Cooking Cove: Cupcakes to the rescue
By Barbara Beltrami
When the kids get tired of their tablets and cellphones (lol), when it’s so hot that everybody is fighting to get in front of the AC vents, or when summer vacation is past the halfway mark and boredom sets in, it’s cupcakes to the rescue. Easy and user friendly, the following basic recipes for cupcakes and their frostings leave lots of room for creativity.
Vanilla Cupcakes
YIELD: Makes 12 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS:
One stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1¾ cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 F. Fill 12 muffin cups with paper liners. With electric mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs and mix well. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and add alternately with the milk to the butter mixture; do not overbeat. Stir in vanilla. Fill muffin cups ⅔ full and bake 20 to 25 minutes until golden and pulling away slightly from sides of pan. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. When cool, top with frosting of choice. Serve with chocolate milk or lemonade.
Chocolate Cupcakes
YIELD: Makes 24 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS:
½ cup cocoa
1 cup hot water
1⅔ cups flour
1½ cups sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup soft unsalted butter
2 eggs
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Mix cocoa and water until smooth; let cool. Blend flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add butter and cocoa mixture; scraping sides of bowl frequently, beat two minutes on medium speed of mixer. Add eggs and beat two more minutes. Fill muffin cups half full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from muffin tin and cool on wire rack. Frost as desired. Serve with milk or orangeade.
Vanilla Butter Frosting
YIELD: Makes enough for 12 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup soft unsalted butter
3 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar
3 tablespoons cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
DIRECTIONS:
Blend butter and sugar together; stir in cream and vanilla till smooth.
Chocolate Butter Frosting
Make vanilla frosting but stir in three squares unsweetened chocolate, melted, into blended mixture.
Orange or Lemon Frosting
Make vanilla butter frosting but omit vanilla and replace cream with same amount of orange or lemon juice.