For everyone who thinks vanilla is
kinda blah - myself included - prepare to be proved wrong! Yeah, I said it!
I've never tried to make vanilla
cake/cupcakes/anything. Vanilla is just soooo ... vanilla! Or so I thought. But
then a friend asked me to make 60 cupcakes for her engagement/fiancé’s birthday
party - half of them red velvet and half of them vanilla, and not relishing the
thought of having 30 crappy cupcakes on my hand on the day of the party and
delivering only half (the red velvet which I've made before) to the party, I realised
I'd have to try out a recipe or four (as many as it took to get them right)
before my cupcake-athon (great idea by the way, I could raise money for charity
by eating erm, I
meant baking, cakes for charity - just an insight into how my ingenious mind
works! ;p).
So now that
the decision was made, all that was left was to find a few recipes and choose
which one to try first. Easy. Right? Ummm, No! I have LOTS of cake books but do
you know I could not find a single vanilla cupcake recipe??? And I refuse to
turn to the Internet when I currently must have about a gazillion (rough
estimate) cake recipes on my bookshelf which I haven't yet tried. So finally
(as is always the way, it was where I looked last) I turned to a book I had
never used; The Crabapple
Bakery Cupcake Book by Jennifer Graham. And right
there on the very first page was a recipe for vanilla cupcakes. Yay! And what
cupcakes they were; fluffy and so tasty that I still find it hard to believe
they came from such a simple recipe! This is officially my new favourite
cupcake book - sorry Martha Stewart!
If you live in Victoria, Australia
(which must be a fantastic place, judging by the name ;p), then you have to
check out the Crabapple Bakery because even if their cakes are only just as
good as their recipes, then they must be amazing!
I was also practising my icing
technique which needs so much work; but more on that in a later post. If
you were ever going to try making cupcakes; I suggest you start with these :D
Sorry measurements are all in cups!
But to be honest, a lot of the best recipes are American or Australian so if
you're a keen baker, I suggest you invest in a set.
Ingredients for the cupcakes
2 and three quarters cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
200g softened unsalted butter
1 and three quarters cups caster
sugar (I used golden)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (I used
2)
1 cup milk
Makes: 24
Keeps: 2 days
Freezes: 2 months
Ingredients for
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
200g softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (I used
2)
8 cups icing sugar (I found I only
needed around 6 and a half)
Makes: Enough
for 24 cupcakes
Keeps: 1 week
Cupcakes
1 - Preheat oven to 170ºC. Line two
12-hole muffin trays with cupcake papers
2 - Mix together the flour and the
baking powder
3 - In a separate bowl, cream the
butter for 1 - 2 minutes. Add the caster sugar a third at a time, beating for 2
minutes after each addition. After the last addition, beat until the mixture is
light and fluffy and the sugar has almost dissolved
4 - Add the eggs one at a time,
beating for 1 minute after each addition or until mixture is light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined
5 - Add a third of the flour to the
creamed mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add half the milk and
beat until combined. Repeat this process. Add the remaining third of the flour
and beat thoroughly until combined; do not over-beat as this will toughen the
mixture
6 - Spoon mixture into cupcake
papers, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until
a fine skewer inserted comes out clean
7 - Remove cupcakes from trays
immediately and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before frosting
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 - Cream the butter for 1-2 minutes.
2 - Add the milk, vanilla extract and
half of the sifted icing sugar, and beat for at least 3 minutes or until the
mixture is light and fluffy.
3 - Add the remaining icing sugar and
beat for a further 3 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy and of a
spreadable consistency. Add extra milk if the mixture is too dry or extra icing
sugar if it is too wet.
If you wish to colour/flavour the
buttercream, this is the best time to do it. Add a drop at a time and beat in
until you reach the required colour and/or flavour.
10 comments:
**drool**
seriously, drool indeed!
vanilla is blah? i love vanilla, especially the old traditional stuff
Thanks ladies!
@Ms Afropolitan: I love vanilla too - if you look at my recipes, you'll see I always double the quantity (at the very least). But I always thought of it as an enhancer to other flavours rather than a pretty amazing flavour all on it's own ... I've been schooled, I'm now 'Team Vanilla'! :D
Please will you make some for me to eat on the plane? Thanks alot, this is why I love you loads!
So pretty!!
Just tried out this recipe today and it turned out awesome! Love love the taste of the vanilla cupcake:) My frosting wasn't so great though, too sweet, lol, so need a do over on that. Thanks again!
Hey Titi! Thanks for letting me know, I love knowing when people try out recipes from my blog! The cupcake is amazing I agree! Try beating the icing a lot and perhaps stop adding icing sugar if it gets to the consistency you want and you've not used up all the icing sugar recommended. I agree, it can be a bit sweet.
I'll definitely try and find a better buttercream icing and will blog it!
Thanks Vickii for the Icing tip, will let you know how it goes when I try it again next week. I want to try out baking my very first cake, wot book do u recommend? Please put up a red velvet cupcake recipe soon, yours look yummy:)
Hey Titi,
I think until you know what kind of cakes you like to bake and hence what kind of book you want, hold off on buying a book for now. Just google the cake recipe and pick one where you like the list of ingredients and the preparation process looks do-able. Some of my favourite cake recipes are from the internet. Tip, I always enter 'best' ... recipe because if someone thinks their recipe is the best, at the very least, it's good.
Red velvet cupcake recipe is next week but the one I'll blog is not the best red velvet recipe I've tried - http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCake.html is. You can use it for cupcakes too.
Thanks for the quick response, great tips thanks:) I did google brownie recipe online recently and actually tried 2 different ones but didn't quite like them. One was more of a glazed brownie and the other was kinda like chocolate:( (I am too intimidated to try ur nut brownie, lol) Love my brownies almost cake like but very moist and thick:)
Yay @ red velvet recipe for next week. Just saved the link you posted. Its my son's 1st bday in 2 months and I have decided to bake all the goodies:) So trying to prepare ahead and stuff.
Email me Titi - vickii373@aol.com - I'll email you back an amazing brownie recipe I have - sounds exactly like what you are describing. It's adapted from another recipe that my sister, cousin and I have adapted over six years :D And sooooo easy to make!
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