I love the color green and I love pistachios…pistachio ice cream, you name it. My former co-worker used to make a pistachio cake with pistachio ice cream that I loved. He used a cake mix and extended it. I love those kinds of recipes. When Amber asked me to join in on celebrating Jamie and her first baby, I knew I wanted to make cupcakes (because Jamie loves them!) and then I thought why not pistachio cupcakes. They are perfect for a baby shower (for a boy or a girl), for a birthday or even St. Patrick's Day. The green color isn't technicolor green, it's a subtle green color. The recipe for the cupcakes is from scratch and the pistachio flavor and color come from adding pistachio instant pudding mix to the cake batter.

I'm so excited to be a part of a group of bloggers who posted recipes today in honor of Jamie. She's expecting a little sweet pea, a little girl, her first baby soon! Make sure you hop around and check out the other recipes. Congratulations, Jamie!!!!!

Amber from Bluebonnets & Brownies | Lemon Strawberry Cupcakes
Julie from The Little Kitchen | Pistachio Pudding Cupcakes
Jen from My Kitchen Addiction | Sugar and Spice Cookies
Shaina from Food for My Family | Vanilla Raspberry Mini Meringue Kisses
Glory from Glorious Treats | Modern decorated cookies
Cheryl from TidyMom | Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream
Katie from Good Life {Eats} | Raspberry Hibiscus Soda
Aimee from SimpleBites | How to freeze a big batch of homemade waffles
Amanda from I am Baker | Heath Bar Cake
Steph from Steph Chows | PB oatmeal cookies
Allison from Some the Wiser | Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
Megan from Stetted | Strawberry Jalapeno Palmiers
Shelly from Cookies & Cups | Bacon Cheddar Scones
Emily from Jelly Toast | Meyer Lemon Scones
Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen | Samoa Layer Cake

This recipe is a little different, once you add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients minus the whole milk, it looks like a cookie dough.

Then, add the milk and blend it for 30 to 60 seconds with your hand mixer or in your stand mixer and it becomes a super smooth cake batter.

I know you'll fall in love with these just like I have. I can't wait for you to try them! Cupcakes for everyone!

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Pistachio Pudding Cupcakes Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 15 -16 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3.4 ounce box of instant pistachio pudding
• 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup whole milk

Vanilla Buttercream

• 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup 1 stick salted butter, softened
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 pounds 1 bag powdered sugar
• 3 Tablespoons clear vanilla extract
• 3-4 Tablespoons whole milk cold

Instructions

Cupcakes

• Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
• In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, salt and box of instant pudding. Whisk or mix together with a rubber spatula. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add vegetable oil and vanilla extract and mix until well blended. While still mixing, add eggs in one at time until completely incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
• Add dry ingredients and incorporate with a rubber spatula until most of the dry ingredients are moistened. This step takes seconds and it's okay if there is unincorporated flour. Add milk and mix with hand mixer or in your stand mixer using the paddle attachment on the lowest speed for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix for another 20 to 30 seconds. The cake batter should be smooth except for the pistachios from the pudding.
• Fill cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of cake batter. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into one of the cupcakes comes out clean. (If using a 3 Tablespoon cookie scoop to portion out cupcakes, bake for about 16 to 18 minutes.)

Vanilla Buttercream

• In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer cream together butters and shortening until well blended. Add vanilla and mix well.
• Add powdered sugar in two batches, in halves or thirds and mix well at low speeds. Be sure to cover the stand mixer with a clean towel or it may go everywhere. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.
• Add milk one tablespoon at a time and blend. Scrape down the sides of the bowl in between adding milk. Stop adding milk until you have reached the desired thickness. For thinner icing, add even more milk. Blend for 5 to 6 minutes. Store buttercream in the refrigerator when not in use.
• Use a decorator bag and tip to frost the cupcakes. If not frosting the cupcakes the same day, store them in a closed, airtight container and frost and serve them within 24 to 48 hours.

Note:

• You can use pure vanilla extract in your buttercream but you won't be able to get a bright white icing if you do.

Notes

Cupcake Recipe from The Little Kitchen; Buttercream recipe from CakeCentral.com

The post Pistachio Pudding Cupcakes appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

After having a facebook conversation, we all agreed it's not sad at all when you make your own birthday cake. It started after my husband told how sad it was when I told him my plan. I didn't think it was at all…I get what I want! Don't you agree?

What makes this cake so amazing and the best ever? I really think it's the coffee and the buttermilk. Coffee in chocolate cakes just brings the chocolate flavor to a new level and it doesn't taste like coffee AT ALL. The buttermilk lends to the moistness of this cake. The frosting is the perfect ending to this cake. It's fluffy and tastes amazing. Remember though because there's cream cheese and milk in the frosting, the frosting and the cake (after it's frosted) has to be refrigerated.

I have posted this chocolate cake recipe before…it was the first ever post on The Little Kitchen. If you go looking at that post, please don't make fun of those pictures! I already know how bad they are!

In that post, I talked about a whipped frosting (made with pudding) that I would share and I realized I never did so when I told myself I'm baking my own birthday cake…I thought I would share that recipe along with some of my tips for baking cakes.

