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Paintball Themed Cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing

I could have used a little more practice decorating lol

Hello, Hello! How is everyone doing this Monday?! I hope everyone had a much better week last week than myself.

 I  had quite the week, let me tell you...ughhhh. I won't drag ya down with the details but I will tell you how scary it is to hit a deer. Not just a little deer but a MASSIVE buck. I have lived in the woods my whole life and have never hit a deer. And I will be having nightmares forever because of this!

Anyways, at least I'm safe and no serious injuries. The same cannot be said for my little car.



But I had a much better weekend filled with family and fun! It was my great Aunt's 80th Surprise Birthday party, and boy was she surprised! I wish I had taken pictures because it was so lovely to see family I don't ever get to see and to see how surprised my aunt was. I blame the wine for making me miss the photo ops lol. And Sunday was just as wonderful! I spent the day with my sister in NYC strolling through beautiful Central Park and went ice skating at Bryant Park later that night.

Me in Central Park





Central Park. How pretty are the trees?!

 Speaking of better things, whats better then a good old fashion vanilla cupcake? A friend of mine asked me to make cupcakes for her brothers birthday. I asked her what he liked and she said paintball, and all things boys. As soon as I heard paintball I knew what I wanted to do.

I thought of paint splatters and targets. I looked online for some inspiration and found an awesome cupcake cake where you pull apart the cupcakes which are lined up and decorated as one big cake. It had this great white background with a giant red target and random paint splatters. I was planning on this, but then had too much to take care of being that I am working on getting my car fixed, finding a car to drive and all that jazz.

So instead I just made some vanilla cream cheese frosting and saved some to color for the decorating.

I had originally planned on getting really elaborated with some gum paste decorating and fondant targets but again, that deer took all my time.

These ended up being quite simple. The longest part was mixing the icing into the colors and putting in the pastry bags. After frosting the cupcakes with the non-colored vanilla icing I used the colored icing to make the paint splatters and targets. Then places matching Gobstopper candies to put in the center of the paint splatter. The designs are easier than they look, you can practice on some paper or a plate first.

Here is a simple yet delicious vanilla cupcake recipe and an even simpler vanilla cream cheese icing recipe.

These will be perfect for any boy, or teen boy, or even just skip the the decorating and have some delicious vanilla vanilla cupcakes!

 <3Enjoy!

In my lovely boxes from BakeABox.com

Vanilla Cupcakes

adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 large egg , room temperature
• 2 large egg yolks , room temperature
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees & line cupcake pan with paper liners.
2. Sift  together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in  mixing bowl.
3. Beat together butter and sour cream for a few seconds, then egg, followed by the egg yolks and vanilla. B
4. Add to flour mixture and beat at medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
5. Divide batter evenly among cups of prepared tin (I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup).
6. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
7. Remove the cupcakes and let cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
• 6oz cream cheese, room temp
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2-3 cups powder sugar

1. Beat butter and cream cheese together until blended and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla.
3. Sift in powder sugar 1 cup at a time mixing completely each time.
4. Taste as you go and adjust amount of sugar to your liking. If it gets too think a drop or two of milk will help thin it out.

To decorate:

• Food coloring of your choice, I love these Wilton ones!
• 1 package of Wonka Gobstoppers

1. Spread a layer of the icing over each cupcake using a small flat spatula to create a nice smooth surface.
2. With remaining icing separate into separate, smaller bowls.
3. Add coloring of your choice to each bowl, If doing target's I recommend using red. For paint splatters, any colors are great!
4. Once colors are mixed, scoop into small pastry bags with small rounded tip fitted. OR use small sand which baggies and cut a small snip in the bottom corner once the bag is filled.

To make targets:

 Using red colored icing, simply make one large circle around the outer edge of the frosted cupcake, followed by a smaller one inside of that circle. Finish with a dot in the middle of the cupcake.

To make paint splatters:

Using color of your choice start in the center of the cupcake and going outwards from there make lines of varied lengths.

Place a matching colored gobstopper in the middle of the lines.

*The best way to do this is to just use a picture as a reference and try to recreate it*