This recipe has been the easiest one I have ever used for homemade cupcakes, as well as the most delicious! (Yields 12 cupcakes)
All of the necessary ingredients for BOTH cupcakes and frosting. See, I told you it was easy! (Missing: Raspberry Jam, my sister had to pick some up at the store)
All of my decorating tools used. Didn't end up using the sprinkles, the frosting color was too pretty to cover up.
My cupcake pen is one of the best $10 I've spent. It fit all of this batter inside, usually you may need to fill it twice. Since this recipe yields 12 cupcakes, it was perfect. I do recommend spraying the inside with cooking spray before pouring the batter into it so it doesn't fully stick to the edges of the bottle.
This is my go-to decorating tip when making regular size cupcakes. Mini cupcakes soon to follow in the up-coming weeks.
Highly recommend using a coupler with the tips. It keeps the tip in place when decorating.
Step 1: Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl. You will be using a different bowl or a stand mixer for the additional ingredients.
Step 2: Cream the butter. It should look similar to this, if it is chunky, it's too cold. Let it sit for about 5 minutes on the counter and have a couple sips of your wine in the meantime. After 5 minutes, try it again.
Creamy Butter.
Step 3: Add sugar to the butter and mix on medium-high until fluffy and incorporated. My picture looks a bit chunky but if you look at the next picture it looks how it should.
Step 4: Add eggs one at a time.
This is after both eggs have been added.
Step 5: Adding the tasty vanilla. I swear by this stuff. I use it in place of all my vanilla extract in baking. It is thick, smells fantastic and at the top of the jar you can see the vanilla beans that this stuff contains. It really does make the dish. I found it on a whim at Wegmans and had to try it, and haven't bought anything else since. It also lasts forever! (If your sister doesn't drop it on the kitchen floor like mine did, but she did replace it) It's around $11 for this bottle and can be found at Wegmans, Williams Sonoma and I even think Wal Mart might carry it.
Look at those vanilla beans!
Step 6: I didn't get a picture of myself adding the flour or milk but this is when you do. Add a third of the flour mixture, beat on low speed. Add milk, beat again on low. Repeat until all ingredients are incorporated and your batter looks like this.
Fill your cupcake tins 2/3 of the way full and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. I baked mine for 18 and they were perfectly done. Time them on how you know your oven bakes, the 20-25 is recommended, not necessarily the exact time they should bake.
I've always gone by the method of if the tops spring back up when you touch them, then you know they are done. I don't really bother with cupcakes and the toothpicks or dry spaghetti noodle method. Use whichever method you feel most comfortable with.
A nice soft crust around the edges is exactly what you are looking for!
You can even see the vanilla beans on the top of the cupcake after they've baked!
Now while the delicious smelling cupcakes are cooling, you want to make your frosting.
Step 1: Add the butter and confectioner's sugar. It does not need to be sifted! Thank goodness.
The butter is under the confectioner's sugar, all 1 1/2 sticks of it.
Once again, if your mixture is chunky, your butter was too cold. Go have some more wine. I left mine out on the counter while making the cupcakes, so I missed out on my extra wine, maybe I will learn for next time.
Step 2: Add the vanilla. Yum.
Tip: If you don't want raspberry frosting, stop here and add 2 TBS of milk instead of the jam and you will have delicious vanilla frosting!
Step 3: Add the seedless, raspberry jam and mix well.
I highly recommend tasting the frosting, if you want a heavy raspberry flavor, add a TBS at a time, you don't want it to get too thin. For my taste, the flavor was perfect.
I decided to try coring my cupcakes. I've never tried it before and let me tell you, so easy and made these cupcakes even better, which I didn't think was possible.
Handy cupcake corer and the raspberry jam. This is the same jam used for the frosting and for the filling.
Don't need any fancy tools for filling, just a standard kitchen spoon works perfect.
Still the best way to fill a pastry bag in my opinion. The frosting doesn't get everywhere and makes it seem like you have an extra set of hands.
Here is the finished product!
The perfect swirl
My sister insisted that we cut open a cupcake to see how the inside looks. Not the prettiest, but definitely the tastiest.
