Vanilla Cupcakes With Buttercream Frosting

“Excessive beating will toughen the cake, but undermixing can cause it to crumble. What to do: Most cake recipes will call for alternating wet and dry ingredients into the creamed fat. This somewhat tedious method helps prevent gluten from forming, which is what causes cake to become tough.”
Taste of Home

Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened* (The butter needs to be room temperature. If it’s too cold, as it blends with the sugar the mixture will remain gritty instead of turning into a smooth and fluffy consistency, and the cake will turn out dense.)

1 cup sugar

2 – 3 eggs (exactly 1/2 cup), room temperature (The amount of the eggs will make a difference in the amount of muffin top. You don’t want the batter to go over the sides too much. If you have larger eggs, you will use 2. If they are smaller eggs, you may need to use 3.)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk, room temperature

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cupcake pan with liners.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer and using the whisk attachment beat until the mixture is creamy and very pale in color. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each one. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the extracts and mix. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add 1/2 of the milk and mix. Add another 1/3 of the flour and mix. Add the remaining milk and mix. Add the remaining flour and mix just enough until the ingredients are blended together.

Spoon the batter into the liners. They will be 3/4’s full. Bake for 17 to 18 minutes or until the top springs back or if a toothpick is inserted it comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes, then removed from the pan to a cookie rack. Let cool completely before frosting.

*Sallysbakingaddiction.com has tricks for softening butter.

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Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened (Use a brand of butter that is very light in color (like Trader Joes) if you want a whiter frosting. The more yellow colored the butter is (like Kerrygold), the more yellow the frosting.)

3 cups powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 – 4 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Place all ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer and beat until smooth and fluffy.

You can ice the cupcakes using a knife with frosting leftover, or put the frosting in a pastry bag and pipe it onto the cupcakes which will use up all the frosting.

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