Cupcake Project #20: Basic Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Photo courtesy of Martha Stewart.com 

As a consummate Cupcake-Lover, sometimes, you just need a basic vanilla cupcake recipe. What I enjoy about a basic cupcake recipe is that you can dress it up or dress it down. I like to add strawberry jam to my recipe to make yummy strawberry cupcakes. You can also add yummy peppermint chips or chocolate candies-Yum. After much searching, my sister gave me a great vanilla cupcake recipe who got it from the Grande dame of crafts, Martha Stewart. 


Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to medium. Mix in 3 batches of flour mixture, alternating with 2 batches of milk. Raise speed to medium-high; mix until thorough blended, 10 to 20 seconds. 


2. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Let cool in tin on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from tin; let cool completely. Line tin with muffin cups; repeat process with remaining batter. 


3. Transfer buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip (such as Ateco #806). Pipe buttercream onto each cupcake in a spiral pattern, starting at the edges and ending with a peak in the center. 


The original recipe can be found here on MarthaStewart.com