Blog With Friends: School Spirit Mini Cupcakes

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends theme collaborations. Each month a group of bloggers get together and each publish a project based on a theme. What I love about this partnership is that it’s not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may have a recipe, sewing tutorial, crafts projects, book review and/or a technology post all related to the theme of the month.

This month's theme is School Spirit. There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here’s a peek at what we all came up with:

I made School Spirit Mini Cupcakes.

  

I have to admit that I was at a bit of loss as to whether to make my first batch for PurDude or for College Boy. Both had challenges. PurDude's school colors are black and gold. I used to have black food coloring but when I finished it I never replaced it. College Boy's school colors are red and white. That would make pretty cupcakes but I don't own, have never had, white food coloring. 

Either way, first step was to make up the batter and divide it into 2 bowls.

 

Decision time. For the first batch I went with Purdue. The black was going to be tricky and would most likely look more grey, but I was good with that.

I piped the batter into my mini cupcake pans. Both colors are used for each cupcake, one below the other. You can bake as is or swirl. I did some of each.

Here's some I didn't swirl. Out of the oven and cooling completely before frosting.

Yup, definitely more grey than black but fortunately it's the taste that counts. And this batch got gobbled up pretty quickly.

B O I L E R    U P !

Considering I had to work with black and gold as my color scheme, I have to admit I'm happy with how these turned out. Now that I've got PurDude's batch made, I'm off to buy some white food coloring for College Boy's batch.

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

What are your school colors? 

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:


Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares 9 Tips for Chaos Control (Before School Starts).

Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares School Spirit - Crazy Hat Days and More. 

 Rabia of The Lieber Family Blog shows us how to Organize Your Desk With School Spirit..

 
Minette of Southern Belle Charm shares how to make an easy bracelet in your school color, School Color Bracelet.

Eileen of Eileen's Perpetually Busy shares a recipe for easy cookies that can be made in almost any combination of colors and flavors, School Color Cookies.

Melissa of Home on Deranged shares helpful hints and tips: How Do You Choose The Right Elementary School?

                                     

School Spirit Mini Cupcakes

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients (makes 36):
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 package instant pudding, flavor of your choice.
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt 
food coloring of your choice

3/4 stick butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 TBSP light corn syrup
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
up to 3 TBSP milk
food coloring of your choice

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray mini cupcake pans with nonstick spray.
*Cream the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs, then buttermilk and vanilla. On lowest speed, carefully beat in the flour, instant pudding mix, baking powder and salt.
*Divide batter into 2 bowls and add food coloring of your choice to each. Pipe or spoon some of each color into the prepared mini cupcake pans. Start half of them with one color and top with the other. Start the other half of your cupcakes with the other color and top with the second. OPT: You can swirl the batters if you want.
*Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes or just until the center springs back to the touch. Run a knife around them and remove to cool completely.
*Cream the butter, vanilla and corn syrup. Mix in the powdered sugar. Add milk, one TBSP at a time until the frosting is of piping consistency. Mix in food coloring.
*Spread or pipe onto cooled mini cupcakes.