vanilla cupcakes with strawberry buttercream

First, I've gotta say that this morning/afternoon has been lovely.  There was jazz playing in the background, I had a pot of pasta sauce simmering away on the stove and I even had one of my Lemon Poppy Seed muffins for breakfast.  So peaceful =).

Now for the cupcakes.  Let me just say that they're amazing.  A co-worker of mine is going on maternity leave in the middle of July and I wanted to bake something for our last team meeting before she leaves.  I found this recipe from honey & jam and thought it would be a good fit for a baby shower/work meeting.  And I'm in love.

I picked this recipe mainly because it didn't involve pureeing strawberries for the buttercream (i'm food processor-less) and because the cake batter used almond extract.  The almond flavor is very subtle which is good because it might be too reminiscent of the death cake if it the cake was any sweeter.  Today's baking was a test run for the actual shower/meeting and I think it'll be a good fit.  The original recipe is below, but I used one third of the cake batter and halved the buttercream recipe.  Enjoy!


Vanilla Cake Batter

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350.

1) Beat sugar and butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
2) Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.
3) In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at medium-low speed just until blended after each addition.

For two 9 inch pans, cook for 32-36 minutes.

My cupcakes baked for 24 minutes.


Strawberry Vanilla Buttercream

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 (16 oz) package powdered sugar
1/2 cup of fresh strawberries, chopped

1) Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
2) Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with strawberries, beating at low speed until blended and smooth after each addtion.

The buttercream is quite wet because of the strawberries, so I'm experimenting to see if keeping it refrigerated until serving stops the cupcakes from getting soggy.  A soggy cupcake would just be wrong.

a couple failures and some tasty muffins

It's been so long! It's not that I haven't been baking, it's just that I haven't taken the time to document it. *sadface*  The last adventure was an underwhelming one. I made flavorless chocolate chocolate chunk muffins with my sister last weekend.  Not enough chocolate chunks. Not enough sugar.  I even tweeted my disappointment.

@avejosh "and i'm mad at these chocolate-chocolate chunk muffins i made earlier. they look and smell amazing but taste like nothing! *sigh*"

19 Jun via web

 And to top it all off, a friend of mine amplifies all of my baking failures. Writing this makes it seem pretty mean, but I promise, he's a really nice guy!!  This bake-hate started at a shindig he hosted at his place back in March.  I told him I'd bring my famous Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, and he made mention of some Chocolate Chip Cookies that he's pretty well known for.  So, as the competitive person I am, it had to be a challenge.  The party attendees would crown the champion and there would be no question as to who the better baker was. 

So, that afternoon, I whipped out my ingredients, and baked up a batch of cookies.  I followed the recipe like I always do, but somehow, the cookies just tasted wrong!  I didn't know if my taste buds were off, or if they were really as horrible as I thought they were, but for some reason, I still put them in the car and took them to the party.  I hid my cookie tray in a dark corner on his counter top hoping no one would find them, but of course, Steve the bake-hater found them.  Now, as for the competition, his entry was non-existent.  He served us cookies his mother had baked. So I felt better knowing that the competition was a draw and I didn't actually lose.  But the bake-hater will never forget those horrible cookies.  And he jumped all over the news of the failed chocolate chocolate chunk muffins. I have to redeem myself.  It's a matter of pride.  Yes, I've had a few failures.  But in the grand scheme of things, I'm pretty good at what I do!  Most people know this, but Steve the bake-hater needs to be proven wrong.  

On a happier note, I made some Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins yesterday afternoon and they turned out lovely.  Another take on a Brown Eyed Baker's take on a Dorie Greenspan classic.  I'll be eating another for breakfast in the morning.  Next time, I might bump up the lemon flavor with some lemon extract, but the subtle lemon flavor is nice too.  The recipe calls for a bake time of 20 minutes but I let mine go for 22 minutes. They weren't as brown as they should have been when the 20 minute timer went off so I let them sit a while longer.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Bake Time: 18 to 20 minutes
2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

2. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough – a few lumps are better than over mixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffins cups.

3. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.