Pinkalicious Cupcakes

It's that time of year!  Endless family gatherings, parties, and the dreadful question of "What can I bring?"  There's no need worry anymore.  I am going to share some of my easy and most popular recipes to make this season of cooking fun, simple, and simply delightful! 

I had a birthday party to attend and the theme was Pinkalicious.  For those of you who don't know, she ate too many pink cupcakes and turned pink.  What a fun treat for a little girls birthday party!  I made these...

They were a hit!  The beauty of these cupcakes is that the party certainly doesn't need to be Pinkalicious theme for them to be enjoyed.  

This recipe yields 12 cupcakes 

What you need:

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt 

2/3 cup cold milk

1 Strawberry yogurt (Yoplait will work perfectly)

Maraschino Cherries (for decorating)

Decorative Candied Pearls (for decorating)

Frosting:

2 cups confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons butter, softened

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pink food coloring

(If you would like to buy already made pink frosting, go for it.  It tastes just as good.)

Preheat oven to 375 F. 

In a stand mixer or hand mixer blend butter and sugar together.  Once blended add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg.  Once blended add the vanilla extract.  

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: sugar, flour, baking powder, salt.   Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.  Once this step is complete stir in the milk and strawberry yogurt.  

Bake for approximately 20 minutes, start checking cupcakes at 18 minutes to make sure they aren't cooking quickly, as every oven is different.  

If you have decided to make your own frosting, you can start preparing it while the cupcakes are baking.  

In a stand mixer, combine sugar, butter, milk and vanilla.  Beat on speed 2 until smooth and fluffy while slowly adding the pink food coloring until it has reached your desired shade. 

Once cupcakes are cooled, start decorating!

Enjoy!!