Spring Break Cupcakes

Most of the time when I'm baking, it's because of a special occasion.  A birthday or anniversary where the dessert needs to special.  Perfectly matched cupcake liners, fillings, buttercream and toppings.  A lot of thought put into it.  But when you think about it, the cupcakes that turn out to be the most fun are the ones where you just act like a kid and go for it.  That's what I did this week with my Devilish Dish Assistant.  She was out of school for Spring Break, and as usual she wanted to BAKE!  So I said, "How about we come up with our own special Spring Break Cupcake recipe?  We can make them any way you want."  And what we wound up with were fun, wacky, spring-like, tye dyed cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, sprinkles, cherries and gummy worms.  We just kept piling on the fun.  A super simple recipe that only makes 12 cupcakes.  Just the right amount to enjoy over Spring Break.  You can flavor and decorate them any way you want, and the best part is just making them with someone you love!

Time for some Spring Break Baking Fun!

For a tye-dyed effect, spoon batter
into liners randomly.

Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Frost with vanilla buttercream frosting
and decorate with anything and everything!

Let your Spring Break Baking Assistant choose
the toppings and do the decorating.

Here's a dissected cupcake so you
can fully see the tye-dyed look.

Here's my Devilish Dish Assistant, Emily.
She's proudly showing off our concoction!

Bake up some fun with someone you love!

Spring Break Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners.  Combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  With an electric mixer, cream together sugar and butter until light and smooth.  Add egg and yolks until well blended.  Add sour cream and vanilla until smooth.  Add in dry ingredients and mix just until batter is smooth.  If you want a tye-dyed look to your cupcakes, divide the batter into several portions and color as you wish with food coloring.  Spoon the batter into the muffin cups at random to create a tye-dyed effect.  Bake approximately 20-25 minutes.  Remove to wire racks to cool completely.  Frost with vanilla buttercream frosting and decorate to your heart's desire!

Prep Time:  Approximately 20 minutes     Cook Time:  Approximately 25 minutes

Spring Break Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk

With an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar and vanilla.  Slowly add milk until desired consistency is reached.