UPcakes

These cupcakes are based off one of the best movies, UP! Months and months ago Loree tagged me in this pin for UPcakes, so for her 25th birthday I surprised her by making them for her, never mentioning another thing about them since she pinned it!

I made 24 mini vanilla bean cupcakes and one jumbo vanilla cupcake to complete this dessert! I found the recipe off of Pinterest but it originally comes from Gimme Some Oven, www.gimmesomeoven.com.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out (cut the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds)
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream (avoid non-fat versions)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup whole milk

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Add sugar and vanilla bean to a large bowl and beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Add in cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, beat for additional 1 minute until well mixed. Add butter and mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes until well combined.
3. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, Greek yogurt, and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium until just combined.
4. Slowly add milk and beat on low until just combined. The batter will be thin.
5. Fill the cupcake liners just over 1/2 full. Bake for 14 minutes at 350 and test to see if they are done. Cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients for Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean (optional)
3-4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Steps for Frosting
1. Add the butter and beat on medium speed for 1 minute until smooth.
2. Add powdered sugar, salt, vanilla extract, the seed of a vanilla bean and about 2 tablespoons milk, beat on low speed for about a minute. Increase to medium speed and beat for an additional minute until smooth. Add an extra tablespoon or two of milk if you want a thinner frosting.

Decorating the UPcakes
1. Separate frosting into 4 different bowls and color to your choosing (I did pastels- blue, green, yellow, and pink). Save some frosting aside for the big cupcake.
2. I used a round tip for these cupcakes and decorated each of the little cupcakes, alternating the colors.
3. Frost the larger cupcake with the vanilla frosting with the round tip and use food coloring pens to draw on the house.
4. Arrange the smaller cupcakes above the larger cupcake and using your food coloring pens add some balloon strings! I used a baking sheet to make transporting easier.




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