Tag: cupcakes

Chai Tea Cupcakes

chaiteacupcakesThe Better Homes & Gardens Baking Book – an awesome Christmas gift from Mike – bills these treats at chai tea muffins, but their ingredients and preparation method are much more cupcake-like to me. I debated about calling these “cuffins,” or perhaps “muffcakes,” because I’m still on the fence. And besides, it’s fun to make up words.

So, what’s the difference between a cupcake and a muffin? To me, the simple answer is: the kind of fat you use, and how you mix your ingredients. Cupcakes tend to employ butter and a creaming method, where you blend sugar into the butter, then add your other wet and dry ingredients, sometimes alternatively. Most muffins involve vegetable oil, and a process of combining dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another, then mixing the wet into the dry. As you’ll see below, these treats use the creaming method and butter – and are in my opinion more cupcake than muffin.

Regardless of what you call them, these treats smell delicious! Were it not for my current No Sweets for Lent endeavor, I would have eaten one the moment my chai nutmeg drizzle had set.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 4 chai tea bags
  • 8 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 11/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Chai Nutmeg Drizzle

  • 3/4 to 1 cup powdered sugar
  • About 5 teaspoons chai tea
  • Dash of nutmeg

Preparation

Heat milk in a saucepan over medium heat until it simmers. Add chai tea bags and steep for 5 minutes. Remove the bags, pressing to release as much tea as you can. Allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners; you will likely need an additional 6 liners, as my batch yielded 30.

Combine flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, ginger, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add flour mixture and milk mixture alternatively in three batches, beginning and ending with the flour and beating until just combined.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop dough into muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until tops are light golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in muffin pans for about 1 minute, then remove to wire racks to cool completely before drizzling.

To make the chai nutmeg drizzle, prepare a cup of chai tea with water and allow it to cool.

In a small bowl, place 3/4 cup powdered sugar and add tea, 1 teaspoon at a time, mixing until you reach your desired drizzling consistency. Add a dash of nutmeg to taste.

Fit a small pastry bag with a plain tip and pipe over cupcakes. Allow to set before serving.

 

Black Bottom Cupcakes

blackbottomcupcakesYears ago, before I began a serious baker, I marveled at the Starbucks black bottom cupcake. I had no idea what was in it – I simply knew it was delicious, and that it was the only cupcake in existence that didn’t need frosting. How could one achieve such a thing? What was that spongy, chocolate chip-studded white layer? This remained a mystery, until today.

The black bottom cupcake is surprisingly simple to make, requiring basics that you likely have in your pantry. The batter could certainly hold its own without the cream cheese/sugar/egg/chocolate chip filling, but that would defeat the entire black bottom purpose. Although it’s Lent and I’m refraining from sweets at present, this will be on the top of my list to make once Easter arrives. Next time, I might increase my filling quantity, perhaps even doubling it, so that I can add more filling to each cupcake.

Ingredients

Filling

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • dash of salt
  • 1 egg
  • 2/3 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

Cupcakes

  • 2/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups water
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; my recipe yielded 33 cupcakes, just shy of three dozen.

In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar; beat until well combined. Add egg and salt and beat until very well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

In a large bowl, sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add water, vegetable oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract and mix very well.

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop batter into cupcake wells, filling just over half full. Drop a heaping teaspoon of the cream cheese filling mixture into the middle of each.

Bake for 20 minutes; remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Owl Cupcakes

IMG_3766My goddaughter Maureen just turned four a few days ago. When asked what kind of cupcakes she wanted for her birthday party, she said “both,” meaning both cupcakes and frosting. So her mom, my cousin Barb, asked again – what did Mo want the cupcakes to taste like? She answered “pink.” Hmm.

Mo’s birthday party was held at a nature center near her house, where we learned about owls, turtles, and other Southern Maryland wildlife, so her cupcakes were nature-themed. While I don’t know if there are any pink owls in nature, there certainly were at her party.

Mo helped me bake the cupcakes and make the frosting, and she’s a great helper. As she licked a frosting-coated beater, I asked her if it tasted pink, and she said “yep!” Mission accomplished.

Note: the recipe below is designed to feed a crowd and yields 45 cupcakes. You can adjust as necessary to make fewer if you don’t need this many. Also, we did a dozen owls and then used M&Ms to make caterpillars, flowers, and mushrooms on other cupcakes, so if you want all owls, you’ll just need to adjust the quantity of sandwich cookies for the eyes.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

  • 3 3/4 cups cake flour
  • 3 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar
  • 6 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups canola oil
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  • red liquid food coloring

For the frosting & decoration

  • 1 recipe vegan vanilla frosting
  • red liquid food coloring
  • cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
  • M&M candies

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Place eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and continue to beat for another 30 seconds.

