Green Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese

Ah, I am green with envy for those of you having green beer this St. Patrick’s Day/weekend!

Why not beer down with a green velvet cupcake? Or perhaps, green coffee? Or green tea?

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Green Velvet Cupcake waiting to be frosted. It tastes better than it looks. Green is a scary colour when it comes to food!

I used my own cream cheese frosting recipe from a previous post, given that it was 1.15 am by the time cupcakes were birthed from a small Black & Decker toaster oven, half a dozen at a time, every 8 to 10 minutes at 300F. I made a total of 36 cupcakes. Because the convection is higher in a smaller oven, I filled about 1/2 to 3/4 full of an ice cream scoop prior to dropping it on each cupcake liner.

For coffee, I used instant Folger’s coffee — just because it’s quick.

Let your cream-cheese come to room temperature while you are preparing your cupcakes; pre-sift your icing sugar. For dairy-free cream-cheese frosting, you can find vegan cream cheese from organic markets. Disclaimer: I have yet to run a vegan-friendly trial.

My co-workers loved the green velvet cupcakes. They loved how moist and chocolatey they were.

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The secret of green velvet cupcakes? Green food colouring and do not over-mix batter. This was one of my first batches. I did not put enough green colouring.
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Now, that is green, baby!
The EASIEST Green Velvet Cake Recipe. Moist and chocolatey with an Oreo surprise!
Oven: 325 F
Prep time:  15 mins
Cook time:  20 mins for a dozen cupcakes; budget 15 minutes for icing
Total time:  50 to 90 minutes
Yields:  36 cupcakes
This is a great St. Patrick’s Day twist on the classic red velvet cake. The coffee and the lactose-free based buttermilk neutralizes the baking soda, to make it a delicious and moist cake. Everyone always asks for this recipe whenever I make it. Well, here it is!
Ingredients
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp of unsweetened, cocoa powder (It is important to use slightly less cocoa for the green to show!)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup light cooking oil of your choice
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • Lactose-free Buttermilk Mixture:
    1 cup Almond Milk* (coconut flavoured, preferrably) + 1 tbsp & 1 tsp white vinegar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1-2 tsp green food gel
    If you plan to use liquid food colour that you can easily get from the supermarket, use lots! (Roughly half a bottle) — but cut down on the almond milk by 14 ml to maintain the same proportion of liquids
  • ½ cup black coffee
Instructions
    1. Preheat oven to 325F.
    2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
    3. In a large bowl, use a mixer to combine the sugar and cooking oil.
    4. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk mixture, vanilla and green food coloring until combined.
    5. Stir in the coffee.
    6. Use a spatula to lightly combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, a third of each at a time, mixing after each addition, just until combined. (Do not overmix)
    7. Line your tin with cupcake liners! (easiest step)
    8. Pour the batter evenly into each pan.
      One ice-cream scoop if popping it in the oven; lesser in a toaster oven. Add Oreo cookie chunks in each cupcake before they go into the oven! It’s like, “Oh, cookie? Surprise!”
    9. Bake 18 to 20 minutes for cupcakes on the middle rack; depending on your oven, check at the 16th minute. I redid this recipe using a Black & Decker Toaster Oven; it took me 8 to 10 minutes. The cupcakes will continue to cook as you let it to cool in step #10.
    10. Let the cupcake tray cool on a cooling rack for at least 2 minutes; then, continue to cool each individual “muffin” or uniced cupcake on the rack.
    11. Frost the cake with cream cheese frosting when the cakes have cooled completely.

 

Green Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Green Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

This clearly isn’t my best frosting techniques. It was 2 am and I didn’t want to add extra icing sugar to toughen it up (and make it sweeter in the process).

You can find my cream cheese frosting recipe here. There are days when I don’t use a recipe for cream-cheese frosting! Do this the lazy eye-ball way:
Use a hand mixer to cream together: 1 stick of room temperature cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla essence, a quick tiny splash of milk and just enough sifted icing sugar to thicken. You can do this while drinking Baileys or Irish Cream. (Just kidding)

Happy St. Patty’s!

2 thoughts on “Green Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese”

  1. Pingback: Travel Theme: Green | judy lesko

  2. Pingback: Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies | A Cynful Journey

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