Easy Green Velvet Cupcakes for St Patrick's Day Party

It’s the perfect occasion to have fun in the kitchen with color & flavor. Try these easy green velvet cupcakes for St Patrick’s Day (or any day really).

What are green cupcakes made of?

No worries. It’s not kale or broccoli that makes them green! It’s a twist on the classic red velvet cupcakes using green food color instead. This is an oh so easy green velvet cupcake recipe, using a cake mix as a base because there’s a science behind the ingredients. They will turn out every time. Add in our “secret” ingredients to make them moist & thick enough to keep your mix-ins such as chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom and you have a cupcake that will impress your guests.

What kind of frosting do you put on green velvet cupcakes?

Traditionally, red velvet cupcakes have cream cheese frosting. So of course our green velvet cupcakes do too. But there’s a twist. This frosting has a minty flavor (which is optional) because we think green cupcakes should be minty. Right? Feel free to use any kind of frosting your wish for your St Patrick’s Day party.

What kind of frosting do you prefer for your green cupcakes?

Minty Green Cream Cheese Frosting:
Stir 1/2 teaspoon McCormick Pure Peppermint Extract and 1/2 teaspoon McCormick Green Food Color into canned cream cheese frosting or Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:
Beat 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened, 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened, 2 tablespoons sour cream and 2 teaspoons McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in 1 box (16 ounces) confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Makes 2 1/2 cups.

What shade of green would you like your cupcakes to be?

See McCormick’s guide to green to choose the perfect shade to match your St Patrick’s Day decorations.

Green Velvet Cupcakes Recipe

Ingredients

Cupcake:

1 pkg chocolate cake mix
1 chocolate pudding mix
1 c sour cream
½ c water
¼ c cocoa
¼ c vegetable oil
1 bottle McCormick Green Food Color ((1 oz))
3 eggs
2 tsp McCormick Pure Vanilla or Mint Extract

Feel free to add your favorite mix-ins for a signature cupcake – they won’t sink to the bottom due to the pudding mix making the batter thicker.

1 pkg chocolate chips or mint chocolate chips
1 cup of any other mix-in such as nuts

Frosting:

1 pkg cream cheese, softened
¼ c butter, softened
2 Tbsp sour cream
½ tsp McCormick Pure Peppermint Extract
2 c icing sugar
½ tsp McCormick Green Food Color (optional)
green or St Patrick’s Day sprinkles

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Beat cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream (save 2 Tbsp for frosting), water, cocoa powder, oil, food color, eggs and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes.
Pour batter into 24 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire rack.
While cooling, make minty green frosting. Beat cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and mint extract in a bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in icing sugar until smooth. Add green food coloring and stir until well combined and uniform color. Makes 2½ cups.
Frost with cream cheese frosting. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired.

These easy green velvet cupcakes will wow the crowd & they’ll never know it started with a cake mix. Accept all the kudos. You can claim it as yours!