59 Homemade and Not-So-Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes

More goodbye cupcakes. At work, we had a manager in training. He was a really cool dude. Really swell. When his training came to end, I asked him what kind of cupcakes he would like and the answer I got back was kind of a shocking request for me. Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing. Weird. After asking him to reconsider a few times, I kept being told vanilla. There had to be a way to give a twist to these oddly simple cupcakes. Since I always strive for all kinds of feedback. Since I love being told how delicious the cupcakes I make are. Since I love being told about how not as delicious the occasion store bought cupcakes that get brought in are... It had to be a taste test.

My sister and I had picked up some cupcakes mixes with filling. When I came up with this taste test idea, I picked up a tub of icing. Just follow the directions on the box and these are done in no time. Exactly what someone who uses a boxed cupcake mix wants more than anything. Barely any work that takes barely any time. Bunch of lazy people!

For my homemade version of these cupcakes, I quick looked up a vanilla cake recipe. Shouldn't be that hard to find a good one. I figured any old recipe would do. I wen with the first one I found on the Internet. Next, I needed a vanilla filling recipe. I went with the same first-recipe-I-find-is-good-enough method. Finally, I knew I had the same vanilla butter cream icing recipe that we always use well committed to memory. Unfortunately, it was kinda like recipe Russian roulette. Everyone knows that there are a few bad recipes out there. It's just a matter of how lucky you are. On this one my luck ran out. And too bad this was the one time I wanted to prove something. The recipes were easy as always. I don't recall any problems. I made the cupcakes. I whipped up the filling. I put the tip to fill cupcakes on a piping bag. I poked the tip into the top of each cupcake and squeezed until the filling just came out around the tip. Be careful though. Hold the cupcakes when you fill them. You can overfill them and the filling will squirt through the bottom of the cupcake, through the paper. As for the icing, I've made it a zillion times before. Naturally, no problems.

So I topped each cupcake with it's own distinct color of sprinkles. Homemade cupcakes with one color and boxed cupcakes with a different cupcakes. I packed them up and brought them into work. All night I heard a mix of both. "You made the red ones" "I know that you made the blue ones" It was entertaining to hear the opinions on both. It didn't hurt my feelings to hear that the ones that I actually made "weren't as good as your cupcakes normally are" or that the ones from the box are "just as perfect as always".

When it came down to it, for me, the homemade cupcakes were not good. The cupcakes themselves were really dense. Not as fluffy as I would normally like. The filling was awesome though! Just like the vanilla filling in the Hostess cupcakes. The boxed cupcakes were good, but the filling was disgusting. It tasted like cement and looked like glue. I think the dead give away in the taste test was just the general appearance. The boxed cupcakes were very yellow and the store bought icing was an unattainable white compared to homemade icing. If you try it, color the icing. It wouldn't be as obvious. I will definitely try this again.

Cupcake Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 pinch salt

5 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

2/3 cup milk

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cupcake How to

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper cupcake liners. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside.

2. Heat the butter and milk in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter has melted. Beat the sugar, eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla with an electric mixer in a large bowl until it has thickened slightly and is lighter in color. Gradually beat in the flour mixture on low speed until just incorporated. Slowly pour in the hot milk, beating until just combined.

3. Divide batter evenly between cupcake liners. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan for 10 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Vanilla Filling Ingredients

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup shortening

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 pinch salt

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling How to

1. In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening together until smooth.

2. Blend in confectioners' sugar and pinch of salt. Gradually beat in 3 tablespoons milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

3. Fill a pastry bag with a small tip. Push tip through bottom of paper liner to fill each cupcake.

A Brief Apology

I know... it's been like 2 months and I'm sure that there are a few of you that are a little upset or annoyed with me. I want to apologize. First, for my lack of baking. And second, for the lapse in posting about what little baking I have done. As I sit here, watching late night TV, waiting for a load of laundry to get done, while Ozzie gets a chance to play past his bed time, I vow not to be such a bum again. I'm not saying that I don't put a lot of time into my blog, but it's not like it takes forever to whip together a post.  Finally, I apologize for my next few posts. Since it's been a while since I've baked some of these cupcakes, they might not be as awesome as they normally are. Thank you so much for being patient with me! Happy Baking

48 Cosmopolitan Cupcakes

Another birthday cupcake request. Nothing says a girl's 21st birthday like a Cosmo! To make the drink, you need vodka, triple sec, lime, and cranberry juice. All things that are neccessary for these cupcakes, and all things that you can easily get your hands on.

