St. Patrick’s Day Mint Cupcakes
Total Time: 2 Hours
Servings: 24
Showcase the Emerald Isle’s favourite colour on St Patrick’s Day with these minty cupcakes complete with a lavish swirl of delicious icing.
All You Need Is ...
- 1 box Betty Crocker™ Velvety Vanilla Cake Mix
- 90 ml vegetable oil
- 180 ml water
- 3 medium free range eggs
- 6 round mint crème filled chocolate sandwich biscuits, cut into quarters, to decorate
- Mint green food colouring paste or gel
For the icing
- 2 1/2 tubs Betty Crocker™ Velvety Vanilla Icing
- 1-1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract (see tip)
Betty's Easy Steps
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C for fan assisted ovens)/Gas Mark 4. Line 2 x 12 hole muffin trays with green paper cupcake cases.
- Stir the cake mix, oil, water and eggs gently together in a bowl, then whisk (by hand or with an electric mixer) for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Whisk in enough green food colouring paste or gel to give a fairly bright shade of green. Divide the mixture equally between the cupcake cases and bake for 18-22 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool in the trays for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely; about 30 minutes.
- To make the icing, beat the vanilla icing and peppermint extract together in a large bowl. Spoon about half of the icing into a large disposable piping bag fitted with a plain 1cm nozzle. Insert the tip of the nozzle into the centre of 1 cupcake, about halfway down. Gently squeeze the piping bag, pulling upward until the cupcake swells slightly and the filling comes to the top. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.
- Spoon the remaining icing into the same piping bag and generously pipe swirls of icing on top of the centre of each cupcake. Decorate each cupcake with a piece of biscuit to serve. Store any leftover cupcakes in an airtight container in a cool place for 2-3 days.
Betty's Tips
- Add 1 teaspoon of the peppermint extract to the icing then taste and, if you want a really minty flavour, add the rest.
- Take care when piping the icing into the cupcakes that you don’t overfill them as they will crack.
