Mardi Gras Cupcakes French Vanilla Butter Rum
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Fun colorful Mardi Gras Cupcakes flavored with buttered rum and french vanilla cake are perfect for Mardi Gras to celebrate Fat Tuesday!
We love cupcakes for every occasion like these Lemon Filled Cupcakes for Easter, Bailey’s Irish Cream Cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day, Red White and Blue Cupcakes for Fourth of July and Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes for Valentine’s Day.
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The King Cake might be the traditional sweet on Mardi Gras, but these fun cupcakes are decorated with traditional Mardi Gras colors: purple represents justice, green represents faith and gold represents power.
Table of Contents
LET’S MAKE MARDI GRAS CUPCAKES
(full printable recipe at the end of this post)
Don’t be intimidated by the long recipe, it’s all really very easy. They are just as delicious if you leave the frosting white, so if you don’t want to mess with the food color and three colors of frosting, you can just skip that step!
French Vanilla Butter Rum Cupcakes
Preheat your oven to 350° F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake papers.
Place French Vanilla cake mix, French vanilla pudding mix, cinnamon, nutmeg, eggs, vanilla extract, cold milk, melted butter and rum in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on low for 1 minute. Continue beating on medium-high for 1 more minute. Do not over mix.
Pour cupcake batter into lined cupcake pans and bake for 22-24 mins. Cool on a rack.
Next, you will make a Butter Rum Glaze with butter, water, sugar, and rum in a saucepan on the stove.
Once the cupcakes have baked and cooled, you will dip the tops in the butter rum glaze and top with buttercream frosting!
How To Decorate Mardi Gras Cupcakes
(this post contains affiliate links)
The hardest part about these Mardi Gras cupcakes was piping the three colors of buttercream on top. Wilton has this 3-COLOR COUPLER that would be a big help! – note, I did NOT use this, but it has great reviews on Amazon.
Get the Wilton 3-COLOR COUPLER HERE
These cupcakes were FAN-TAS-TIC!
Seriously… GO…make these… now!! My kitchen smelled SOOOO wonderful even the next day!
LIKE THESE MARDI GRAS CUPCAKES?! PIN IT!
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Mardi Gras Cupcakes | French Vanilla Butter Rum
The King Cake might be the traditional sweet on Mardi Gras, but these fun cupcakes are decorated with traditional Mardi Gras colors: purple represents justice, green represents faith and gold represents power.
Ingredients
French Vanilla Butter Rum Cupcakes
- 1 French Vanilla cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines)
- 1 (4 serving size) instant French vanilla pudding mix
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup cold milk
- 1/2 cup melted butter (not margarine)
- 1/2 cup rum (I used Capt. Morgan which is a spiced rum)
Butter Rum Glaze
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup rum
Butter Cream Frosting
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- gel food coloring
Instructions
French Vanilla Butter Rum Cupcakes- Preheat the oven to 350. Line cupcake pan with cupcake papers.
- Place all cupcake ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on low for 1 minute. Continue beating on medium high for 1 more minute. Do not over mix.
- Pour cupcake batter into lined cupcake pans and bake for 22-24 mins. Cool on a rack.
- Melt butter in a saucepan and stir in the water and sugar. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and slowly stir in the rum.
- Let the glaze cool for just a few minutes.
- Dip the tops of the cooled cupcakes in butter rum glaze.
- Using an electric mixer, cream butter and shortening in large mixing bowl until light and fluffy .
- Beat in vanilla. Add sugar, one cup at a time until well blended. Once the sugar is completely incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the whipping cream, beating at the highest speed until super fluffy, about one minute.
- If you wish to add color to your frosting, like I did for these Mardi Gras colors, use the gel paste food coloring. It’s stronger and more vibrant.
- Pipe frosting* on top of glazed cupcake then drizzle a little more glaze over the butter cream frosting and top with chunky sugar sprinkles.
