Green Velvet Mint Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

This year for St Patrick's Day I wanted to make something I have never made before. Something like these Green Velvet Mint Cupcakes!

The recipe I was looking for had to be something "Green" and when I think of St. Patty's Day, I think mint, so it had to be"Minty"

These Green Velvet Mint Cupcakes were the perfect answer! Everyone has heard of Red Velvet Cake, but Green Velvet? More than likely you have even made Red Velvet cupcakes or a Red Velvet cake. So why not try Green Velvet! I did some online, recipe hunting and found this great recipe for Green Velvet cupcakes. I found the recipe on the wonderful blog; Bakerella. The Bakerella recipe called for using a Cooked Frosting, but I used the traditional cream cheese frosting instead. I added a 1/2 t mint extract to the batter and I also added a small piece of peppermint patty to each cupcake and decorated the top of each cupcake with chopped peppermint patties.

The colors of the Irish flag are Green, White and Orange, hence the reason for the orange frosting. The green color on the flag represents the native people of Ireland (most of whom are Roman Catholic). The orange color represents the British Supporters of William of Orange who settled in Northern Ireland in the 17th century (most of whom are Protestant). The White in the center of the flag represents peace between these two groups of people.

Cake Directions~

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add oil, buttermilk, vinegar, mint or vanilla extract. Stir together with wire whisk until blended. Add green food coloring and stir together. Set aside.

Remove peppermint patties from freezer. Unwrap patties and set aside.

Place all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir together well with wire whisk.

Pour you wet ingredients into your dry ingredients. Mix with an electric mixer on medium high for about 1 minute or until well combined. Note: Always be careful when handling any food coloring.

Cut 6 peppermint patties in fourths. Fill each cupcake liner a 1/4 full with green velvet batter. Put 1/4 piece of peppermint candy on top of batter. Divide remaining green velvet batter among the 24 cupcake liners, filling 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from oven and cool on wire rack. When cupcakes are cool, frost with cream cheese frosting~

Cream Cheese Frosting Directions~

Cream together cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar and continue to beat. Add milk if needed and continue to beat until smooth. Add a few drops of orange food coloring, if desired, and whip until you have reached desired color. Frost cooled cupcakes. Chop remaining peppermint patties and sprinkle on top of cupcakes.

Healthy Note: Fat-free egg product can replace eggs at a savings of 5 grams of fat each. Use 1/4 cup egg product for each large egg~