White Chocolate Cupcakes

I adore cupcakes...I think they are the cutest, sweetest, prettiest, yummiest little things around.  I also enjoy making them.  They are so much easier (in my opinion) to make and make to look pretty than cakes.  Each one is a little masterpiece!

I'm also somewhat lazy.  I like to make my cupcakes from a mix, BUT, I like to doctor up the mix!!  I decided to try to make white chocolate cupcakes for Labor Day.  Here's what I did.

White Chocolate Cupcakes

  1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Vanilla cake mix

6 ounces melted white chocolate chips

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

I melted my white chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each.  

 Mix all the ingredients together according to the directions on the box.

Filled the cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

 Notice the pan on the left??  That was my Mom's, she's had it forever!

White Chocolate Frosting

2 sticks butter, room temperature

6 ounces melted white chocolate

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste (my personal favorite!)

1 bag powdered sugar

half and half

*Beat the butter till smooth.

*Mix vanilla in with melted chocolate, add to butter.  Mix well.  It will clump up a little but them smooth out again.

*Add half of the powdered sugar (I put a kitchen towel around my Kitchen Aide, otherwise you're going to have a dusting of powdered sugar everywhere!)

 *Mix well, scrape down bowl.

*Add the rest of the powdered sugar.  It will get clumpy...start streaming in half and half until it reaches a good piping consistency.

I tried a new design based loosely on something I'd seen at a local shop.  I used a Wilton 1M tip to make four round swirls with white frosting (the black specks are the vanilla bean).

I sprinkled glitter dust on the white and colored the remaining frosting with Americolor Orange Soft Gel Paste, ( I should have used a little more color like my daughter said.) and used a Bakery Crafts 3B to fill in the centers!!

These are amazing, they are light and fluffy and super tasty!!

Just a side note.  I used almond milk to make the cake a little richer.  We don't use regular milk, that's what I had and was pleased with the results!!

I was in no way compensated for any product mentions.

Renee'