Add vanilla and canola oil and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively in three batches, beginning and ending with the flour, scraping the sides of the bowl frequently. Add a few drops of red food coloring at a time until you reach your desired color; remember, batter will lighten as cupcakes bake. Batter will be very thin.

Using a quarter-cup measuring cup, scoop batter into prepared pans. Bake for 12-13 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before frosting and decorating.

To frost and decorate:

Prepare vanilla frosting, reserving a small amount to use as “glue” for the owl eyes. Add a few drops of red liquid food coloring to the frosting with your mixer running on low to medium speed to achieve a light pink color.

For the owls:

Twist apart chocolate sandwich cookies carefully, leaving the cream all on one side. Reserve plain sides for another use, like making a pudding pie crust.

Place two cookie halves on each cupcake; dot with white frosting, then place an M&M for the pupil on each eye. Add another M&M for the beak.

For the other nature-themed cupcakes:

Place M&Ms as you like; we made caterpillars with green bodies and red heads, flowers, and a few cupcakes that were totally covered in M&Ms to look like mushrooms.

Serve very shortly after cupcakes are decorated, as the cookies will begin to soften from the moisture in the frosting.

IMG_3780Here, Mo and I are relaxing in the hollowed-out trunk of an enormous tree. Birthday parties for four-year-olds can take a lot out of you…especially if you’re the guest of honor. 

 

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

pumpkin cupcakePumpkin baking continues! This weekend I made some pumpkin chocolate chip bread and I had a little more than a cup of pumpkin left over, so I wanted to try something new. I found this recipe online and first thought it was more muffin-like than cupcake-like, but the end results are definitely in the cupcake family. They have an excellent texture, likely due to the combination of pumpkin puree and vegetable oil, and just enough spice from the cinnamon and nutmeg.

These cupcakes pair well with maple cream cheese frosting, which is one of my favorites ever. Just make sure you use real maple syrup – the pure stuff – rather than maple flavoring for this frosting; while you could probably use maple flavoring, I doubt it would be the same. If you’re lacking in pure maple syrup, you could certainly frost these with plain cream cheese frosting or cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with paper liners; my recipe yielded 14 cupcakes.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In a large glass measuring cup, combine pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix well, then add all at once to the flour mixture. Stir until well-combined and smooth.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, fill cupcake wells about 3/4 full.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven; immediately remove from tins and place on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Preparation

In a mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese for 2-3 minutes, until very fluffy.

Add 1 cup powdered sugar and beat until well-combined; add 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and beat until well-combined. Add remaining powdered sugar and maple syrup, beating until very well-combined.

Frost cupcakes using an offset spatula. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Honey Cupcakes

honey cupcakesIt’s Rosh Hashanah! Tonight in the interfaith Kozusko-Marcus household we are celebrating with sweet foods, including these honey cupcakes with honey cream cheese frosting.

Many of the recipes I’ve seen for Rosh Hashanah desserts involve apples, or honey, or both; most celebrations tonight will feature apples dipped in honey in the hope of a “sweet new year,” and you can learn about this fun tradition from the fine folks here at aish.com. To me, honey cake is the Rosh Hashanah dessert…but a whole cake for just Mike and me seemed like a bit much. Are there honey cupcakes, I wondered? Indeed, there are. And why I’ve never baked them before is truly one of life’s great mysteries.

As many of you know, honey cake was my baking nemesis until a few years ago, when I found this great honey cake recipe. The cupcake version uses a completely different recipe, and is absolutely delicious, with a great aromatic twist from the cinnamon and lemon zest. I doctored up a frosting recipe that I found online to include vanilla extract to cut some of the sweetness and it worked very well.

Happy New Year, all! Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim!

Honey Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 8 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • zest of 1 medium lemon
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; my batch yielded 16 cupcakes when cups were filled about half to three-quarters full.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and beat until well-combined, then add honey and beat until well-combined.

With the mixer running on its lowest speed, gradually add flour until the mixture is just combined, then add milk and mix until just combined. Scrape sides of the bowl frequently to fully incorporate all ingredients.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, scoop batter into cupcake pans, filling about half to three-quarters full. Bake for at least 17 minutes, then check cupcakes for doneness; if cupcakes are not done, continue baking for 1-2 minutes and checking after each interval to be sure they don’t burn. My cupcakes baked for about 21 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool for just a moment in the pans, then cool complete on wire racks.

Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until well-combined and fluffy. Add honey and vanilla extract and beat until very well-combined. Add powdered sugar, one half-cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

Scoop frosting into a piping bag fitted with an open star or large plain tip; I used Wilton #199. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes; you will have more than enough, so reserve any unsued frosting in an airtight container in the fridge; I had about a cup left over because I didn’t pipe a ton onto each cupcake. Various web sources claim that you can store cream cheese frosting in the fridge for a few weeks, but I’d use it quickly…maybe bake a one-layer cake and use the rest on that.

Store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator, but bring to room temperature before serving.

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

double chocolate cupcakesHave you ever ordered an ultra-chocolatey dessert and regretted it after a few bites, completely overwhelmed by chocolateness? I certainly have. Most restaurants have some manner of “death by chocolate” dessert on their menus, usually involving layers of chocolate cake, mousse, cheesecake, ganache, and so on, and they’re all too overpoweringly chocolatey for me.

One of my lovely coworkers asked if I could bake for her son’s 13th birthday this weekend, and the guest of honor requested chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. While there are many cupcake and frosting recipes to choose from, I decided to go with a light and dark combination to prevent chocolate overload. The cupcakes themselves are my dark chocolate recipe, while the frosting is chocolate buttercream, light and fluffy and a great complement for a darker cake. Happy Birthday, Theo!

Ingredients

Preparation

Bake cupcakes in full-size cupcake pans; the recipe will yield 24 regular-sized cupcakes and 12 miniature cupcakes, or about 30 regular-sized cupcakes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Using a one-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of frosting onto cupcakes. Frost with a small offset spatula. If storing in the refrigerator, bring cupcakes to room temperature before serving; these do not need to be refrigerated, but I’m chilling mine because it’s quite humid in Pittsburgh tonight.

 

 

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

cinnamon roll cupcakesI love cinnamon! It is my favorite spice, as I believe I’ve mentioned before. It has a calming effect on me like lavender does, especially when paired with vanilla. And while I didn’t have time this weekend to make cinnamon rolls–in fact, I have never made cinnamon rolls from scratch–I did have time to whip up a batch of cinnamon roll cupcakes.

The recipes below are hybrids of several that I found online, including a delicious cinnamon cream cheese frosting that would pair well with pumpkin, apple, or ginger cupcakes. They’re sweet, but not too sweet, and almost muffin-like; I could certainly eat one for breakfast. What’s great is that you don’t actually need the frosting if you’re short on time, or just not into frosting; you could leave the cupcakes plain, or dust them with powdered sugar.

Note: the original recipe that I found claimed to yield 26 cupcakes, but the recipe below that I used yielded 33 cupcakes.

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
  • 2/3 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In another medium bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans; mix well and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter for about 30 seconds; add sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating well until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and beat to combine.

Add flour mixture and milk alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour and beating until just combined after each addition. Scrape sides of the bowl often.

Use a 1-inch cookie scoop and drop one level scoop of dough into each cup; top with 1 teaspoon of the brown sugar mixture, then add another scoop of dough, followed by 1/2 teaspoon of the brown sugar mixture.

Bake for at least 20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 1/2  teaspoons cinnamon

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla and cinnamon and beat well, scraping the sides of the bowl often.

Use a 1-inch cookie scoop and drop scoops of frosting onto each cupcake. Frost with a small offset spatula. Store in the refrigerator, but bring to room temperature before serving.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

chocolate pb cupcakesIn the history of the world, has there ever been a more amazing culinary combination than chocolate and peanut butter? Absolutely not.

Granted, these foods are pretty nifty on their own, but putting them together was perhaps one of the best decisions ever made in the kitchen (or in general, for that matter). I think the chocolate-peanut butter combination is such a hit because it has great balance; it’s not too sweet or salty, so you get a bit of both kinds of flavors in one bite.

A few months back, several of the gals in my office and I were discussing the merits of the chocolate covered peanut, and the idea for these cupcakes was born. The recipes below are a combination of a chocolate peanut butter cupcake from Woman’s Day and a few other recipes I found online, but I have to admit that my first attempt at icing, using a different recipe, went totally awry. Though it tasted delicious, the consistency was all wrong, so I quickly substituted the chocolate drizzle icing that appears below for the last dozen cupcake that will go with me to the office tomorrow.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 12 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 3 eggs

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together until well-blended; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk milk and sour cream together until well-blended; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add peanut butter and beat until well-combined.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Add flour mixture and milk mixture alternatively, starting and ending with the flour mixture and beating until just combined. Scrape sides of the bowl often.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, scoop batter into prepared cupcake pans. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool completely before filling and icing.

