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The Grinch is a popular film that children and adults adore. A Grinch is someone who is grumpy and can’t find the pleasure in things and the film is based around a character called The Grinch who hates everything to do with Christmas. Of course, there is a happy ending as The Grinch saves Christmas and becomes a loveable character who loves Christmas once more.

So while The Grinch is a great Christmas film, it can also be a popular theme in different ways and one of them can be food. These Grinch Cupcakes with French Vanilla Buttercream Frosting are just a prime example of taking a theme to the extreme and I am here for it. Delicious tasting, striking in looks, they are the ideal showstopper to pull out at any time of year, but especially at Christmas.

So without further ado, here is everything you need to know to recreate these easy Grinch cupcakes.

Ingredients needed to make the Pistachio Grinch Cupcakes with French Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Here is everything that you need to to create the delectable Grinch cupcakes.

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 15.25-ounce white cake mix
1 cup water
⅓ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1-3.35-ounce box of pistachio pudding
Cupcake liners
Green and yellow gel food coloring

Frosting Ingredients

1 ½ sticks salted butter, this needs to be softened
½ teaspoon salt
4 cups of powdered sugar
3 tablespoons of French vanilla coffee creamer, half and half or whole milk
Green and yellow gel food coloring
1 large piping bag with 1 large round frosting tip
Red candy hearts

Ingredients needed to make Grinch Cupcakes

How to make the Pistachio Grinch Cupcakes

These ingredients will make around 24 cupcakes.

Directions for Cupcakes:

First of all preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray or line a standard muffin tin ready for the cupcakes to bake.
Next up add the cake mix to a large mixing bowl. Using an electric hand or stand mixer, mix in your water, oil, and eggs on medium speed until well combined.
The next step would be to fold in the pistachio pudding to the cupcake mixture.
Add batter into the muffin tin until each is about 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Make sure you allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. This avoids the frosting melting and creating one big mess.

Directions for Frosting:

Now for the fun part, the frosting. Using an electric hand or stand mixer, cream the butter, and beat until light and fluffy (this will be 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 food coloring until the desired color is achieved. For the Grinch green, I just used green gel food coloring I had. Some people have mixed 4-6 drops of yellow and 2-3 drops of green. Up to you!
Prepare a piping bag and fill the bag with frosting and frost your cupcakes.
Add a large red candy heart to each one of the cupcakes.

Enjoy your Christmas Grinch Cupcakes with French Vanilla Buttercream Frosting!

Grinch Cupcakes Before and after with green frosting and red candy hearts on top

Recipe notes and tips

While the recipe is straightforward, it is always nice to have a few different tips and suggestions to make things easier. So here are some of the recipe notes and tips to help you out:

Always leave the cupcakes to cool completely before adding the frosting and decoration. The longer the better. If the cupcakes are too hot the frosting will melt and create a big mess.
If children are helping, make sure they are supervised when using a stand or hand mixer.
Make sure you store the cupcakes in an airtight container to ensure maximum freshness.
If you are making these cupcakes for an event or special occasion, a great tip is to make the cakes a day before. If you leave the frosting till the last moment they will look amazing and taste like perfection. It will save you a lot of time when preparing for the party.

Variations to try

Like with many recipes there will always be variations to try. Here are a few suggestions.

If you want a different theme then follow the same process for the cake recipe and choose different color and theme for the decoration. This could serve as the perfect basis for many creations in the future for different events and get-togethers. You could use the green basis for events like St Patricks Day, Earth Day or other christmas themes. These cupcakes could also be used as a base for a Minecraft theme.
If you don’t like pistachio flavor then change it to a different mix or double up on the white cake mix.
If you do love pistachio then this could be your new favorite recipe for pistachio cupcakes.

FAQs

Like with any recipe, there are often questions that need answering. I thought I would share some of the common questions here, but if you have any comments or questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch directly.

Can it be made ahead of time?

A great tip is to make these cupcakes ahead of time. This is because they can be fiddly with the frosting. So if you are making them for a specific event you could make these the day before, or even just leave the frosting until you need them and just get to the cooling stage.

How should I store the Grinch cupcakes?

If you do need to store these cupcakes, the best way would be in an airtight container at room temperature. They should last a few days stored that way, although, they likely won’t last too long.

Can I freeze the Grinch cupcakes after they are cooked?

If you do plan on freezing these cupcakes it would be best to do so after the stage of cooking and before you frost them. This is because the frosting and decoration won’t do too well in the freezer, but the cake mixture itself will.

Hope you love this Grinch cupcakes recipe.