These cupcakes have been the most productive cupcakes I've made in a long time. I started in the morning, and my deadline was later that same afternoon to have them ready to bring to work. I already had gotten all the stuff I needed. I had to pick up apple sauce, a lime, cranberry juice, and the required alcohol. I didn't need to buy anything that was weird or hard to find. For the amount of cupcakes I made, they turned out being relatively cheap cupcakes.

So Many Cupcakes!

I was interested in making these cupcakes because they have apple sauce in them. I've never made any cupcakes like this, but the rumor was that they make for really moist cupcakes. I used the zest from half of a lime and saved the lime itself for later in the icing. I kind of expected the batter to turn out pinker since the cranberry juice is in it. Well, not so much. I added a few drops of red food coloring to make it slightly pink. Since I baked these in the dark and un-tapered cupcake pans, the cupcakes came out a little dark for my liking, but not dark enough for me to have to rebake them. The other issue I have with these pans is that every time I use them, the papers come away from the cupcakes. It's annoying. I hate those pans.

The icing for these cupcakes was, for lack of a more appropriate word starting with the same letter, bologna. Maybe it was the disgusting heat and humidity of that day, maybe it was me rushing to get them done before I had to go to work. Whatever it was, it killed this icing, and with my mother there for moral support and some input, I did all I could to save it.  As far I'm aware of, I followed the recipe like I always do. The icing never thickened, it never got whippy, and it was never going to turn into icing. If this happens to you, there are a few things you can do. First, you need to diagnose the problem. If it's too runny, add more powdered sugar. Too thick? Add more liquid. For these cupcakes, I added more cranberry juice. My problem was it wasn't really whippy or icing-y. I added more butter. This still didn't fix my problem. Next, I added more sugar and cranberry juice. Going into this icing, I knew I wanted to add more cranberry juice anyway, since there wasn't a lot of juice in the cupcakes and I definitely wanted a big cranberry flavor, because it's a major component of the drink itself. After all this, my problem wasn't resolved. I added heavy cream in hopes of making it like a hybrid cosmopolitan whipped cream icing. I cranked the speed up on the mixer and it never turned into whipped cream. I decided at this point to add a ton of powdered sugar and make it as icing-like as I could. I quick piped it on the cupcakes and put them in the fridge, on account of the roughly 1/2 cup of heavy cream I added.

These cupcakes were generally good. Obviously the icing was really really REALLY sweet. You can taste the triple sec in the icing too, which surprised me. I was expecting it to be a more subtle flavor. The apple sauce did its job and the rumors are confirmed. The cupcakes were moist. The cake brought more of the lime flavor to create the whole experience of a cosmopolitan. With the right amount of cranberry juice and food coloring, it completed the flavor of the drink and brought it all together.

Cosmopolitan Cupcake Ingredients



Lime Zest in the Cupcake Batter

1 c unsalted butter
2 c sugar
3/4 c apple sauce
1 tsp lime zest
2 Tbsp cranberry juice cocktail
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 c milk, room temperature
2 Tbsp triple sec
1 tsp vanilla
3 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
food coloring (optional)

Cupcake How to

1. Preheat to 350. Line a muffin pan with liners
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
4. Beat in the apple sauce, then stir in the lime zest.
5. Add the cranberry juice, lime juice, triple sec, and vanilla. Stir until combined.
6. Sprinkle half of the flour ixture over the batter and mix until just combined. Stir in half of the milk, add the remaining flour, and then stir until combined. Stir in the remaining milk (add food coloring if desired) until just incorporated. (Do not overmix!)
7. Scoop 2 Tbsp of batter into each cupcakes liner. Bake 15-18 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

Cosmopolitan Icing Ingredients  (how it's supposed to be, my additions not included)
1/4 c butter
4 c powdered sugar
1 Tbsp cranberry juice
2 tsp triple sec
1 Tbsp vodka
2  1/2 tsp lime juice
food coloring (optional)

Icing How to
1. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth. Add 1 c of sugar and beat until combined.
2. Stir in creanberry juice until compined. Then add another cup of sugar and mix until combined.
3. Stir in the vodka and lime juice until ocmbined. Add another cup of sugar and mix well.
4. Finally, stir in the triple sec (and food coloring if desired) and then add remaining cup of sugar and beat until well combined and light and fluffy.
5. Frost cupcakes.