I was looking through the starred recipes in my google reader and found a recipe for “Ultimate Vanilla Bean Cupcakes”. I already have a favorite recipe for vanilla bean cupcakes, but this blogger had sent recipes out to 50 different people, had them test the recipes, and vote on their favorite.This was the winner with 66% of people saying it was the ultimate vanilla bean cupcake. So, I thought maybe I should try this recipe because it might be better than mine. While this was a really good YELLOW cupcake, it was not (in my opinion) the ultimate vanilla bean cupcake. It was delicious; I just thought it had more of a classic yellow cake taste. The vanilla bean paste did not shine through, so if you take a bite expecting vanilla you’ll be disappointed. That’s why I renamed them yellow cupcakes. They were light and fluffy, so you can eat several without feeling guilty. 😉
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you may remember that I’ve made strawberry buttercream in the past. I updated the recipe by omitting the milk and adding more strawberry puree–even better! Enjoy!
Classic Yellow Cupcakes with (updated) Strawberry Buttercream
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes. Because there is so little butter, you’ll end up with a very fine crumb texture.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
- Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined. The batter will be liquid.
- Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full. (I use a 3 tbsp scoop)
- Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it. If they are not done, test again in two minutes.
- When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack to cool.
*adapted from Cupcake Project
