The Grinch cupcakes are fluffy, festive and topped with a homemade cream cheese frosting. Serve as a fun addition to your holiday gatherings and parties.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place cupcake liners in the cupcake pan and set aside.
Combine lemon juice with milk, stir and set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together the salt, flour, and baking soda. Set aside.
Place the red candy melts in a small baggie. Crush them into small pieces with a rolling pin or similar item and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with a hand mixer for about 2 minutes, or until the mixture is nice and fluffy.
Add the eggs, food dye and vanilla and beat for 1 more minute to incorporate.
Next, add about a third of the lemon-milk mixture and a third of the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat until ingredients are incorporated. Repeat until all the flour and milk is gone.
Gently fold in the crushed red candy melts.
Fill each cupcake liner about ¾ of the way full (a scoop works well for this).
Bake for 15-17 minutes or until cupcakes are a very light golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely before decorating.
While the cupcakes are cooling, combine the softened cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the vanilla, salt, and a bit of the food coloring. Mix until combined and the color is fully incorporated. You can add additional dye to reach your preferred shade of green.
Add powdered sugar a cup at a time and mixing until combined after each addition.
Place the frosting tip in a frosting bag. Cut off the tip of the frosting bag so the frosting tip can drop down into the hole and sit snugly.
Place the frosting bag, tip side down, in a cup. Pull open end over the sides of the cup. Spoon the frosting into the frosting bag, making sure not to exceed the fill line.
To pipe the frosting onto your cupcakes, start from the outside and work your way into the middle, using a nonstop circular motion and lifting up at the end.
Top each cupcake with a large red heart sprinkle to the right side.
Notes
The red candy melts add a pretty speckle to the cupcakes but you can omit them if you don’t want to use them.
Be careful not to overmix the cupcake or you’ll have tough cupcakes.
If the cupcake batter seems too thick, add a little more milk to thin it out a bit.
These cupcakes don’t rise a lot but should rise just to the top of the liners, which leaves room for the frosting.
For a neater looking cupcake, don’t overfill the cupcake liners. Overfilling results in the cupcakes spilling over the sides.
Cook the cupcakes just until done and cool completely before decorating. Overcooking them makes them very hard - and no one likes hard cupcakes.
Store leftover cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.