The cupcakes will stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.