Notes
*I have to be honest, piping 3 colors was NOT an easy task, only about 1/2 of my cupcakes came out looking good, the others were either missing a color, or the colors started to mix and looked gray or brow!! How did I do it?- I divided my frosting into 3 bowls and colored each. I then spooned a big scoop of each color into the bag, trying the best I could to get them side by side. I then squeezed the frosting into another bowl until all three color started to come out—then I piped onto the cupcakes, using my 1M tip. UPDATE: This Wilton 3-color coupler would work! and it has GREAT reviews
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
-
KitchenAid 7-Quart Pro Stand Mixer -
Nonstick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan (2)
-
Wilton Disposable 16-Inch Decorating Bags
-
JELL-O French Vanilla Instant Pudding & Pie Filling Mix (3.4 oz Box)
-
Wilton Icing Colors, 12-Count Gel-Based Food Color
-
Duncan Hines Signature French Vanilla Cake
-
Wilton ColorSwirl 3 Color Coupler
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 393Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 83mgSodium: 362mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 0gSugar: 22gProtein: 2g
Nutrition information is estimated based on the ingredients and cooking instructions as described in each recipe and is intended to be used for informational purposes only. Please note that nutrition details may vary based on methods of preparation, origin, and freshness of ingredients used.
Hi there, I'm Cheryl!
As a wife, mom, and caffeine enthusiast, my journey has taken me from bustling mornings with my family to sharing delicious recipes, home care tips, and heartfelt decorating insights with wonderful readers like you. My love for baking, photography, and tidiness shines through every post I craft. Dive into my world and discover the art of homemaking, one tidy moment at a time. Read more...
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Oh Cheryl these look and sound fantastic!!!
Oh Cheryl these look and sound fantastic!!!
I'm guessing the melted butter in the cupcake portion is 1/2 cup??? or stick???
These sound soooo good!
And how do you stay so slim when you're always making these yummy treats?
lovely. where is your social networking repost option on your posts? you have no easy way to post to Twitter or Facebook.
You are one ah-mazing baker!!! Those not only look perfect but they sound delicious!!!
Kelly- thanks!!?
Lisa- yes 1/2 cup of butter- thanks for pointing that out – I've fixed it! AND I fixed it in the printable version.
Lesa – I used to have social networking buttons – they must have gotten lost – I just re-added them! Thanks for letting me know!!
Robin – they are one of my new FAVS!!!!
Oh those are amazing for sure.. Go Saints…
They are beautiful, Cheryl! 🙂 Hope you might stop by today. I have a Giveaway up to celebrate my new look, and Decorating Dilemmas goes up tonight. 🙂
Oh my! Those are just amazing! Great job on using the 3 colors! Thanks so much for joining in the fun at Cupcake Tuesday!
~Liz
Yum…those look great too! Butter Cream Frosting…good stuff.
These look so pretty – and they sound delicious too!
Oh. My. Word. These look amazing. And are SO beautiful!! Rock on girl!
Blessings-
Amanda
I don't keep vegetable shortening on hand… could I use 2 cups butter in the frosting instead?
I found this butter cream frosting recipe on the foodnetwork website; think it will work well with the cupcakes? (Can you tell I'm trying to avoid going to the store?!)
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream
Perfect for Mardi Gras!
I feel a BUSINESS comin on!!!
You go girl!
XXOOXX
Delighted to see my fave…inkOBSESSIONdesign as one of your sponsors! yeah! xxooxx
Yum! Love your pics too!
They are so pretty and sound yummy!! Thanks for linking to TMTT.
Enjoyed watching your "flat" TidyMom Blissdom adventures via Twitter.
Rachel – there are many variations for Butter Cream – you can make it with only butter….the shortening makes it hold up a little better – I actually used an only butter recipe when I made the Sweetheart Cherry Cake.
Here's that recipe…I would just not add the almond extract for this one:
Butter Cream Icing (from Lucky Leaf)
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 cups (1 pound) confectioners' sugar, sifted
2-4 tablespoons milk
food coloring (optional)
WHOA! I don't usually do recipes, but I consider these pretty essential baking. These should be illegal they sound so good.
