Green Velvet Cupcakes

What’s in Green Velvet Cupcakes?

Before you can bake up these lucky green cupcakes, you’ll need to ensure you have the following ingredients on hand:

• Cake Flour: A finely milled, delicate flour that gives the cupcakes a light, airy texture, ideal for achieving a tender crumb.
• Granulated Sugar: Provides essential sweetness to the cupcakes, balancing the flavors and contributing to the golden-brown crust through caramelization.
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Imparts a deep, rich chocolate flavor, subtly enhancing the complexity of the cupcakes without adding sweetness.
• Baking Soda: A crucial leavening agent that reacts with acidic components to create carbon dioxide, giving rise to fluffy, well-aerated cupcakes.
• Salt: A flavor enhancer that sharpens the cupcakes’ taste profile, ensuring that the sweetness is balanced and not overpowering.
• Vegetable Oil: Keeps the cupcakes moist and tender, ensuring a soft texture that contrasts beautifully with the creamy frosting.
• Eggs: Provide structure and stability to the batter, emulsifying the ingredients for a uniform crumb and contributing to the richness of the cake.
• Vanilla Extract: Adds a warm, floral aroma and flavor, complementing the sweet and tangy notes of the cupcakes and frosting.
• White Vinegar: Reacts with the baking soda to leaven the cupcakes, also enhancing the tender texture by breaking down gluten strands.
• Buttermilk: Introduces a slight tanginess and reacts with baking soda for leavening, contributing to the cupcakes’ tender texture and fine crumb.
• Green Gel Food Coloring: Offers a vibrant, visually appealing green hue, essential for the signature look of Green Velvet Cupcakes, with gel providing more intense color without diluting the batter.
• Cream Cheese: The primary ingredient in the frosting, offering a smooth, tangy contrast that complements the sweet base of the cupcakes.
• Unsalted Butter: Provides a rich, creamy base for the frosting, contributing to its spreadable consistency and buttery flavor.
• Powdered Sugar: Sweetens the frosting while lending it a smooth, easily spreadable consistency, perfect for piping or spreading on the cupcakes.
• Gold Sprinkles: An optional decorative touch that adds an elegant sparkle and a bit of texture to the cupcakes, enhancing their visual appeal.

But wait, what is green velvet?

Green velvet cupcakes put a creative spin on classic red velvet desserts, swapping the iconic red color for a vibrant green.

Originating in the early 20th century, red velvet is known for its smooth ‘velvet’ texture from the combination of buttermilk, butter, cocoa powder, vinegar, and flour—all ingredients that are found in this green velvet version, too. And while red velvet’s trademark hue historically comes from the cocoa-acid reaction (often boosted by food coloring), green velvet achieves its unique shade solely through green dye.

And with similar ingredients, both red and green velvet share the same subtle chocolate flavor, clocking in their taste somewhere between vanilla and chocolate.

Do you have to use buttermilk?

Buttermilk adds moisture and a slight tang to the cupcakes, enhancing their flavor and texture. However, if you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own or use substitutes:

Making Your Own Buttermilk

• Milk and Vinegar/Lemon Juice: Mix 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice with enough milk to make 1/2 cup. Let it stand for 5 minutes, then use as desired.

Substitutions

• Yogurt: Use 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, thinned with a little milk if needed.
• Sour Cream: Combine 1/2 cup of sour cream with a little milk for a buttermilk-like consistency.
• Milk: Use 1/2 cup of milk; note that the tanginess of buttermilk will be missing.

Do you have to use cake flour?

Using cake flour in these green velvet cupcakes cupcakes provides a light, tender texture. If you don’t have cake flour, you can substitute it with all-purpose flour. For a closer approximation of cake flour’s lighter texture, for every cup of all-purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons and replace them with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, then sift the mixture. This modification helps mimic cake flour’s lower protein content and finer texture. If you choose not to use cornstarch, simply using all-purpose flour sifted a few times can help aerate it, though the texture will be slightly denser than with cake flour.

