Lots and Lots of (mini!) Cupcakes

I got an order this weekend for a friend's birthday party. She said that she wanted 36 mini cupcakes. She was very specific - what flavors, how many of each flavor, what liner to use, how to decorate them - so I really didn't have much to do besides make them. (As opposed to when people leave the decorating up to me). Since there were only going to be twelve of each kind, I went on Allrecipes, where you can scale down the recipes. Since the batter for one regular sized cupcake makes three mini cupcakes, I scaled the cupcake recipes down to five (which would make 15 - 12 for the party and 3 for tasting :D ). 

First up: Chocolate. I have made this recipe in the past for full-sized cupcakes, and it worked great. They had huge domes. But for some reason in mini size they had flat tops. And they were chewy (but in the best way). Yum!  You can find the recipe here. 

Next: Red Velvet. I had never made this recipe before, but it looked very much like the red velvet cake recipes I have made in the past. These didn't spread out at all, which made them really cute. They were delicious - light and fluffy. You can find the recipe here. 

Finally: Vanilla. On Allrecipes, there was only one plain vanilla cupcake recipe. The reviews said that they were more like muffins, but I decided to go ahead. The had huge tops, and they were delicious, but the reviewers were right - they are more dense than cupcakes should be. But, everybody loved them and they would probably make excellent muffins. You can find the recipe here. 

For the icing, I used a simple vanilla buttercream recipe I found at BakingBites. (2 sticks butter, 4 cups powdered sugar, 2-4 tbsp milk, 2 tsp vanilla).

All of these recipes are delicious, and a hit at parties! I recommend you make one (or three!) of them. Have fun!