Last month one of my favorite bloggers had a giveaway. Guess what? I won! It’s almost 20 days later I’m still completely jazzed. I’ve only won one other giveaway in my life. The best part was the giveaway was for Giselle at Baking in Heels 1,000 Facebook fan giveaway. It was really fun to be apart of Giselle reaching her goal. She is super sweet and makes fancy sugar cookies. Stop by and send Giselle some love. I’m sure it would make her day.
So, I won a bunch of Mardi Gras themed baking stuff.
and some Mardi Gras colored sanding sugar

King (cup) Cakes for Mardi Gras
Ingredients
Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes:
- 2/3 cup butter
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/4 cups milk
Almond Buttercream:
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar sifted
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 5 to 6 tablespoons milk
Instructions
Cupcakes:
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Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
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In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Set both aside.
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners.
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In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat for 2 minutes more until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture and milk in alternating additions, beginning and ending with the flour; beat on low speed after each addition just just combined (batter may look curdled).
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Spoon 1 tablespoon batter into the bottom of each muffin tin. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon brown sugar mixture over batter in each cup. Repeat, spooning 1 tablespoon batter, then 1 teaspoon brown sugar mixture into each muffin tin.
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Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in cupcake pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from tin and cool completely on wire racks.
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While cupcakes cool, prepare buttercream.
Almond Buttercream:
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Beat butter in large mixing bowl for 1 minute until fluffy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar 1 cup at a time until well combined with butter. Add extracts. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired frosting consistency is achieved.
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Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes with a star tip. While frosting is wet, sprinkle cupcakes with yellow, purple, and green sanding sugar (one third of the cupcake top per color). Gently shake off extra sugar once frosting has set. Top with Mardi Gras themed cupcake pick if desired.
Recipe Notes
Don’t forget to sneak a little plastic baby onto the top of one of the cupcakes before you add the frosting. Just push the baby into the cupcake a little bit.
Julie the cupcakes look delicious! The day after Mardi Gras is a hot mess… Lots of trash and pieces of beads. Sadly enough I will not get to attend Mardi Gras this year. I've been on strict bed rest due to a small tear in the baby's placenta. The babys fine but I'm stuck in bed and no Mardi Gras for me.
Oh my! I'm glad to hear everything is stable. I hope your kinds make you purple milk and green pancakes with (gold) butter for breakfast so you can still get your Mardi Gras on. Hang in there mama!
Found you via the Linky Followers Blog Hop 2! Following you via Linky. Come visit my blog, when you have a moment to spare! Tera – http://www.eccentricleopard.com/ – Thanks!
Oh those look so good! Thanks for sharing the recipe! The cookie cutters are really cute too:)
You should be photo happy! Those look great! Thanks for linking up to Must Try Monday!
I just adore King Cake and this looks doable. I am pinning this! I am a new follower visiting from Keeping It Simple. Vicky from Mess For Less
What a fun recipe!! I've never seen this spin on King Cake, but it's so perfect!
Thanks so much for your sweet comment on my trifle!! Let me know if you try it out. 🙂
I'm following your fun blog on my way out!
this is my first mardis gras on the gulf coast. my little girlies will be so excited to try these.
Yum! I featured these on my FB page! Happy Mardi Gras!
My pleasure!
I'm following back! You girls are adorable. Love the paint smocks. I will definitely need to invest in some of those.
I hope they like them. The frosting and sugar combination on top makes the cupcakes wicked sweet, but still good.
Thanks so much Melissa. I'm going to mention the Blog Swap on my post tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to having my first guest post on someone else's blog and having someone guest post for me. Thanks for putting everything together!
Those look delicious. I'm going to have to give them a try. I was already following linky, but I added you to my bloglovin. I like it so much better. Stop by http://www.thenymelrosefamily.blogspot.com any time. Thanks for sharing.
I like the bloglovin reader SO much better too.
Oh yum!! I'm so jealous of your King Cake! Thanks for stopping by my blog- following you!
Love these! Love how you decorated them and they look delish! Visiting from Serendipity and Spice Manic Monday.
These look so elegant AND yummy! Thanks for sharing at oopsey daisy!