McCormick St. Patrick’s Day Giveaway (closed)

Can you believe we are already gearing up for St. Patrick’s day?! I can’t. But I can say I am so excited to announce a new giveaway. A McCormick Giveaway!

Last October, McCormick was kind enough to send me and 2 of my readers a fun Halloween kit, full of baking supplies. It was such a fun giveaway and the box was filled with so many great baking items. I just couldn’t resist another opportunity to partner with McCormick again!

 McCormick has agreed to give 3 of my lucky readers a fun gift set just in time for the holiday of luck!! This box if filled with lots of ingredients for the perfect St. Patrick’s Day treat!

The McCormick gift set includes:

1. Vanilla flavoring
2. Green food coloring
3. Peppermint Extract
4. Two packages of St. Patrick’s Day cupcake liners
5. Over 10 St. Patrick’s Day baking recipes

The giveaway is simple. Once you complete the following items, you will be entered to win. A winner will be announced on Monday the 12th and your prize will ship that afternoon! Ready for the rules?

McCormick St. Patrick’s  Baking Kit Giveaway Rules:

You must leave a comment on this blog post for every entry you submit

Mandatory:

Go the McCormick Facebook Page and tell them Stay Calm Cupcake sent you!

Extra Entries:

Follow my facebook page and leave a comment

Subscribe to my blog (on the top right hand side of the blog)

Follow me on Twitter and retweet about the contest. Use the tweet “@StayCalmCupcake is giving away a McCormick Halloween Kit!

Next week I will be featuring lots of yummy St. Patrick’s Day treats. So make sure  you stop back by and get some inspirtaion for making yummy green treats of your own!

Have a great weekend. Stay Sweet!

xo, Jill

Cinco De Mayo! Drink Up!

Adorable photo from we heartit.com

You absolutely CANNOT celebrate Cinco De Mayo without the Margarita! And what better way  to enjoy the fresh lime and tequilla combo, than in a cupcake version!

Enjoy mi amigos!! xoxo

Margarita Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 limes, zested and juiced
1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two muffin pans with cupcake liners. (Which I think is pretty obvious, but I figured I’d say it anyway)

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Using a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

One at a time, add in the eggs. Mix well after each addition.

Add in the lime juice, lime zest and vanilla and beat well. Make sure your lime zest is small rather than large chunks – it will give the cupcake better texture.

Beat the flour mixture into the bowl. Do this in three additions, starting with the flour mixture and adding the buttermilk after the first and second flour additions.

Fill the cupcake liners about half-full with the batter (Again, obvious)

Bake 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cupcakes will not brown so don’t be alarmed if they still look white.

Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes.

Tequilla Lime Buttercream

2 cups sugar
8 large egg whites
Pinch of sea salt (a pink is about ½ tsp.)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tsp of vanilla
3 tbsp. tequila (maybe more depending on the kind of day you’ve had)

Combine sugar, egg whites and salt in a medium sauce pan and heat until it reaches 160 degrees F and the sugar has completely dissolved.

Transfer to a stand mixer and beat on medium-high until stiff peaks form and it has cooled to room temperature. This takes awhile – so don’t get discouraged, just practice patience…or have a drink of that tequila.

Add in the butter, two tablespoons at a time — mixing well after each addition.

The mixture may start to look curdled…just keep mixing it and, eventually, it will look like frosting.

Stir in the lime juice and tequila.

**Before piping the frosting onto the cupcakes, I make a mixture of half lime half tequila to brush on the top of my cupcakes – This gives it a more authentic margarita taste vs. a lime cupcake with a kick. Trust me, you’ll want to do this **

Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes

Decorate with a slice of fresh lime (or a candy lime) and green sprinkles.

I added straws to mine because I thought it looked cute – but it’s not necessary.

Enjoy!

Key Lime Frosting and a Giveaway Winner!

Happy March 1^st lovelies!! You know what that means…I can finally start talking about St. Patrick’s Day. I’ve got some really yummy, festive, and fun recipes to share with you guys and I just can’t wait!

First things first though – let’s announce the winner of my Delightful Designs Giveaway!

Drum Roll Please…….

The Winner is SuckersbySteph! Congrats – I will email you today the details of your prize!

Now, on to a very green frosting recipe! I love this Key Lime Frosting and it’s perfect color to celebrate the luck of the Irish!!

What you will need:

• 1/2  cup  butter, softened
• (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, divided
• 1/3  cup  milk
• 1 key lime

Directions:

• Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add 1 cup powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended.
• Add milk, beating until blended. Gradually add remaining powdered sugar, beating until blended. Stir in 2 tbs grated lime rind and 3 tbs of lime juice.

Perfect for frosting Vanilla, Coconut, Strawberry, or Lemon Cupcakes!

Enjoy xoxo

Jill