My most recent baking quest was to find the perfect, plain, vanilla cupcake recipe. I already had my go-to white cake recipe, but it proved to be less than perfect as a cupcake. I have found that any cake recipe calling for egg whites to be folded in at the end makes a beautiful cake but shrinks up in a cupcake pan, providing a small, weightless cupcake. After trying countless recipes and doing blind taste tests with the women in my office, I think I have found the "perfect" vanilla cupcake recipe.
To give credit where it is due, I found the recipe on cupcakeblog.com posted by chockylit (Cheryl Porro) it is originally a recipe created by Amy Sedaris (i like you: hospitality under the influence.) Chockylit has closed her blog, but there is such an amazing wealth of information to be found there. I made a few changes to Amy's recipe, because I am virtually unable to follow any recipe verbatim!
Ok, finally, here is the winning recipe:
Vanilla Bean Cupcakes1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter
1 ¾ cups of sugar
2 large eggs
2 Teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 medium vanilla bean, split and stripped
½ teaspoon of salt
2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
2 ½ cups of flour
1 ¼ cups of buttermilk
Beat the butter with an electric mixer on high for a few minutes. Slowly add the sugar, beat for a total of around 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanillas, salt, and baking powder. Beat until well combined. Add the flour and buttermilk alternately, in 3 batches, starting with flour and ending with milk. Beat on low speed between additions. Do not over mix.
Using an ice cream scoop, portion the batter into a muffin tin lined with cupcake papers. Fill each paper about Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. Makes 18-24 cupcakes.
As for the frosting, I prefer a simple vanilla buttercream. I usually just make mine from sight/taste, but I followed a recipe this time (so I would have something concrete to report.) I adapted my recipe from Magnolia's vanilla buttercream recipe, as found on foodnetwork.com.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1 medium vanilla bean, split and stripped
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
Beat the butter with an electric mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, on high for 1-2 minutes. Add about 4 cups of the powdered sugar. Beat on medium for another 3 minutes. Add the vanillas and milk. Beat until well combined. Add the remaining sugar in increments until desired texture and sweetness is achieved. Frosts about 2 dozen cupcakes.
Now that I am happy with my basic vanilla and chocolate recipes (I'm posting this one next), I look forward to continuing to experiment with flavor combinations, both familiar and exotic! I think my next endeavor will be with green tea (I recently discovered the wonders of matcha) or a mojito combination. If you have any suggestions or ideas for new flavor combinations, feel free to comment!
