Blue Velvet Cupcakes with Homemade Balloon Cupcake Toppers

I made these cupcakes for my little sister's baby shower last month. She had a baby boy so instead of red velvet I decided to make blue velvet cupcakes! To get the perfect hue of blue (not too green) it helps to add a tiny dab of violet food colouring in with the blue. I made my own cupcake toppers using Rice Krispies squares, sprinkles, and clear plastic toothpicks. To make them I cut each Rice Krispies square into quarters, rolled each piece into a ball and then rolled the ball in sprinkles. The sprinkles stuck to the marshmallow and coated the entire ball of Rice Krispie square. Stick the ball onto a toothpick and then the toothpick into your cupcake! Viola, a really cute homemade and edible cupcake topper! 

Cupcake Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups cake flour (If you only have all-purpose it won't make or break the recipe)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 Tbsp. Royal Blue gel paste food colouring

1 small dab Violet gel paste food colouring

1 Tbsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

1 pound (1 block) cream cheese, softened

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake liners.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. 

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in the  food colouring, vinegar, and vanilla and mix until combined.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk. Then, repeat with the remaining flour and buttermilk, until combined into a smooth cake batter.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Pipe the icing on the cooled cupcakes using a large star tip, or just spread on with a butter knife or flat spatula.

*Recipe adapted from Paula Deen