Pepperminty Pink Cupcakes

So we did a Girls Night In last weekend and I couldn't resist baking some cupcakes. My dear friend's husband cooked dinner & it was absolutely delish!! I tell ya, when I get married I hope my husband is able to cook atleast 1 dish as tasty as this meal was. We had roasted chicken & garlic steamed rice. He marinaded the chicken in lemon juice for about 6 hours then sprinkled it generously with Montreal chicken seasoning & roasted it to golden perfection. The rice was steamed to gooey deliciousness with slivers of garlic scattered throughout. Needless to say, I was stuffed. Not sure how any of us found room in our overly filled bellies for a Pepperminty Pink cupcake, but we did & they got good reviews I'm happy to report. The cupcake baking was very spur of the moment, and the cake recipe was a new one for me. They're just a plain ol vanilla cake, but I hadn't yet found a standard vanilla/yellow cupcake recipe so I gave them a shot. They had a nice flavor and were sufficiently moist, so they will make a reappearance sometime soon I can assure you. The frosting, well I can't really supply a recipe for that, it was a little of this and a little of that. Vanilla cupcakes 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/4 cups sugar 1/3 cup shortening 1 cup milk 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 egg Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Beat all ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes more, scraping bowl frequently. Fill muffin cups half full. Bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 2 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, cool completely. Pepperminty Pink Buttercream Recipe went something like this: 1 stick softened butter 4 cups confecctioners sugar 3 Tablespoons milk peppermint extract to taste Using electric mixer, cream butter, gradually add sugar, beating well to incorporate. Add milk & peppermint extract, beat until fluffy. I would recommend to start with 1 teaspoon of extract, once you have combined in well, taste & continue adding by half teaspoon until it suits your taste. Then add red/pink coloring until it's pink enough for ya!