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a close up of four green Grinch pistachio flavored cupcakes on a cake plate

Grinch Pistachio Cupcakes with French Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Grinch Cupcakes are perfect for any Grinch movie night, Christmas Party, Dr. Seuss birthday Party, or just any old day! Easy pistachio cupcakes are frosted with homemade French vanilla buttercream that's been dyed green and topped with the Grinch's little red heart. These cute Grinch Heart Cupcakes will be a hit!
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Frosting time 20 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 24 cupcakes
Calories 246 kcal

Ingredients
  

Grinch Cupcake Ingredients

French Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

Instructions
 

Directions for the Grinch Pistachio Cupcakes

  • Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a standard muffin tin with green liners.
  • Add the cake mix to a large mixing bowl. Using an electric hand or stand mixer on medium speed, mix in the water, oil, and eggs until well incorporated.
  • Add in the pistachio pudding and green food coloring, if you're using it (see note below), and continue to mix until incorporated.
  • Use a large scoop to fill each cupcake well ⅔ full.
  • Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Cool in the muffin pan for 15 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Directions for the French Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

  • Using an electric hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and beat until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).
  • Mix in the vanilla extract.
  • Slowly mix in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, while adding a bit of the flavored creamer in between each cup. Continue to mix for 1 minute or until creamy.
  • Add the green gel food coloring until desired color is achieved. For the Grinch green, I just used a light green gel food coloring I had. You can also mix a smidge of yellow and about half as much green.
  • Prepare piping bag with a fancy tip and fill the bag with frosting. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
  • Add a red candy heart to each cupcake.

Notes

Red candy hearts can be hard to find but really make this cupcakes look Grinchy. I got mine on Amazon.
Using pistachio pudding makes these cupcakes ever so slightly green. I had intended to use green food coloring to make the cupcakes match the frosting, but I forgot and didn't go back and re-make them. So mine are more white than green in the photos, but I think they would be more Grinchy if the cupcakes were the same color as the frosting.

Nutrition

Calories: 246kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 254mg | Potassium: 27mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 215IU | Vitamin C: 0.02mg | Calcium: 55mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword cupcakes, pistachio, vanilla
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