I’ve started noticing a trend in our household. Sunday  has become bake day. After we go to church and have lunch we usually come back home and hang out by the pool or stay home and play with the kids. After about an hour and a half of playing with Thomas the Train I start looking for something to do, but not necessarily dinner. This week I finally tried a recipe from The Cupcake Diaries recipe book I purchased when I visited Georgetown Cupcake last fall.

I’ve always enjoyed Georgetown cupcakes and I finally found out their secret to scrumptious cupcakes. It turns out, it’s no secret at all, it’s just butter. I have to agree with Julia Child’s stand on how “with enough butter, everything’s good.” I was so excited to start baking and had a hard time deciding between vanilla, red velvet, lemon or maple chocolate chip cupcakes.  My dad recently got me some vanilla beans from Veracruz, Mexico and I was really eager to use them in a recipe. I opted for the vanilla bean cupcakes with a strawberry buttercream. But don’t worry, I will definitely won’t keep myself from giving the other recipes a try.

These cupcakes are delicious and simple and the strong flavor and aroma of the vanilla beans make for a wonderful treat. I need to warn you though, if you are thinking about making these cupcakes, you will have to be patient as you need to wait until everything is at room temperature to be able to even start preparing the mix.  I was excited and ready to go when I realized I had to wait a good hour to get started.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Adapted from The Cupcake Diaries

(This recipe makes 14-18 cupcakes depending on your muffin pan size)

Ingredients

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ¾ cups of sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

seeds from 1 vanilla bean (I used 2)

1 ¼ cups whole milk, at room temperature

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place baking cups in cupcake pan, or grease the pan if not using baking cups
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside
3. In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time mixing slowly after each addition.
4. Add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds to the milk in a large measuring cup.
5. Add one-third of the dry ingredients followed by one-third of the milk, and mix thoroughly. Repeat. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the last third of dry ingredients followed by the last third of milk. Mix slowly until fully incorporated.
6. Scoop the batter into the cupcake pan until cups are two-thirds full. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Cool completely.
7. Try to keep your significant others away from the cupcakes until they are cool and frosted, let them know it’s worth the wait.
8. Enjoy!

Strawberry Butercream Frosting

Adapted from The Cupcake Diaries

(This recipe yields enough icing to frost about 18 cupcakes)

 

Ingredients

16 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon whole milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup strawberries, diced and strained (about 15 small strawberries)

 

Directions

1. Place all ingredients except for strawberries in stand mixer and whip for 5 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy
2. Fold in the diced strawberries

 

 

Happy Monday!