Vanilla Cupcakes

By Addie

These cupcakes completely lived up to my expectations. They had a good texture – sweet and tender enough not to be mistaken for muffins, but not so light that they crumbled when I bit into them – and were quite moist. I actually used a type of vanilla extract that has vanilla beans in it, so they had a nice speckled look to them, as well as a lovely vanilla flavor. I liked the fact that this particular cake recipe uses the simple creaming method (cream the butter and sugar, then add dry ingredients) instead of the more involved technique of cutting the butter into the dry ingredients first (often my preferred method because it makes the cakes so tender). I used vanilla extract, rather than vanilla sugar, to give the cakes a good vanilla flavor, and chose to use buttermilk as the primary liquid.

Ingredients

• 12 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 20 muffin cups with paper liners.


In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. When light and fluffy, beat in the eggs one at a time.


In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a measuring cup, combine the buttermilk and vanilla extract.


With the mixer on low speed (or by hand), stir one third of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Blend in half of the buttermilk, followed by another third of the flour mixture. Stir in remaining buttermilk/vanilla and the rest of the flour, mixing only until no streaks of flour remain. Divide evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full.


Bake for 22-24 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting. Makes 20 cupcakes.