Watermelon Cupcakes
These cupcakes are soft and fluffy with juicy watermelon flavor. They are swirled high with pink watermelon buttercream and garnished with black sesame seeds, which look like tiny watermelon seeds.You'll need 1 dram bottle of LorAnn concentrated watermelon flavoring oil for this recipe, which is about 1 teaspoon. See blog post for shopping links.
Ingredients
Watermelon cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt or other fine grain salt
- 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon LorAnn super concentrated watermelon flavoring oil
- 3 large egg whites at room temperature
- 1/2 cup whole milk at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon neon green food color
Watermelon buttercream
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon LorAnn super concentrated watermelon flavoring oil
- 1/2 teaspoon neon pink food color
- 1/2 teaspoon super red food color
- 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
Instructions
Watermelon cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pans with 15 green paper liners.
- Place the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer add the butter and granulated sugar. Beat until well combined and fluffy. Add the watermelon flavoring oil and beat until combined. Add the egg whites and beat until smooth, about 1 minute (do not overmix).
- Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture and mix until just combined. Pour in the milk and mix well. Add the remaining flour and beat until just combined. Add in the neon green food color; mix until a consistent color forms with no streaks of white batter remaining. Add more food color if needed to achieve a bright green hue (color intensity with vary from brand to brand).
- IMPORTANT: Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full – do not overfill! This not only prevents overflow but also helps them bake evenly. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick tester comes out clean. These cupcakes are light and spongy, and they won't crown much during baking. They'll rise up but keep a mostly flat top.
- Let cool in the pans 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Watermelon buttercream
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, cream the butter until lightened in color, about 3 minutes.
- Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low speed until partially combined. Add the milk while mixing 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture loosens to piping consistency (you may need to add more or less milk, depending on how much cornstarch is in your confectioners’ sugar).
- Add the watermelon flavoring oil, the neon pink food color and the super red food color. Beat on high speed until the ingredients are combined, and the hue is consistent pink-red. Add more food color if needed to achieve a brilliant hue.
- Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large closed star decorator piping tip (Ateco #849 or #846).
- When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe a double swirl with a peak onto a cupcake and immediately sprinkle on a few black sesame seeds. Work one at a time piping then sprinkling so the seeds will stick to the frosting.
- Serve cupcakes at your next barbeque, summer party, pool party, or kid’s birthday party.
- Store the cupcakes airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days. Refrigerated cupcakes will keep slightly longer; bring to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Other 'Seeds': If you have mini chocolate chips or chocolate sprinkles on hand, they work well as watermelon 'seeds'.
Make-Ahead and Storage: You can bake the cupcakes a day in advance and store them unfrosted in an airtight container. Frost them the day of serving for the freshest look and texture. The buttercream can also be made ahead and stored in the fridge for up to 5 days. Just bring to room temperature and rewhip before using.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!