Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting.

It’s felt like spring today, sunny skies and a lovely 70 degrees, trees blooming and birds singing. This called for pink cupcakes.



I’ve been on the search for the perfect vanilla cake batter for a while now. Many I’ve tried are good, but they come out just a little too sweet, too dry, etc. The recipe I used comes from the latest Southern Living. It came out perfectly, they rose evenly and were so moist and tender. I halved the recipe and it gave me almost exactly 12 cupcakes, it might have done 13 or 14. It works so well for super sugary frosting, the cakes themselves aren’t so sweet. This will be my go-to recipe now.

The strawberry buttercream is so good - it tastes like spring. Plus the strawberries turn the icing an amazing shade of pink, it’s adorable.



Basic Vanilla Cake Batter
(this is for a layer cake, I halved it to make 12 cupcakes)

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat sugar and butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat a medium-low speed just until blended after each addition. (batter will be thick)


For two 9 inch pans, cook for 32-36 minutes.

My cupcakes baked for about 20 minutes.


Strawberry Vanilla Buttercream

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 (16 oz) package powdered sugar
1/2 cup of fresh strawberries, chopped

Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with strawberries, beating at low speed until blended and smooth after each addtion.