I learned this from my Wilton cake decorating instructor. I cut out pieces of wax paper that measure the same size as the bottom of the cake pans. Using a silicon brush, I spread Wilton Cake Release on the sides and inside bottom of the pan. Place the wax paper inside the pan and you have a non-stick surface. This cake batter is very wet and if you don't do this, you're likely to have the cake stick on the inside of your pan.

Once the cakes are done, allow them to cool inside the pan on a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes before flipping them onto the cooling rack. Once you remove them from the pan, be sure to peel off the wax paper and allow the cakes to cool completely before adding the frosting.

I usually don't have buttermilk on hand but I always have buttermilk powder in my fridge. The brand I use, it's 4 Tbsp of buttermilk powder to 1 cup of water. A tip to keep the oil from sticking too much in your measuring cup, I measure the water first then add the oil.

I actually measure all of my wet ingredients first and have them set aside before I start sifting the flour.

I always sift the flour and cocoa powder. Something else I usually do when I make this cake is measure enough out for several more cakes…in separate bowls and then place my newly made “cake mix” into plastic zippered bags with labels for what it is and date it. Homemade cake mix makes it way convenient later for making cupcakes or a tasty cake in the future…all you have to do is add the wet ingredients and bake!

Doesn't that cake look super moist?

I love this frosting. First mix the instant vanilla pudding mix with milk. In a separate bowl, whip the cream cheese and then add the cool whip and mix thoroughly. Then add the pudding and mix thoroughly.

Torting (cutting the cake length-wise to create multiple layers) this cake is necessary so you get more frosting per square inch of cake. I usually use a cake leveler but I haven't been able to find it since we have our office torn upside down during a remodel. Using a knife and just being very careful, slice the cake lengthwise to create two layers. When I finished, I had a four layer cake.

Here are some frosting shots…it looks like buttercream, doesn't it? Nothing like it…it's very fluffy and creamy. Don't get me wrong, I love buttercream but I love a good whipped frosting too.

Almost there.

Nice, huh?

Almost done…

This is seriously the best chocolate cake ever. My co-worker calls me a cake snob…I'm sorry I guess I am.

I have some other news to share too. I got a new job! This is really bittersweet for me. I really love some of my co-workers, I'm going to miss them. I have worked for this company for almost 8 years and it feels like a family. But I have this awesome opportunity in this new company, I'll have a lot of flexibility and will get to learn a whole lot. I love learning new things and I'm really excited about the work. I'm really excited that I'm going to get to travel a little bit too…I just can't wait to start next month! But today, I'm sharing this cake with my co-workers whom I'm going to miss.

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The Best Chocolate Cake Ever with Pudding Frosting

...the best, that's all I have to say.

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup baking cocoa
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup black strong coffee 1 Tbsp coffee with 8 oz boiling water
• 1 cup buttermilk OR combine 1 Tbsp vinegar with 1 cup milk OR 1 cup equivalent of buttermilk powder & water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Pudding Frosting

• 1 cup milk
• 1 3.4 ounce box instant vanilla pudding
• 8 ounce cream cheese room temperature, leave out for at least an hour or two
• 12 ounce tub of Cool Whip put out on the counter 10-15 minutes before making the frosting

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

• Grease a 13 x 9 inch cake pan (or two 9 inch round pans for round cake or makes about 36 cupcakes) and line the bottom of the pans with wax paper cut to size.
• In a mixing bowl, sift all dry ingredients together. Then take a rubber spatula and thoroughly mix the dry ingredients together.
• Mix in all of the wet ingredients and do a quick mix with your rubber spatula and then mix with an electric mixer until well blended but don't overmix.
• Pour evenly between pans and bake at 350 degrees for 28-30 minutes or until after inserting a toothpick into the center of a cake, it reveals just crumbs.

Pudding Frosting

• Mix vanilla pudding mix with milk in one bowl, using an electric mixer, until pudding sets. In another bowl whip up cream cheese using an electric mixer. Add cool whip to the cream cheese and mix together well.
• Add vanilla pudding to the cream cheese-cool whip mixer and mix together well.
• Store in the refrigerator until the cake cools. After frosting the cake, the cake will need to be stored in the refrigerator.
• For best results, after frosting the cake, refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Tips:

• The first thing I do when making this recipe, is to brew the coffee. That way it's mostly cooled by the time I mix it in and it doesn't start cooking the eggs.
• A great time saver tip (that I learned from a CakeCentral.com forum and use ALL of the time) is to mix all of your dry ingredients ahead of time and put in a plastic zip bag or a plastic container, this way when you're ready to bake, you just pour into your mixing bowl and add wet ingredients. It's kind of like making your own cake mix. Be sure it's sealed tight and you date the container so you know when you mixed it.

Notes

Cake recipe from Barefoot Contessa at Home. Frosting recipe from my friends, Joe & Tricia.

One more thing, I wanted to say happy birthday to my friend, Julie. We have the same name and birthday!

And huge thanks to our friends, Joe & Tricia, who introduced me to this recipe. I actually never really liked chocolate cake until I had Tricia's cake!

For more awesome chocolate cake recipes:

Blackberry Red Wine Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Frosting

Disclosure: This post does contain affiliate links.

The post The Best Chocolate Cake Ever with Pudding Frosting appeared first on The Little Kitchen.