Good Foundation

I gotta say today was not my day for good looking cupcakes. The humidity and temperature of the house made it impossible to get a good consistency on the frosting. The taste however was awesome! I've been looking for a good vanilla cake recipe that I can adapt for cupcakes. I've tried quite a few already and haven't been really happy with any of them. They are either too dry, taste is not to my liking, or too dense. Today I think I found the BEST vanilla cupcake recipe. OK so when I say the best I mean the best to MY liking. I know everyone has different ideas of what the best is but believe me I had 5 very happy people taste test this recipe today and they all loved it. Oh wait make that 7 including my parents. My dad is super picky and he even said it was tasty :)

I decided to do a vanilla/yellow cake with strawberry jam filling and cream cheese frosting today for my coffee date with the girls. I loved it. They loved it. Although the frosting wasn't as firm as I like it, it still was very yummy with the whole cupcake. The cake was soft, and moist and a pretty light buttery color. Paired with the strawberry jam it was delicious. I know I will be definitely be keeping this recipe as one of my favorites.



(UGH! Pardon the horrible picture but I was in a hurry and today was a yucky day, no sunlight!)

The original recipe is actually called Triple Citrus Cupcakes, and although that sounds great I was on the hunt for a simple vanilla cake recipe. I decided to use this but take out all the citrus from it and add more vanilla flavor.

Vanilla/Yellow Cupcakes adapted from Read.Cook.Digest.

Ingredients

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used 1 1/2 tsp)
4 eggs , room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup whole milk (makes a difference trust me)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 325˚F. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a stand mixer, fitted with a flat beater, combine cream cheese, butter, and beat until light and fluffy, add vanilla beat about 30 seconds more.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Then beat in oil. Gradually add flour mixture and milk in 3 additions, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Try not to over mix.

Fill cupcake liners about 1/2-2/3 full, I use an ice cream scoop. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I checked the cupcakes at 25 minutes with a toothpick and they were done I took them out and they were perfect. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.

*Frost cupcakes with your favorite frosting or eat them without, either way they will be good! I cored the cupcakes put some strawberry jam in the middle replaced the cored pieces and frosted them with The BEST cream cheese frosting (at least to me :))

NOTES: I have to say that following the recipe exactly is highly recommended. I didn't use to think temperature of the ingredients mattered but it really does make a difference. This goes for the milk, eggs, butter and in this case the cream cheese. Room temperature is always the best.

Not a good day for a pretty cupcake but a great day for a delicious one :)