So I’m a little late in sharing these cupcakes, but I didn’t have a chance to photograph them in the daylight until yesterday. They came out so cool, I didn’t want to tarnish their appearance with unnatural light! A few of my friends threw a Mardi Gras party on Tuesday night (dental school kids having fun on a week night?? I know, I know..) and I knew I wanted to bring cupcakes. They make great party food and everyone loves ’em. Especially these!
They were extremely festive — I love the vibrant colors of mardi gras and I was able to dump a whole lotta food coloring into the batter so that they baked brightly. Everyone was completely stunned how I was able to make the 3 colors so distinct, but all it took was a few spoons and a little finesse. Cupcake batter is not that runny, so when you spoon out a bit into the liner, it’ll hold its place as long as you move quick to put in the next color. The result is so fun — the possibilities of color combination make them perfect for just about any occasion.
I wanted to keep the color of the frosting simple so the cupcakes appeared at least somewhat edible, and chose a cinnamon buttercream. Using the cinnamon frosting also channeled the traditional Mardi Gras dessert, King Cake, which is basically a delicious cinnamon roll cake (I loved yours, Ashley!)
I used a premade mix for the cake, so figured I would make some homemade frosting so they were more special. OH MY GOSH this frosting is AMAZINGG!! I thought the mocha frosting I made a few months ago was to die for, but I think this tops it. It might be that I’m a cinnamon freak, but it got rave reviews from my friends as well. I’m ordering you to make this frosting — its simple, delicious, and will impress everyone when you tell them its homemade :)
I topped them off with some colored sparkling sugar I had from The Layer Cake Shop. I ordered a multi-pack of different colors and they’ve definitely come in handy. They add a nice touch to these cupcakes and just up the festive ante a bit. Look how cool the liners look after you devour the cupcake:
Mardi Gras Cupcakes
Cake recipe courtesy of Hello, Cupcake!
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup buttermilk (instead of water indicated on box)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
Food coloring
– Preheat oven to 350 degrees
– Line 24 muffin tins with cupcake liners
– Use an electric mixer to beat together all of the ingredients for about 2 minutes on medium to high speed
– Divide the batter equally into thirds (if you’re planning on using 3 colors, of course) and use food coloring to achieve whatever color you’d like
– Get a spoon for each color and one spoon to use as your “divider” as your pour the different colors
– Start with one color and pour about 1 spoonful of batter up against one side, using the divider spoon to prevent the batter from spreading too much
– Fill in with the other colors, using the same technique. Don’t worry about making these perfect, it actually looks cool when the colors invade each others’ thirds and look a little messy
– Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean
Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
Adapted from Fake Ginger
1 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanila
1 tsp cinnamon
– Beat butter in an electric mixer until fluffy
– Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time until completely mixed
– Add the milk 1 tbsp at a time to achieved desired thickness
– Mix in vanilla and cinnamon until well combined
They were so good!!! And so beautiful!!
Erica, this is a very cute idea. So much easier than making the real deal King cake. Thanks for sharing the idea!
Robin Sue
Those are lovely! I’m going to remember that idea for next year.
these are just precious!
How cool are these? I already had some ideas for some, but you just took it over the top for me! Thanks!!
I used your recipe in my blog! Thanks it was awesome!
I have made these twice. Once for my coworkers and once for a mardi GRAS party. They were loved both times! Have not used the frosting yet but I love the idea this yielded. Great blog!
Made these and they tasted great! Just putting them in cups was time consuming. My colors would pretty terrible though… oh well. And the cinnamon frosting is to die for! I will definitely be using this again– thanks!
I did a sort of Christmas variation on these the other day, and they turned out really wonderfully! I posted about them on my blog, and I just wanted to think you for the inspiration! =)
What a great idea for a family Mardi Gras party. I think they would be much tastier than most King Cakes! Great recipes on your blog…I am a new follower! Patsy
I made these and they got rave reviews! the frosting is wonderful and the use of a boxed cake mix makes these super easy. I can’t get the batter to look just like yours in the cupcakes, but I just layered the batters and they still look pretty cool and festive. thanks for this recipe!
my icing isn’t thick enough? what can I do to make it thicker?? help… lol
Erica — February 18th, 2012 @ 9:09 pm
Add more powdered sugar!
We made these for a Mardi Gras party yesterday and called them King CupCakes. We put a plastic baby in one to keep with the king cake tradition and the person who got that cupcake was king for the day (got a crown to wear). The frosting was especially a hit! Thanks for the fun and easy recipe!
I made these yesterday for my friends so they could celebrate the greatness of Mardi Gras in some way. They were a hit!! The best part was that they looked great and the recipe was easy. My roommate even helped and made me a “divider contraption” out of tin foil to help as I put the batter into the cups. Now, I want to try to make the frosting with a different spice (if I can think of another one that would work).
I got a lot of compliments on these at our church potluck this week – everyone was amazed at how colorful they were. But my colors weren’t as vibrant, did you use pre-made colors or did you mix 2 together to get the purple? Did you use neon food coloring?
Anonymous — February 25th, 2012 @ 3:16 am
Did you get a reply? I was wondering the same thing!
Erica — February 25th, 2012 @ 9:36 pm
Sorry for the delay – I actually JUST remembered that I used to have some neon purple liquid food coloring that I used for these. Here is a link to them that I’ve found: Good luck!
http://www.mccormick.com/Products/Extracts-and-Food-Colors/Food-Colors/Assorted-NEON-Food-Colors-and-Egg-Dye.aspx
Anonymous — August 17th, 2012 @ 2:30 am
did you also use neon green and yellow?
Erica — August 17th, 2012 @ 12:46 pm
No for the green and yellow it was just the regular set of colors.
can i use heavy cream instead of buttermilk?
Erica — August 20th, 2012 @ 12:44 pm
You could give that a try, or dilute the heavy cream a little with some regular milk if you don’t have buttermilk.
what number of icing TIP did you use here?
Erica — August 30th, 2012 @ 12:11 pm
A large open star tip, something like Wilton 1M
Thanks erica… will definitely try some of ur recipes posted here..
Happy Baking :)
great idea. they are so cute!
I just got done making these and gave one each to my teenagers to try. To quote my youngest: “Those are the best cupcakes you ever made” He then licked the mixing bowl before I could even offer it to him. The frosting is amazing. A. Mazing. Such an easy recipe to follow also (I ended up only using 1 Tbsp of milk but I like my frosting a tad thicker). Thank you so much!
Past experience is that food coloring makes your mouth, tongue, fingers turn colors. Did anyone else experience this? Is there a brand that is better?
These are insanely delicious! I’ll make these again using different colors for different holidays!