Practice Cupcakes

Normally I call up our favorite bakery in Huntsville when I need something for a party, but for Sullivan's first birthday party I am going to make her cupcakes. (Wish me luck!) Her party colors are lime green and hot pink and we're doing a cupcake theme. Everything for the party is coming together perfectly, but I had to make sure the cupcakes would turn out delicious and cute. After trying out a couple of buttercream frosting recipes over the last few months, I finally found a great one. Thank you Paula Deen! I had originally planned to make the cupcakes from scratch, but time will be a bit of a factor on the day of the party. Someone gave me a recipe that uses a cake mix as a base and then you change up the other ingredients. A nice compromise - works for me. I've ordered hot pink cupcake liners, will use white buttercream frosting (I didn't like the way the pink food coloring thinned out the icing and I don't have time to hunt down hot pink powdered food color) and lime green sprinkles. Here are a few of the better cupcakes from this weekend's practice batch - forgive the paper plate please. I hope Sullivan will like them!