oh cupcake

Slade requested "lots and lots of cupcakes" for the party after his baptism. I love cupcakes and was happy to oblige. I made them all with my hand mixer since my Bosch was in the repair shop. I made even more for book club on Wednesday. I have eaten WAY too many cupcakes this week to say the least.

I thought I would share some of the recipes I used as they are some of my favorites.

This is probably my favorite of all cupcake recipes right now. When I gave some to one of my friends, she said it was like eating sunshine.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes
from Kraft

1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) lemon instant pudding

1 cup water

4 egg whites

2 Tbsp. oil

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar

HEAToven to 350ºF.

BEAT first 5 ingredients in large bowl with mixer on low speed until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) Beat on medium speed 2 min. Spoon into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.

BAKE 21 to 24 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min.; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

BEAT cream cheese, butter and juice with mixer until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating on low speed after each addition until well blended. Spread onto cupcakes.

I intended to jazz up the white cake mix recipe with these instructions from Saucy's Sprinkles:

Mix one cake mix package in mixer with three eggs, 1/2 cup melted butter and one cup water or milk. Blend on low speed for a minute and scrape down sides of the bowl. Beat on high for 2-3 minutes until smooth and lighter in color.

My mom was too on top of things though and made just regular cupcakes. They were still super yummy because I frosted them with this frosting recipe from Our Best Bites. I used almond extract and it was so good. I usually double this recipe so I can make big swirls on top.

Perfect Cupcake Frosting and Filling

3 T Flour
1/2 C milk (whole milk is best)
1/2 C real butter (not a cheap store brand)
1/2 C sugar (that's granulated sugar, not powdered sugar)
1 t vanilla extract, or other flavor

Whisk together the flour and the milk. Heat in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. Let it cook, while stirring, until it looks like pudding (you should be able to see the bottom of the pan when you stir it). Remove from heat and let cool completely.

It an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. Then while beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the vanilla.
Beat on high for 7-9 minutes.

The chocolate cupcakes I made from scratch didn't really work out. I would have been better off to have used a mix. However, I really did like this chocolate buttercream recipe. I ran out of vanilla and used orange extract instead.

Chocolate Buttercream
from All Recipes

1 cup butter softened
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
dash of salt

Cream butter. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Add enough milk until frosting reaches spreading consistency.

Happy Baking!