Do you have a Travel thing? Like, when you're in a new town, something that you simply must do?
Mine is visiting cupcakeries. For whatever weird reason, I have this obsession with visiting cupcake makers in different places. And always, I order simply: vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting.
This is weird. Because I'm rarely your plain-and-basic kind of a gal.
If there are 563 flavors in a dish, I'm 5627 more excited. If there is gourmet-something, frou-frou something, over-the-top something, I'm usually in.
But a long time ago, something in my subconscious decided that the best way to tell a good bakery was by tasting the most simple of offerings. The vanilla cupcake.
If it was a tender, buttery, moist {yes, I just typed *moist*...sorryboutthat} and splendidly vanilla cake, with a real life made-with-butter buttercream, then surely, the baker had a knack for other proper baked goods.
It's astonishing, really, how many bakeries can't even nail the basic vanilla cupcake.
They are dry...
Or pasty...
Or not made with butter.
And gurl, you can TELL if a cupcake is not made with real butter.
The other thing of it, too, is that a basic vanilla cupcake shouldn't just taste like vanilla cake mix. It should have the slightest hint of "whaaaaaaat issss thatttt wonderful something"?
Like, not just vanilla. But a kiss of some other perfect flavor that you can't quite put your finger on. But also, can't stop obsessing over.
I figured it was wrong of me to hold allthebakersintheworld to this zany cupcake standard, if I myself hadn't staked my claim in it.
So hit the kitchen and started stirring up bowls of batter. Until just the right combo came out of the oven, formed into a perfectly golden dome of cupcakedness.
After a few batches, this beaut emerged. Full fat coconut milk made the innards of this version tender and sweet, with the slight somethingness that so makes a cupcake.
Tiffany blue whipped buttercream, made with bourbonned vanilla to top it all off.
And sprinkles. Basic rainbow sprinkles. So many of them.
There are a lot of recipes out there. A lot of fancy, frou frou ways to do a cupcake.
But this one is everything about vanilla cupcakes that they should be.
Sweet.
Simple.
Soft.
Moist. (eek.)
Beautiful.
Buttery.
Truly.
The Perfect Vanilla Cupcake.
<3
The Perfect Vanilla Cupcake
24 cupcakes | 60 mins
FOR THE CUPCAKES
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/4 cups full fat coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
FOR THE ICING
- 2 sticks salted butter, softened
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- 3-5 Tbsp whole milk (or coconut milk)
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp almond extract (optional)
- 1/8 tsp coconut extracts (optional)
- a few drops of blue coloring, 1 drop yellow
- 1 cup rainbow nonpareils
Heat oven to 350ºF.
In a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar and eggs, whipping until very light and fluffy.
Add flour, salt and baking powder. Beat just until incorporated. Whisk together coconut milk, vinegar and vanilla. Add to batter, mixing until smooth (but being careful not to overmix).
Scoop into parchment lined muffin cups, filling each cup 3/4 full. Bake 17-20 minutes, watching closely so you can pull them out JUST when the center sets (which is usually closer to 18 minutes in my oven).
Remove and cool completely.
Prepare the frosting by beating butter in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whipping until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, half of the milk and extracts. Beat slowly until well mixed, then add more milk, if needed, until frosting is light and fluffy. Tint to desired color, beat on high for 1 minute, until very fluffy.
To ice, use a knife to place a heap of frosting atop each cupcake, swirl frosting toward the center, then use your knife to scrape around the edges of the cupcake. Roll the edges in sprinkles. Allow frosting to set before serving.