Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

We were throwing a baby shower for one of the girls at work. She is having a baby boy, so they decided to do the colors orange and blue (more like a mango and turquoise). I made strawberry cupcakes and dyed the frosting orange. I wanted a variety of flavors, so I decided on a simple vanilla cupcake recipe and dyed the frosting blue. I like this cupcake recipe because it is so simple and easy to make, but also really light and yummy. I think the colors all came out well, and the baby shower was a  hit!

Cupcake Ingredients:

*1 1/2 Cups Flour
*1 Cup Sugar
*1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
*1/2 Teaspoon Salt
*1/2 Cup Butter
*1/2 Cup Sour Cream
*1 Egg
*2 Egg Yolks
*1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

*Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees F and line muffin pan with liners.

Since it was a baby shower I used the ones with little baby feet on them. I know they are pink and that the shower was for a boy baby, but I figured they would fade once baked. I didnt want to buy colored liners because it would be hard to find the exact shades of orange and blue that I wanted.

*Whisk Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, and Salt in a bowl and set aside.

*In the bowl of your mixer, beat Butter, Sour Cream, Egg, Egg Yolks, and Vanilla.

*Add Flour mix and beat until smooth.

*Divide Batter evenly among muffin liners.

*Bake for approx. 20 minutes.

*Let cool before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:

*1 Cup Butter
*2 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
*1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

*Beat Butter until smooth.

*Add Powdered Sugar one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

*Add Vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

*If coloring frosting, add food color.

* To get this shade of turquoise, I added about 61 drops of blue food color. (I just had the regular pack of red, blue, yellow, red).

Chocolate Chip Cake or Cupcakes

I made Chocolate Chip Cupcakes a few weeks ago to take to a friends house. There were some left over so I took them in to work, hoping that everyone would finish them off. Coincidentally my boss was holding her sons birthday party the next weekend and asked if I could make a cake for the party. She had already bought a topper to put on the cake, so I didn't even have to decorate. Since she had sampled the chocolate chip cupcakes, she asked if I could do that. So I used the same recipe for the cake as I did the cupcakes.

Cake/Cupcake Ingredients:

* 3 1/4 Cups Cake Flour
* 1 1/2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
* 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
* 1 3/4 Sticks of Butter
* 1 3/4 Cups Sugar
* 1 Cup Milk
* 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
* 5 Large Egg Whites
* 2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

***If you don't have Cake Flour, substitute 2 Tablespoons of Flour with Cornstarch for every Cup of Flour.***

* Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.

* If making Cupcakes, line 2 muffin pans; If making Cake, Grease and Flour 3 Round Cake Pans.

* In a bowl, combine the Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt. Set Aside.

* In the bowl of your mixer, cream the Butter and Sugar.

* Mix together Milk and Vanilla.

* Add dry ingredients to Butter Mix in 3 additions, alternating with the Milk in 2 additions.

* In a clean bowl of your mixer, Beat the egg Whites until stiff peaks form.

* Carefully fold the Egg Whites into the rest of the batter.

* Stir in Chocolate Chips.

* Divide Batter into Cake Pans, or Muffin Pans.

* Bake for approx. 30 minutes for Cake; Bake for approx. 22 minutes for Cupcakes.

* Cool before Frosting.

Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

* 1 Cup Butter
* 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
* 1 Teaspoon Vanilla

* In the bowl of your Mixer, beat butter until smooth.

* Add Powdered Sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

* Add Vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

* At this point you can frost the Cake or Cupcakes.

* This was all I did for the cupcakes. The cake I added chocolate frosting between the layers.

Chocolate Frosting:

* 4 Ounces Unsweetened Chocolate
* 2/3 Cup Butter
* 1 1/3 Cup Powdered Sugar
* 1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla

* Melt the Chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set aside to cool.

* Beat the Butter until smooth.

* Add the Sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

* Add the Chocolate and Vanilla and beat until incorporated.

* Frost Cake!

* Enjoy!

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Today is another friends 30th birthday. I said at the last 30th birthday we attended that I would make cupcakes. Strawberry was mentioned and I thought that sounded perfect. Its a nice summer flavor. I got some really nice fresh strawberries at the farmers market this week. I like using fresh strawberries over frozen ones, but I guess it really doesn't matter.

Ingredients:

*3/4 Cup Strawberries cut in half
*1 1/2 Cups Flour
*1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
*1/4 Teaspoon Salt
*1/4 Cup Milk
*1/2 Cup Butter
*1 Cup Sugar
*1 Egg
*2 Egg Whites
*1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

*Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Line muffin pan with liners

*Place halved strawberries in food processor to make strawberry puree.

*Place Strawberry Puree in 1/4 cup measure cup and set aside. You should make some extra Strawberry Puree because you will need some for the frosting. But you can always do that later if you don't want to right now. Set aside

*In a bowl, combine the Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt. Set aside.

*In the bowl of your mixer cream the Butter.

*Add Sugar and beat until blended.

*Add the Egg and Egg Whites one at a time. Mix until combined.

*Stir in Vanilla Extract.

*Combine Milk and Strawberry Puree.

*Add half of the Flour Mixture to the mixing bowl and combine.

*Mix in the Strawberry/Milk Mix.

*Add the rest of the Flour MIx and combine.

*Scoop batter into muffin cups.

*Bake for approx. 20-25 minutes. Cool before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:

*1 Cup Butter
*3 Cups Powdered Sugar
*1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
*3 Tablespoons Strawberry Puree

*In the bowl of your mixer, beat the Butter until fluffy.

*Add the Powdered Sugar one cup at at time and beat well after each addition.

*Add the Vanilla Extract and Strawberry Puree and beat well.

*Beat Frosting until fluffy.

Decorating:

I decided to keep these simple and just frost the cupcakes and top with a strawberry half.

*Packed and ready for transport.

*Enjoy!!!!