Cupcake party: Vanilla cupcakes with pink vanilla frosting

I was looking at my cookbook collection to get inspired and saw a cupcake book by Martha Stewart that was hiding among many books in the dessert section. I pulled it out to take a look and immediately wanted to go into the kitchen and bake.

The thing with cupcakes is that they need to look attractive. Piping nice and uniform designs with a piping bag is not my forte. I have taken cake decorating classes but it’s not something I do often enough to get any better at it. I recently purchased a new style of piping tips that are supposed to make it easier to pipe designs but it did not work as well as I expected. So I resorted to the regular tip for piping rosettes and here we are.

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Martha’s recipe is quite large (yielding 36 cupcakes) so I cut it in half and even so, made 10 cupcakes and with the remaining batter baked a small 6″ cake that I intend to cut into layers and frost. My daughter Jade is home for the weekend with a couple of gal friends and she is planning to make dinner tonight: handmade pasta with homemade roasted tomato sauce. The fruit does not fall far from the tree. So my contribution will be dessert. Looking forward.

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Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Makes about 18 cupcakes or a combination of a few cupcakes and a small 6″ cake.

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Ingredients:

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For the cupcakes

1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
A pinch of salt

10 tablespoons butter (1 stick + 2 tablespoons) softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 eggs

1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoon vanilla

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Directions:

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Have all the ingredients measured and ready (mis en place).

Combine both flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix to combine.

Add vanilla to the buttermilk.

Place paper cupcake cups on a baking sheet.

Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on medium speed until soft and fluffy, about 2 minutes

Add the sugar and beat until pale and light scraping the sides down with a spatula as necessary to make sure everything is incorporated.

Begin adding the flour, alternating with buttermilk and vanilla until a smooth batter if formed, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the cupcake cups. See note above (I made 10 cupcakes and a small 6″ cake with the rest of the batter).

Bake the cupcakes in 350°F oven for about 20 minutes or until done. You can test by carefully touching the top to see if it springs back, or insert a skewer into the middle to see if it comes out dry.

Remove from oven and let cool. Don’t attempt to frost before the cupcakes have cooled completely.

Once the cupcakes have cooled completely you can frost them as you wish and sprinkle something fun on top.

If you bake a small cake line a 6″ springform cake pan with a round of parchments and butter or oil spray the inside of pan.

Pour remaining batter into the pan and bake (with or after the cupcakes) for 25-30 minutes until done.

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Pink vanilla frosting

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Ingredients:

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3 sticks butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A drop or two pink food colouring, don’t add too much

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Directions:

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Place the butter in an electric mixer and beat until soft, about 2 minutes.

Add the sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

If using food colouring add it now to create a light pink tone.

Once all the sugar is added increase the speed of the mixer and beat for another 3 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Use to decorate the cupcakes or keep refrigerated until needed. To use, bring back to room temperature before using.

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