Connor's Underwater Cupcakes

My roommate Connor turned 22. A slightly uneventful age. He also likes the ocean, even though he's from Jersey shore.... anyway I thought I'd make these ocean themed cupcakes using my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe courtesy of Amy Sedaris, topped with a class vanilla butter cream frosting with cyan food coloring.

Amy Sedaris' Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter
1 ¾ cups of sugar
2 large eggs
2 Teaspoons of pure vanilla
½ teaspoon of salt
2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
2 ½ cups of flour
1 ¼ cups of milk

 
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Line cupcake pan with with cute paper liners.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, vanilla, salt and baking powder. Add flour in 3 batches, alternating with milk. Beat at low speed for 30 seconds.

Divide batter evenly among cups. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick  inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack before frosting.

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting
1 cup butter (2 stickers or 1/2 pound), softened
3-4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
up to 4 tablespoons milk

Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer on medium speed.  Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until smooth incorporated. Mix in vanilla. If the frosting is too stiff, add a bit of milk until desired consistency. A taste test should do just fine here.

The secret to the swirl is I beat in some color to make it light turquoise, then I set aside some of the blue frosting and added more food coloring. I spread the darker frosting along one side of the piping bag, then filled it with the rest of the frosting. This made the neat swirl effect that I especially love doing with a chocolate ganache like I did with the Car Bomb Cupcakes!