Friday, November 03, 2006

"Cup"cake Walk


My church has a Harvest Carnival every year on halloween. This year, they asked people to make cookies, brownies, or cupcakes for the cake walk. Well, I have been really wanting to make cupcakes but didn't know what to do with them, so this was the perfect opportunity to satisfy my craving. I don't know that I've ever made homemade cupcakes and wanted to do that, not that any kid would really care! So, I went in search of a non-chocolate cupcake. I decided that I probably shouldn't do anything with peanuts in it because of allergies. Pretty soon I found the perfect simple recipe from Sara Moulton on the Food Network site. I decided not to do the homemade icing, opting for a simple vanilla from the store topped with a couple of caramel-chocolate swirl chips. This cupcake has a nice vanilla taste (I made mini cupcake to taste) but I'm not sure of the true texture. They looked good to me! If you want to use the icing originally with the cupcakes, click on the link to Sara Moulton. It's buttercream type icing.

Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing: Vanilla Buttercream, recipe follows (I used store bought)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.
In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Yield: enough for 2 dozen cupcakes or 1 (9-inch) layer cake

If you would like to make a layer cake instead of cupcakes, divide the batter between 2 (9-inch) round cake pans and bake the layers for 30 to 40 minutes.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yummy! Love that you used a from-scratch recipe. The few times I have made cupcakes I've always wimped out and used a box mix. I bet these were delicious. Hope everyone had a good time at the Harvest Fest :)

Anonymous said...

My favorite cupcake to make.

Anonymous said...

Yum!! I love cupcakes (it feels like you're not eating quite as much LOL) and always make them from scratch using my very favourite recipe.

Unknown said...

Stacy - Making these from scratch was actually very easy, you'll have to try it some time.

Peabody - I think these were pretty good...definitely better than chocolate!

RD Mummy - I know what you mean. You'll have to post your recipe some time.

Anonymous said...

gosh I've heard so much about the magnolia cupcakes, but never made them - sounds like a winner from your review! it's a great option for a potluck: no messy cake-cutting and gloopy frosting. :)

Ziz said...

yummy! I never think to make many cupcakes at my house. Prolly cause we don't have kids or people to share them with. Oh well! I think I might have to make some soon anyways. :)

Unknown said...

VC - You are right...definitely easy to do for potluck...and they usually get eaten. I don't think I realized that these particular cupcakes were "famous" but now that you mention it I do remember hearing about Magnolia baking.

Alicat - I'm in the same boat! Just find some neighborhood kids of co-workers to shove them off on! :-)