Valentine’s Day ♡
It’s February & closer to my favorite holiday…Valentine’s Day! ♡♡♡ My earliest memory of my Memaw, is her calling me her “heart girl”. As a young child, almost everything I drew incorporated hearts (heart people, heart windows on a house, etc.) & so my Memaw’s fond nickname for me was born! I still love the color pink & hearts which is the standard for Valentine’s Day & why I love it so much.
I love baking for Valentine’s Day!!!! Sweets & chocolate are a staple for this holiday. Since I have a 4-year-old & 2-year-old to celebrate with this year, chocolate seems messy. Vanilla cupcakes & vanilla frosting are a win for everyone involved! Super easy, super fun to decorate, & super yummy!!!!
Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting
- Cupcake Batter:
- 2 sticks of butter
- 1¾ cups of sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 T vanilla
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 T baking powder
- ½ t salt
- Frosting:
- 2 sticks butter
- 2lbs confectioner's sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 T vanilla
- Preheat oven 350°F.
- Cream butter in the bowl of the mixer. Add sugar. Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.
- Sift together the cake flour, salt, & baking powder.
- Interchangeably mix in milk & flour mixture ⅓ at a time. Add vanilla.
- Line cupcake tin with cupcake liners & fill ⅔ full with batter.
- Bake 16 minutes for regular cupcakes/9 minutes for mini cupcakes or until the top is springy & a toothpick is clean when inserted. If the toothpick is wet, put the cupcakes back in the oven for 2 more minutes. Repeat as many times as needed.
- Once the cupcakes are fully cooked & are easy to handle, pull the cupcakes directly from the cupcake tin to a wire rack to cool.
- Place a piping tip in a piping bag & fill with frosting. When the cupcakes are fully cooled, frost the cupcakes.
- Decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles, candies, or decorative picks.
- Enjoy! ♡
Kitchen Tips ♡
♡ I use cake flour for my vanilla cupcakes instead of all-purpose flour. AP flour will work, but cake flour makes the cake light & spongy whereas the AP flour will create a texture that can be heavier & dense. I like to make my own cake flour because it is less expensive to make than to buy it & it is easy to make! Scale 1 cup of flour in a bowl & then take 2 tablespoons of the flour back out of the bowl. Replace that with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Yes! Cornstarch! Cornstarch has a silky feel to it & it helps take out some protein content which makes a difference with gluten forming.
♡ I sift my dry ingredients of flour, salt, & baking powder. Sifting is important in cupcakes because it makes the flour lighter which helps all the ingredients to incorporate easier. To sift, a strainer is needed & a medium-sized bowl. Simply put the flour, salt, & baking powder through the strainer by hitting the sides of the strainer or if the flour is going outside the bowl, use a spatula to push the ingredients through.
♡ In order to try & keep my cupcakes uniform, I use a scoop & a bowl of water when I am putting the batter in the muffin tin. I use a 1/4 cup scoop for regular cupcakes & a tablespoon for mini cupcakes. The bowl of water keeps the batter from sticking to the scoop. I place my scoop in the water in between each cupcake scoop. A little bit of water won’t affect the baking process!
♡ My oven has hot spots which means that the oven is hotter in certain places than in others. When I check my cupcakes, I turn the cupcake tins around & switch the sides of the cupcake tins. This helps me cook my cupcakes more evenly!
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