Fleur
xx
Yummy! These look delicious. I can't wait to make them for my family and eat them all myself. 🙂 I know that's probably what I'll do!
Splendid! Just splendid! Well done!
oooh! can you just email me one of those please? They look awesome.
Wow these look great! I love mardi gras season, and last year I even made a king's cake!
They look fantastic! I can just imagine how wonderful they smell 🙂
Hi Cheryl. 🙂 you are the cupcake QUEEN! You make the most beautiful and delicious-looking desserts! I love seeing these posts.
What a fabulous idea! I was thinking of trying to make a king cake with the kids, but I might just have to make cupcakes instead.
Oh my …Oh my…Oh my!
I JUST HAVE to make those!
I love how you did the icing! Thanks for the instructions on how to do it.
Made them, loved them, shared them with a friend (who was supposed to give one to his wife and kids) — he ate them all!
Oh MY! Those sound delicious, Cheryl! You are the Cupcake Queen!!!
YUM! Those look gorgeous and SOUND delicious!!!
I'm so sad that I never got a Flat Tidy Mom pic at Blissdom :0(
LOVE your recipes!
AS ALWAYS THEY LOOK YUMMYLICIOUS!!! A tip for piping colors is to paint the inside of your bag with the colors you are using. Just a stripe of paste food color from top to bottom of the bag.Hope I made myself clear.Not great at explainig myself.
I made them for a friend's B-day this weekend and they were a HUGE hit! Thanks for the recipe! And the Buttercream frosting with only butter was perfect!
I love your Mardi Gras cupcakes and the pictures are so wonderful. I made king cake cupcakes last year for our friends who moved to New Orleans. I wish I would have found your frosting idea then as I only went with one color.
I've heard that it's easier to pipe the different colors if you use an icing spatula to put the different colors in the bag. They stay separate a little more easily. I haven't tried it myself though. Now I have inspiration, though! 🙂
Have you tried putting a line of the gel colors down the sides of the pastry bag? Then you just fill it with white buttercream and the three colors dye the icing as you ice the cupcakes? That might help keep them from mixing!
I would love if you link this to the French Obsession on Feb 1st ! WOW I love it !!
Hugs
Frenchy
Fun and colorful idea for your cup cake frosting! I love Mardi Gras, I used to go everyday when it was in season when i lived in NO.
Cheryl, I’d totally hide a plastic baby in one of these for a King-Cake experience! They’re adorable!
Gorgeous! I love the swirled colors.
These look great! I love mardi gras and the colors! You captured them perfectly!
I am making these cupcakes right now. I am excited, they smell great. However, the mix is thicker than normal cake mix and is almost like a paste and I had to force it off the spoon. Is that normal??
Thanks, Angela
love these!! Happy Mardi Gras
Butter rum glaze? Never had it but I’m IN. Sounds amazing! I never knew what the Mardi Gras colors meant. Thanks for enlightening me!
These look great!! Is there any substitute for the rum, though? I want to bring these in for a Mardis Gras party in my class and I don’t want to get in trouble for having alcohol in them. Would coffee work as a substitute?
Those look SO perfect for Mardi Gras!
Wow, what a fun and festive addition to any Mardi Gras celebration! I love how you added the Buttered Rum into the glaze for a punch of flavor and shine!
You are in my Mardi Gras feature today
these are fabulous!!! come link….my followers love all things party! my linky is on Tuesdays, but it is still open 🙂
ohgoodgolly…it would be tough to eat just one! This one is perfect for my sister’s upcoming birthday…many thanks for sharing your creative recipe.
Arrived via TCB…cheers!
Piping three colors of icing, I use disposable bags, put each color in their own bag, then carefully load them in a large pastry bag with the Wilton1M tip this works well with two colors, it’s a little tricky with three but it keeps the colors from mixing in the bag.