Vanilla Can be Awesome, Too!

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes

with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

From Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Well I wanted to bake something on my Saturday off this past weekend and a friend had recently requested vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting after finding the Guinness Chocolate confections a bit too much for her more delicate palate. So, I began paging through my small supply of cookbooks last Thursday evening and these scrumptiously simple cupcakes caught my eye in Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes. I decided to try them out and I’m pretty sure I’ll be coming back to them again in the future fairly often because they turned out beautifully on the first try! I’m sorry this is a post with almost no photos. I got so absorbed in making them that I forgot to take pictures!

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes

3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt (unless you use salted butter)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 ¼ sticks) butter*

2 ¼ cups sugar

5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature

2 cups buttermilk, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place liners in cupcake trays. While the original recipe states that it makes 36 cupcakes, I got 40 out of it.

2.) Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt (if you using it).

3.) Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar together. The mixture should look fluffy and light.

4.) Add the whole eggs in individually, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

5.) Add the yolks and mix in completely.

6.) Add in the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk (so the order is flour mix then 1 cup buttermilk then flour mix then 1 cup buttermilk then flour mix). Make sure to beat thoroughly after each addition.

7.) Add in the vanilla and mix.

8.) Divide the batter between the cups. I like to use a ¼ cup to measure out the batter into the cups.

9.) Bake, rotating the pans about halfway through. The finished cupcakes spring back when touched and a cake tester (or toothpick) should come out clean.

Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter

1 pound (4 cups) confectioners’ sugar, approximately

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.) Beat the butter with an electric mixer until creamy and pale in color.

2.) Add the sugar, ½ cup at a time, and beat well after each addition. After every two additions turn the speed up to high and beat for about 10 seconds to help aerate the frosting. I added a little bit extra confectioners’ sugar to firm the frosting up just a pinch; I find this necessary with most recipes during the summer. When complete the frosting will be very fluffy but still firm.

3.) Add the vanilla and mix until the frosting is smooth again. Now decorate away! I used fun gel paste food coloring to dye the frosting and then added sprinkles but it looks lovely in its natural color as well! The frosting generally goes on the cupcakes very smoothly.

The First of Many Cupcake Excursions!

Chocolate-Guinness Cupcakes with
Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

This is the second time I’ve made these scrumptious confections and I’ve fallen even more in love with them each time! The recipe is adapted from the brilliant Smitten Kitchen where they are called ‘Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes’ and associated with the somewhat infamous cocktail known as an Irish Car Bomb in which one drops a shot of Bailey’s and Irish Whiskey into a pint of Guinness and then drinks the resulting catastrophe before it curdles. However, I have modified them to leave out the whiskey-chocolate filing for two reasons. First, they are quite rich enough unfilled. Second, I am a poor student and didn’t want to spend the extra money on whiskey :) So here goes my first blog-documented kitchen adventure!

Guinness-Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter*
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder**2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt*
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

1 cup dark stout (such as Guinness)

* I have found that if you can use salted butter and simply leave out the ¾ teaspoon salt just as successfully

** Dutch process is suggested but I have found that Hershey’s Extra Dark is an effective substitute

1.) Preheat oven to 350°F and place cupcake liners in cupcake tins. This recipe makes approximately 24 cupcakes.

2.) Soften up the butter and place it in a large saucepan on medium heat. Once the butter becomes mostly melted, add in the stout. Bring the butter and stout to simmer then add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Usually it’s easiest to turn the heat off and lift the saucepan away from the heat while adding the cocoa; this helps stop the mixture from bubbling over too much. Also,
I found a whisk to be the most effective mixing instrument. Once mixed together, set this mixture aside to cool slightly.

3.) Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3 / 4 teaspoon salt (unless you used salted butter then leave the salt out) together in a large bowl until blended.

4.) Using an electric mixer beat the eggs and sour cream together in a second bowl until blended.

5.) Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3 / 4 teaspoon salt (unless you used salted butter then leave the salt out) together in a large bowl until blended.

6.) Using an electric mixer beat the eggs and sour cream together in a second bowl until blended.

7.) Next, pour the stout-cocoa mixture into the egg mixture and beat until combined.

8.) Add the flour mixture into this batter and mix until fully combined.

9.) Pour the batter into the cupcake liners. They should each be filled about 3 / 4 of the way; I like to use a 1 / 4 cup measure to measure out the batter.

10.) Bake until a cake tester (or a toothpick) comes out clean—-usually between 15 and 20 minutes. Then let them cool briefly before popping them out of their ‘cups.’

While the cupcakes are cooling, whip up this yummy frosting!

Bailey’s Buttercream Frosting

3-4 cups confectionary sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

3-4 tablespoons Bailey’s (can be replaced with milk or heavy cream)

1.) Using an electric mixer of some kind, whip the butter for several minutes until very fluffy.

2.) Slowly, just a few tablespoons at a time, add in the powdered sugar.

3.) Add in the Baileys (or substitute) and whip the frosting until all is combined. Use your personal judgment of taste and texture to decide the exact amounts of sugar and Bailey’s you use.

NOTE: I doubled this recipe when I made mine because I like lots of frosting on my cupcakes for both taste-related and aesthetic reasons!

Decorate away! I used a star tip to make fancy swirly tops on mine but there are many other options for creative decorating!