Green Velvet Cupcakes

I'm back! Sorry for the recent disappearance, but life (and by life I mean work) has been getting in the way of baking and blogging. But with a holiday coming up this week, I couldn't let the chance pass by to try something new.

This week at work my team somehow got into a discussion about red velvet cake. Ever since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Red velvet has always been one of my favorite flavors of cupcake, but I've never been corageous enough to try it. Something about the unique ingredients (vinegar and buttermilk) has always scared me. Like I've said before though, I'm trying to start incorporating new ingredients into my baking, so I figured there's no time like now to try these.

Why green velvet though? Well obviously - St. Paddy's Day! This holiday will always remind me of the lepruchan that magically dyed the milk green every year and left green cakes in hidden places (not to mention the stories my mom tells about my sister and her best friend running all over the house looking for the lepruchaun). So, in the spirit of the holiday, Green Velvet Cupcakes (makes 6-7):

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker
To make the cupcakes:

To make the frosting:

Add green food coloring to the frosting until the desired color.

I learned a few tricks while making these that might help you too:

No buttermilk on hand? Don't need enough to buy a full carton of it? Just mix either white vinegar or lemon juice with milk and let sit for 5 minutes. Since this recipe already calls for white vinegar, I just used this to make my buttermilk. Pour 1T vinegar into a measuring cup, then fill to the 1c line with milk and let sit. (Since I only needed 1/4c buttermilk for this recipe, I used 1/4T vinegar and filled to the 1/4c line with milk.)

Looking to cut some calories? Try using Neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese. Less calories and fat, but still just as tasty.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, decorate them with the frosting and sprinkles (I used light green sugar pearls), then enjoy! Keep these stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days... if you can manage to keep them around that long.