Pinkalicious Cupcakes: The Perfect Pink Cupcake For Your Next Pink Soiree!

Baby Girl turned 1 yesterday!!! Happy Birthday sweet pumpkin muffin! And to help celebrate, Little Girl and Little Boy and I made a pot of spaghetti (her favorite) and pink cupcakes! Based on a book called Pinkalicious that Little Girl brought home from the library that's currently the house favorite, we made cupcakes that were all pink, all the time. From head to toe pink, just like the book.

I started thinking and realized these cupcakes were even more amazing. Not only do they taste good and look pretty, they are perfect to celebrate a variety of things. From princess parties to valentine's day treats, to breast cancer awareness events, these sweet treats make an impact. I dedicate this recipe not only to my sweet baby girl, and the joys that have come with you in our little family, but also to a friend who's battling breast cancer right now. From the joys of princess parties to the courage of battling breast cancer, you make these cupcakes to brighten up someone's day.

Now, onto the food...

Instead of a traditional butter cream frosting, I elected to do a glaze frosting. I thought they looked so pretty and tasted great with the sweet acid of meyer lemons. The cupcake itself is vanilla buttermilk -- simple and so moist and delicious, the consistency is light and airy without being crumbly. The texture is perfect for a cupcake and the color of course from using pink color food gels in the batter.

These were easy and as fun to make as reading the cute story. And you can coordinate any theme with sprinkles on top (for example, do some valentine's day theme with valentine's sprinkles).

Make them ahead and refrigerate -- the glaze will also keep them nice and moist. And use a really, really good quality vanilla extract for these. I like bourbon vanilla extract (can find at Williams Sonoma and Whole Foods). Enjoy!!

Pinkalicious Cupcakes with Hot Pink Glaze Frosting
for the cupcakes:
1 cup canola oil
1 cup buttermilk (at room temperature)
3 eggs
1 Tbsp good quality vanilla extract
1/4 tsp pink food coloring (recommend: Wilton food coloring gels)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup white granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine salt (like kosher)

for the glaze:
2 cups confectioners sugar (aka powdered sugar)
juice of 1 meyer lemon
about 1/4 cup half n half
1/8 tsp pink food gel or coloring (more or less to color preference)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with paper linings. I used pink with white polka dots paper.

Whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and food coloring in a small bowl or very large measuring cup. Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Turn mixer on low speed and gently pour in the buttermilk mixture. Once you've poured it all in, turn the mixer on medium speed and mix until combined well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Fill each cup about 1/2 way up and bake in oven for about 15 minutes (depending on oven's strength) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove and let stand to cool completely before icing.

To make the glaze, simply whisk together all ingredients. Add enough food gel to get desired shade of pink; for glaze pictured I used about 1/4 tsp Wilton food gel in color "pink."

To finish cupcakes, take one completely cooled cupcake and spoon a good teaspoon's worth of the glaze right on top. Use the back of the spoon to help you smooth it out on one even layer on the top, and use the paper linings along the sides to help catch the glaze. Set down in a flat surface to set, and repeat with remaining cupcakes and glaze. If using sprinkles, go ahead and sprinkle right after glazing. Note: the glaze will begin to set almost immediately once applied to the cupcake, so if you're using sprinkles that need to adhere you may want to ice and sprinkle each cupcake individually rather than all at once.


Serve or refrigerate until ready to serve.

*Note:

Paper liners I found at my local party store, made by Wilton.

Hot pink sugar crystal sprinkles purchased from etsy.

Edible silver star confetti by Wilton, purchased at Michae's craft stores.