I happen to adore cupcakes. They are the perfect-sized personal cake. While living in New York, I was surprised to find out about the cupcake craze of the early 2000s. (Apparently frozen yogurt is all the rage now :))There are tons of cupcakeries all over the city. Crumbs is by far my favorite. They specialize in huge cupcakes with mounds of frosting in tons and tons of flavors. I have had tried, unsuccessfully, to recreate those massive cupcakes. After finally finding a jumbo cupcake pan that I liked, I had my first baking experiment with jumbo cupcakes this weekend. I used a simple recipe for a vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting. Now, I prefer a cupcake that has a nice browned crust all over, not just on top, so I decided to forgo the cupcake liners and just put the batter directly into the pan. Now, bnecause the cupcakes are made from scratch, they are a lot more dense. I could only eat about a third of one at a time, but it was oh so worth it.
Vanilla Cupcakes
1 stick butter
1.5 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large egg whites
Preheat oven to 350 and butter and flour jumbo muffin pan.
1. soften butter in the mixer on high speed
2. drizzle the sugar in with the butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes
3. sift flour, baking powder, and salt together
4. measure out milk and vanilla
5. add the flour mixture and milk mixture to the butter/sugar in 3 parts alternating between flour and milk and beating well after each addition
6. set aside incorporated mixture
7. in a clean mixer bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form
8. fold egg whites into cake batter until incorporated
9. scoop batter into the prepared cupcake pans
10. bake in the 350 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1.5 sticks butter
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 T. Vanilla
1 T. heavy cream
3 drops purple food coloring
Mix butter and sugar on high speed until combined. Add in vanilla and food coloring and mix until fully incorporated. Add in cream until desired consistency. Frosting should be stiff but workable. Fill pastry bag with frosting. using a number 8 tip, pipe a liberal amount of frosting on top of cooled cupcake.
Makes 10 jumbo cupcakes.
