CLASSIC VANILLA CUPCAKES WITH CHOCOLATE FROSTING

You have to know something about my husband, he doesn’t eat a lot of what I bake for the blog. Now, don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t shun sugar by any means! He actually may be one of the biggest sweet eaters I know, just like my dad was. Growing up I could always count on my Dad to eat anything I whipped up in the kitchen! My husband, on the other hand, he’s a pretty simple man. He doesn’t care for stuffed and gooey, raspberry and lemon, or a luscious panna cotta. What he does love is a simple classic vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting.

A few weeks ago I was in the kitchen stuffing lemon cupcakes with raspberry ice cream for the Ice Cream Cupcake Challenge over at the Cupcake Project, when I realized the next day was Father’s Day. Now Steve may not be MY father, but he is one fantastic father to our girls………and all I could think about was how disappointed he was going to be when he found out I was making cupcakes again, and they were not chocolate and vanilla.

Now, this is where I have to tell you, that he’s perfectly happy with a boxed mix (especially when I doctor it up to make perfect cupcakes) and some canned frosting. But, as luck would have it, I did not have a vanilla, yellow or white cake mix in the house. So I thought I’d see what I could find online.

People let me tell you………this is THE BEST Vanilla cake I’ve ever had! or at least the best I’ve ever made! I was a little leery, because, like I said, I usually start with a box mix. Last year I thought I’d get my June Clever on and make him a yellow cake from scratch and it was terrible! None of us liked it, we actually threw 3/4 of that cake out, and needless to say, it never made it to the blog.

This time I thought I’d look for a white cake, and quickly found a recipe that promised to be easy and delightful. A white cake that tastes like a cross between an angel food cake, with a light almond-vanilla flavor, and a pound cake, without the heaviness. Simply flavored, sweet, moist with a medium crumb. SOLD!!

INGREDIENTS:

For Vanilla Cupcakes
3/4 cup milk, room temperature
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter (6 oz), softened
For Chocolate Frosting
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
1 pound semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

DIRECTIONS:

For Vanilla Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350° F and line cupcake tins with paper liners
Using a small bowl, combine milk, cream, eggs whites and almond extract and vanilla bean with a fork and set aside.
Using paddle attachment on electric mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt on low speed. Add butter and continue beating at slow speed until mixture looks like wet sand.
Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes.
Add remaining milk mixture and beat for an additional 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary. Do not over mix.
Divide batter evenly between cupcake wells and gently shake to smooth batter. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center cupcakes comes out clean.
Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen in a covered container for 1-2 weeks.
For Chocolate Frosting:

Combine the cocoa and boiling water, stirring until the cocoa has dissolved. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, confectioners’ sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy.
Reduce speed to low. Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the cocoa mixture.
If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 5 days or frozen up to 1 month, in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again.