Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting (Perfection!!)

July 20, 2011 § 4 Comments

I found it. FINALLY. The perfect vanilla cake-recipe.

I’ve had some disappointments in the past – the recipes I tried were a little too dense, a little too coarse, a little too dry, etc. But this, everyone, this is the absolute perfect combination of moist, light, and fluffines that will blow your mind.

Cupcakes are my major weakness. I immediately want one even after I hear the word “cupcake” being said, so the other day when I ordered 3-dozen cupcakess from Billy’s Bakery for our best-selling book’s Publisher, I knew I had to satisfy my need.  And I did. (A little too much.)

I am a fan of most bakery’s cupcakes in the city – Magnolia, Buttercream Bake Shop, tbsp, and Sugar Sweet Sunshine. I want to try all of them!

Frosting:

1. I love a light, whipped frosting so I highly recommend this one. I’m also a little paranoid lately about all the artificial chemicals in food-coloring so I made my own using crushed cherry-juice.  I think it was worth it and looks decent!

2. I know there’s an insane amount of pictures, but it’s because I think cupcakes are so dang cute.

Stephanie’s Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Makes 18 Cupcakes

Total preparation and cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 heaping tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 1/2 (1 1/4 cup) sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
  • 1/4 cup of milk

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. In a large bowl, combine your dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Using a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until nice and fluffy, around 2-3 minutes.
  4. Add vanilla, mix 1 minute.
  5. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each one. Mixture might look curdled, it’s all good!
  6. Add milk and oil, mix well.
  7. Add flour mixture in 2-3 installments, and mix until JUST combined. Over-mixing = death of a light, moist cake.
  8. Line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners, and add around 2 heaping tablespoons of batter to each.  They should look around 2/3-3/4 full.  Don’t put too much batter or else it will spill out of the pan.
  9. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes, mine took 19 minutes exactly.
  10. COOL COMPLETELY BEFORE FROSTING OR ELSE YOU WILL HAVE A FROSTING DISASTER!

Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Adapted from Billy’s Bakery 

Ingredients

  • 1/2 stick butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • Juice of 1 crushed cherry (optional)

Directions

  1. In a stand-mixer, cream butter until smooth – around 3 minutes.
  2. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, milk, and vanilla. Mix until desired consistency.
  3. I frosted half with white frosting, and half using the crushed-cherry-tinted ones. Go crazy!
ENJOY!!!*
*I sure did…

Blueberry Mochi Cupcakes

March 6, 2011 § 4 Comments

A friend sent me this recipe a couple weeks ago, and I knew I had to try it. I am glad I did, as this was so delicious!  Thanks, D&D! 🙂
A couple notes:
1. The original recipe was for a 9×13 cake, but I was in the mood for smaller (aka easier to eat) pieces so I made them into cupcakes.  If you want to make a cake using the same ingredients below, bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
2. The original recipe also called for 2 cups of sugar, which seemed like a bit much to me, so I reduced it to one cup.  I wish I had done 1 1/2 cups, because although it was still a little sweet with 1 cup, it would have been the perfect sweetness with a touch more sugar.  This was easily remedied by adding a little simple syrup to the tops of these cupcakes, which made them shiny and delicious!  I remember once while eating at Fatty Crab in New York (amazing food), they gave these mochi cakes that were soaked in a sweet syrup that reminded me of these blueberry mochi cupcakes I ended up with. I think next time, I will either add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more sugar to the recipe, or I will stick to the same and do my simple syrup topping.
3. While washing the blueberries, I added some white distilled vinegar to a bowl of water to clean them.  A coworker told me a few years ago that this was a great DIY fruit and vegetable wash, so I have been doing it since!  Just remember to rinse it one more time with water to get rid of any lingering vinegar undertones.

Blueberry Mochi Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz can)

1/4 cup of milk
4 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla 

1 pound mochiko (1 box)
1 carton of fresh blueberries washed well, or 1 frozen bag
Simple syrup topping* (optional) 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Combine melted butter and sugar in a bowl and mix well.  Add the evaporated milk and regular milk and mix well, until sugar is dissolved.
2. Break eggs into a separate bowl and mix together.  Pour the eggs into the milk/sugar mixture and whisk well.  Stir in vanilla and baking powder.
3. Add entire box of Mochiko sweet rice flour, and then stir well until the mixture is smooth.
4. Butter/grease 18-24 cupcake tins.
5. Add around 2 tablespoons of batter per tin, then add a handful of blueberries. Then top with another heaping teaspoon of batter. Top with another handful of blueberries.
6. Put the tins into the oven for about 35-40 minutes, depending on your oven.  The tops should be golden brown and when a toothpick is inserted it should come out clean.

Simple syrup topping:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil under medium high heat.  Boil until sugar is well-dissolved.

Using a spoon, carefully drizzle each cupcake with no more than a teaspoon of syrup per cake. You will have a lot of syrup left over, for anyone who has a sweeter tooth.

Enjoy!

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