This recipe for Pistachio Cupcakes is perfect for a St. Patrick's Day celebration with its hint of green and tasty enough for any day of the year.
My father loved pistachios. He used to buy them in large bags and was a frequent flyer at Baskin Robbins for a scoop of pistachio ice cream. Maybe that's why I like them.
I've used ground up pistachios on top of chocolate ganache cupcakes already and I thought the hint of green would make a fun St. Patrick's Day dessert. After all, I am a little Irish on my mother's side and my name is Patti.
Making Pistachio Cupcakes
The secret ingredient is using pistachio pudding mix in the batter. It does give the cake a hint of green but feel free to add a bit of green food coloring if you want for a deeper color.
Filling the cupcake liners is important. The pan shows cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
This group is only filled halfway.
Here's what happens. If you fill the liner too much then you will not have enough batter to fill all 24 liners and they will overflow on the pan. (P.S. they still taste great)
Decorating the Cupcakes
To decorate the cupcakes I used my standard buttercream frosting and added a few green sprinkles. You could use your favorite canned frosting for this easy cupcake recipe too. You could also add a bit of green food coloring to the frosting if you want to get more St. Patty's Day festivity.
These pistachio cupcakes are very moist even though it's based on a standard cake mix.
We ate of few of them but since we are empty nesters I had my husband take the rest to our church for their Friday fish fry where you can buy any number of homemade desserts.
The buttercream frosting is pretty rich but I think it's worth it. Especially if you can limit yourself to just one cupcake. However, therein lies the problem.
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Pistachio Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 15.25 oz cake mix in vanilla or white
- 3.4 oz pistachio pudding mix
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup of water
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup of butter - softened
- 4 cups of powdered sugar about 1 pound
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/8 - 1/4 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Combine pudding powder, cake mix, eggs, water, oil
- Mix on medium speed for a few minutes until well combined.
- Scoop into lined cupcake pans at about 1/2 full.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick placed into the center comes out clean.
- Remove and cool completely.
- Meanwhile, make the frosting by combining softened butter with vanilla and powdered sugar. Blend on medium speed. Add milk and blend on high. Add more milk until you get the consistency you like for spreading on cupcakes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although attempts have been made to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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