Peanut Butter Filling

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup plus about 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
  • 3 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 4 to 5 tablespoons milk

Note: I added more peanut butter to suit my preference, hence the “about 3 tablespoons” above. You can certainly just stick with the 1/2 cup if you like, but I found that additional peanut butter enhanced the filling flavor.

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat peanut butter and butter together until smooth.

Add powdered sugar slowly, beating well after each addition.

Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until well-combined.

Fit a piping bag with a 1/4 inch plain tip; insert tip into the top of each cupcake and inject the filling. Stop when the top of the cupcake begins to bulge, as you don’t want it to explode!

Chocolate Drizzle Icing

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • chocolate covered peanuts, for garnish

Preparation

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in cocoa powder, then remove from heat.

Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk and stir well until you reach a very smooth, drizzle consistency.

Using the teaspoon from your measuring spoons, scoop out 1 teaspoon of drizzle icing and spoon over each cupcake, spreading slightly to coat the entire top.

Gently press one chocolate covered peanut into the center of each cupcake; allow icing to harden before serving.

Bird’s Nest Cupcakes

birds nest closeupSpring is here! It’s 70-something in Pittsburgh today and appears for the moment that the long, hard, polar vortex extravaganza of winter is over. Having grown up in the fickle weather patterns of Western PA, I realize that tomorrow could be 40, and that snow is a possibility through early May. For now though, I’ll take a beautiful day whenever I can get one.

These bird’s nest cupcakes would be great for any spring-related event; an Easter dinner, Mother’s Day brunch, or in this case, a bird-themed baby shower. One of my colleagues hosted just such an event today and I was happy to provide these, which may look complicated but are actually very easy to prepare especially given the abundance of egg-shaped candies right now. If you can’t find egg-shaped candies for the nests, I suspect that peanut M&Ms would work well too.

Ingredients

Preparation

Bake cupcakes and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Prepare vanilla almond buttercream. Using a one-inch cookie scoop, scoop frosting onto each cupcake and spread with an offset spatula in an even layer.

Prepare cocoa frosting. Fit a piping bag with a medium plain tip, such as Wilton #5. Pipe nests, creating the outer edges first and filling in with a few squiggles of frosting for the nest bottoms.

Place mini egg candies in each nest; most will fit three eggs, but a few of mine fit four. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days.

Note: one of the cupcakes in this batch featured a hatched baby bird, similar to a cupcake I’d seen in the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book, as the cupcake for the mom-to-be. To create this, I used one blue Hershey’s candy-coated egg, melted a few chocolate chips, and dabbed the chocolate on for eyes, then made a batch of Zella’s icing, tinted it orange, and piped on a small beak using the smallest plain tip I have. You can see the hatched bird in the photo below, and you can reserve the batch of icing from the beak for another time; it refrigerates very well.

birds nest all

Caramel Cupcakes with Vanilla Almond Buttercream

caramel cupcakesIn this age of fancy-looking cupcakes, when many a blogger can present the kind of artistic creations that were once reserved for food magazines, I find myself incapable of successfully piping buttercream icing onto regular-sized cupcakes.

While cream cheese frosting flows freely from my piping bag in elegant swirls, buttercream reduces me to the amateur of amateurs. Miniature cupcakes are easier; with such little surface area, you really just need a blob to cover them. But regular-sized cupcakes are another matter entirely, and I simply can’t manage to produce the kind of effect I’d like. We all have our shortcomings, I suppose.

After attempting to pipe this frosting and discovering that my skills were once again lacking, I took hold of my trusty offset spatula. One advantage to frosting cupcakes by hand is that they take on a lovely old-fashioned look, befitting a classic flavor like the caramel of these cupcakes. This recipe was adapted from a few others I’ve seen online to incorporate much more vanilla, and I chose to frost them with a vanilla almond buttercream, rather than a salted caramel or other trendy flavor, to create a more classic treat. Caramel and vanilla are good flavor friends, and according to Mike the almond adds another dimension, which is exactly what I’d hoped to create. If only I weren’t fasting from sugar right now, I’d probably have already eaten a few myself!

Caramel Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake tins with paper liners; this recipe yields about 18 cupcakes.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until very light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and beat on medium speed until combined.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk in alternate batches, starting and ending with the flour and scraping the sides of the bowl frequently. Batter will be fluffy.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop batter into prepared pans, filling about half-full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Mine baked for 21 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool in pans for just a minute, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Almond Buttercream

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 to 3/4 tablespoon almond extract

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat butter for about 1 minute, then add salt and beat another minute.

Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until all of the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter; this will take a few minutes.

Add vanilla extract and almond extract, beating well to combine. Taste; add more extract if desired.

Frost cupcakes using an offset spatula.