Watermelon cupcakes

I saw these Watermelon cupcakes in my Google Reader and I thought they were so cute. Like the perfect summery treat. We were going to a cookout last weekend and I immediately thought of these cupcakes. I wanted to be able to pipe the frosting, so I opted not to flavor them with watermelon. I also didn’t think chocolate and watermelon really go together… So I guess mine are just watermelon look-alike cupcakes.

I made the same chocolate chip cupcakes that I made for the 4th of July, but this time I used mini chips and added some pink and red food coloring to the batter. For the frosting, I made my favorite buttercream. I actually made two shades of green that I wanted to swirl together. The swirling didn’t go as planned, so really all you can see is dark green frosting, not the lighter lime green frosting. Everyone enjoyed the summery (looking) cupcakes.
Chocolate Chip cupcakes – adapted from Vanilla cupcakes from Crazy Delicious – original recipe from Martha Stewart – makes 24
1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips + 1 Tbsp flour (toss to coat chocolate chips)
Few drops pink and red food coloring

Mix the dry ingredients

Add butter

Whisk eggs, milk and vanilla

Add wet ingredients 1/3 at a time to the dry ingredients

Stir in food coloring and chocolate chips – be sure to coat the chips with flour so they don’t all sink to the bottom while baking

Bake for 17-22 minutes at 325 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean

Vanilla and Buttercream

2 sticks butter
7 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk – I used whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Few drops green and yellow food coloring

Beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl

Add 5 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, beat until combined. Add food coloring until desired color is reached.

Add more powdered sugar until you get to the consistency you want (not too stiff so that its hard to pipe)