Hydrangea bushes are in full bloom all over my neighborhood right now. I love all varieties of hydrangeas, but my favorite is this traditional shaped, blue-purple color. I picked a few this weekend and brought them inside as inspiration for cupcakes. I’ve seen cupcakes that resembled hydrangea flowers before, but I’ve never given it a try. It was much easier than I’d imagined and I was very happy with the results!
Hydrangea Cupcakes
~ Directions ~
I made a batch of my favorite chocolate cupcakes and delicious vanilla cream cheese frosting. Then I colored half of the frosting blue, and half purple (mixing a few shades of blues and purples to get a good color match to the real hydrangeas). When making the frosting, use very little cream (less than 1 tablespoon), because the coloring will add some liquid, and you need the frosting to be pretty stiff to hold a nice shape.
If you’d like to match other hydrangeas, you could certainly use other color options, like light blue and medium blue, or two shades of pink. But I do think that frosting these with two colors (instead of just one) really added to the effect.
I filled my piping bag with the two colors of frosting, side by side. Once your bag is filled (1/2 to 2/3 full), you may want to just squeeze some frosting into a bowl, until you see both colors coming out.
Then, using a Wilton 2D tip (a large closed star tip), I piped large, loose star shapes around the edge of the cupcake, and then filled in the center. If the frosting starts getting too soft (no longer holds a nice shape), then put the whole bag of frosting in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to let the frosting to firm up a bit.
Now I want to plan a pretty tea party just so I can make these again!
How to Make Hydrangea Cupcakes
Hydrangea Cupcakes
Ingredients
Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa best quality available
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract best quality available
- 1 cup boiling water
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter 1 stick/8 Tablespoons, set at room temp about 10 minutes, but should still be cool
- 8 oz cream cheese directly from fridge
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract always use pure vanilla extract if possible
- 4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
- 1 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream heavy whipping cream (or milk- although I do like the richness that cream adds)
Instructions
Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes
- Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.
- Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).
- Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)
- Bake cupcakes for approximately 18-22 minutes.
- Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add cream cheese and blend until fully combined and smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
- Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
- Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)
Frosting the Cupcakes
- Color half of the frosting blue, and half purple (mixing a few shades of blues and purples to get a good color match to the real hydrangeas). (When making the frosting, use very little cream (less than 1 tablespoon), because the coloring will add some liquid, and you need the frosting to be pretty stiff to hold a nice shape.)
- Fill your piping bag with the two colors of frosting, side by side. Once your bag is filled (1/2 to 2/3 full), you may want to just squeeze some frosting into a bowl, until you see both colors coming out.
- Then, using a Wilton 2D tip (a large closed star tip), pipe large, loose star shapes around the edge of the cupcake, and then fill in the center. Repeat for all cupcakes.
stunning!
I made these today for my birthday and they turned out beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Glory, love your site – the best I’ve seen as you keep things so real. Just wondering which colour gels you mixed to obtain such a close match to the real thing? Thank you from Sydney, Australia.
I made these today for my birthday….and for my first try and also being an amateur they turned out beautiful!
Beautiful cupcakes, love the colors. what kind of gel coloring and what colors? is it wilton?
wow these cupcakes are so beautiful!! I was just wondering if you would be able to tell me what brand of gel colouring you use and also what the two colours that you used are? Thanks 🙂
I’ve had this recipe saved for about a year now, tried it once before but made my icing too soft, and just got around to trying it again! I made the icing with barely any cream this time and I think they turned out beautiful! Thanks for the great idea!
Wow these are so beautiful, and I absolute love hydrangeas. I have to give this a try. These are so gorgeous.
Making these today and will link readers, here, to your lovely page! Nice work and lovely photos! Christina 🙂
Hi, I love your recipes as a matter of fact I enjoy baking since I came across glorious treats. I would appreciate some advice on a chocolate/vanilla marble cake. I have never done one before so i will be most grateful for some tips. Thank you for all the wonderful recipes and I await your reply