Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Howdy!

So as some of  you may know, I have a 16 year old sister that is currently an officer on her high school dance team, and she has been really busy the last two weeks with dance camp. Being the responsible, kind officer that she is, she decided she wanted to treat the team to something sweet on their last day of camp. So naturally, she asked me if I would bake them some cupcakes… and by some, I mean 60. Yes, 5 dozen cupcakes on a weeknight. I am old… ok not that old, but I go to bed early because I have enough trouble getting up in the morning, so I was a little bit concerned I might be up all night. But thanks to Stella, and her amazing ability to crank out sweets in record time, I did get to sleep last night, yay! And so I was off in a baking frenzy (nobody in my family was allowed in the kitchen last night… haha).

After lots of thought, and talking to my sister and good friend Marissa, I decided to go with something basic… simple yet delicious. And so, the Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream frosting were made! I realize that this is probably the most basic recipe I have posted, but the great thing about it is that while basic, it is still DELICIOUS!!! And when you are trying to please a large crowd of 14-18 year old girls, you never know what they will like, so it’s best to stick with something classic, that everyone will like.

***Warning- I dyed the frosting blue and orange, so the cupcakes would be my sisters school colors… these would NOT have been my choice as far as decorating but hey, they were for her! Gosh I’m a good sister… 🙂

Ok, no more stalling, here we go:

Cupcakes:

You’ll need…

Vanilla Cupcake Ingredients

You’ll need to…

Pre-heat your oven to 350◦. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake papers.In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until it is nice and fluffy.

Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing each in well before adding the next. Add the vanilla and lemon zest, and incorporate well.

In a medium bowl, sift together the baking powder, salt, and flour. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix well. Then half the milk; mix well. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture; mix well. Then the second half of the milk; mix well. Then add the remaining flour mixture, and mix until well incorporated. Don’t over beat it, you just want it to be nice and incorporated!

Fill your cupcake pan, distributing batter evenly (they should each be about 2/3- 3/4 full).

Bake for 15 minutes, doing the toothpick test to make sure they are ready. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting:

You’ll need…

Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

***Optional- food color gel, sprinkles… any decorations you choose! I used Wiltons brand Food color gel (it keeps the frosting from getting bitter and gives you a nice bright color… it’s only $1.99 at any food supply/craft store)

You’ll need to…

In a large bowl, beat the butter until it is smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar to the butter. (I add it in 1 cup at a time to keep from being covered in sugar, and to make sure I don’t add too much!) Remember, you can use more or less powdered sugar than is listed depending on the consistency you like!

Add in the salt and vanilla, and mix until well incorporated. Slowly add in your whipping cream. (I also add this in slowly, 1 tbsp at a time, so that I get the right consistency… you may use more or less than 2 tbsp, depending on the consistency you like.)

At this point, if you are going to color your frosting, do so now, and mix well!

Once your cupcakes are completely cooled, frost them!!!

 Despite the wacky colors… just wow, YUMMERS!!!

***Sidenote– I didn’t frost these as high/cute as I normally would because the frosting would have gotten squished in the carrying cases we used to take them to the school. But for reals people, it doesn’t matter how they look, because they taste FANTASTIC! I’ll be making these again this weekend, but with different decorations… pictures to come by Sunday!

Well I hope you enjoyed seeing the Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting being made!!! I promise they are great… a classic cupcake, a classic frosting, you just really can’t go wrong with these! And my favorite part is that they are SO customizable as far as decorating! You can color the frosting, you can use sprinkles, cute cupcake papers, anything you want to make these classic cupcakes pretty!

I’ve got a long day at the doctors office, so I’m out of here, but I hope you enjoy the cupcakes (I know you are all going to make them… yep.)

Love,

Katie

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Here’s the full recipe…

Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

Cake:

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tbs lemon zest

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ cup whole milk

Frosting:

1 cup butter

3 ½ cups powdered sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp whipping cream

***Optional- food color gel, sprinkles… any decorations you choose!

You’ll need to…

Cake:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350◦. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake papers.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing each well before adding the next.
3. Add the vanilla and lemon zest, and incorporate well.
4. In a medium bowl, sift together baking powder, salt, and flour.
5. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix well. Then add half the milk and mix well. Repeat until you add the last of the flour, and mix until well incorporated.
6. Fill your cupcake pan, distributing batter evenly (they should each be about 2/3- 3/4 full).
7. Bake for 15 minutes, doing the toothpick test to make sure they are ready.
8. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting:

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth.
2. Slowly add powdered sugar to the butter. (I add it in 1 cup at a time to keep from being covered in sugar, and to make sure I don’t add too much… you want to get the perfect consistency for you!)
3. Add in the salt and vanilla, and mix until well incorporated.
4. Slowly add in your whipping cream. (I also add this in slowly, 1 tbsp at a time, so that I get the right consistency… you may use more or less than 2 tbsp, depending on the consistency you like.)
5. At this point, if you are going to color your frosting, do so now, and mix well!
6. Once your cupcakes are completely cooled, frost them.