What type of food coloring should you use?

When making these cupcakes, I highly recommend you use gel food coloring. The gel variety is more concentrated than liquid food coloring, so you’ll need less of it (and will, in turn, introduce less liquid, preserving the batter consistency) to achieve your desired hue.

Best Piping Tip Options for Cupcakes

Standard piping tips for cupcakes are essential for achieving a variety of decorative designs. Here are some popular ones:

• Round Tip (#1A, #2A): Ideal for basic and graceful decorations such as dots and lines, perfect for uncomplicated round swirls or droplet designs.
• Star Tip (1M, 2D): A top choice for the standard cupcake spiral and miniature rosettes. The 1M tip is famed for its prominent, dramatic swirls.
• Closed Star Tip (#847, #848): Excellent for textured designs such as spirals or rosettes, and also for intricate floral and border patterns on cupcakes.
• Open Star Tip (#32, #21): Suitable for easy swirls, rosettes, star designs, and zigzag patterns, adding a playful aspect to cupcake decorations.
• French Star Tip (#865): Ideal for upscale and elaborate designs, as well as creating distinct textures and detailed patterns.
• Petal Tip (#104, #125): Perfect for crafting leafy elements, ruffles, festoons, and bow-like designs, enhancing the cupcakes’ visual appeal.

How should these cupcakes be stored?

These green velvet cupcakes are topped with cream cheese frosting frosting, and it’s the frosting that determines the best way to store them.

If you plan on eating the cupcakes within 24-48 hours, it’s perfectly okay to store them at room temperature.

If you’d like to keep the cupcakes fresh for longer than two days, store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Keep in mind that the frosting will firm up once chilled, so if you’d prefer a softer texture, allow time for the frosting to soften at room temperature (typically one hour will do) before serving.

How long are they good for?

When stored in a sealed container on the counter, cupcakes will remain good for one or two days. If stored in the refrigerator, cupcakes can last anywhere from four to six days.

Can you freeze these cupcakes?

Yes, you totally can! However, it’s best to freeze these cupcakes before they have been decorated. If you’ve already decorated the cupcakes, I highly recommend enjoying them while they’re still freshly made.

To freeze these cupcakes

• Bake cupcakes per recipe instructions, then allow to cool completely.
• Wrap cupcakes in plastic wrap. You can either wrap them individually or arrange the cupcakes in a group (single layer) and wrap them together. Note: If you have already decorated the cupcakes and really want to freeze them, chill the cupcakes in the refrigerator until the frosting feels solid to a gentle touch (doesn’t smear) and gently wrap the cupcakes in plastic.
• Place wrapped cupcakes in a freezer bag or a storage container with a sealable lid.
• Cupcakes can be frozen for up to three months.

Step 1 – Whisk together the cake flour, granulated sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set this bowl aside for now.

Step 2 – In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, combine the vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, and white vinegar on low speed until mixed, about 2-3 minutes.

Step 3 – Gradually add half of the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, blending for 10-20 seconds. Add the buttermilk, mix for another 10-20 seconds, then incorporate the remaining dry ingredients and mix again for 10-20 seconds. Stir in the green food coloring, adjusting the amount to get the desired color, and mix until just combined, taking care not to overmix.

Step 4 – Line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners, then fill the cavities about 3/4 full with the batter.

Step 5 – Bake!

Step 6 – Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Step 7 – While the cupcakes cool, prepare the frosting. In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, whip the cream cheese and butter until pale and fluffy, approximately 5-7 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract until fully incorporated.

Step 8 – If you want to fill the cupcakes with sprinkles, remove a small section from the top center of each cupcake, creating a small bowl, and add in gold sprinkles. Then, replace the piece of cupcake, trimming if necessary.

Step 9 – Prepare a pastry bag with the cream cheese frosting and select a piping tip. Decorate each cupcake with frosting in your chosen pattern.

Step 10 – Serve and enjoy!