Vanilla Cupcakes

Since I am still in the early stages of my baking obsessions/passion/hobby/career/learning process, one of my goals is to test out recipes until I have a couple of tried and true go-to recipes.

I seem to have landed on a good foolproof chocolate cake recipe that works great in both cupcake and cake form. 

Vanilla is a bit more of a problem. I've tried out a few but have never been completely satisfied. 

Until I ordered this book. There are some mouthwatering recipes in that book as well as a whole lot of drool-worthy pictures. But more on that later in a review post.

I tried out a basic vanilla cupcake recipe in one of the first few pages. The first time I tried it, I added MnM's into the mix because my roommates are children and want candy and chocolate in everything. I didn't bother to dress them up too fancy because I was just testing them out. 

They came out really good. Soft and fluffy on the inside and just a tad crispy on the outside. They also rose very nicely. However the batter was not very liquidy...it was more doughy and thick...which isn't really a negative point, just an observation. Anyway, the trial went with no major catastrophes and the result was more than satisfactory.

The second time I decided to make them a little fancier. I had some frozen buttercream left over from the last birthday cake I made and it was already coloured purple. 

This time, the cupcakes rose TREMENDOUSLY...they could have passed for muffins. They also rose lopsided which probably has to do with how I filled the liners. Since the batter isn't as liquidy, I guess it didn't even out in the oven while baking like I expected it to....go figure -_-

I think what I did differently was mix it for longer in my mixer. This is the only thing I can think of that I did differently. 

They still tasted fine though which is a relief. 

I learned from this experience that having a ice cream scoop or some kind of device to distribute batter evenly would make the cupcakes more even and consistent. I used a measuring cup (I think it was a 1/4 cup scoop) and then used a spoon to help it into the liner....not very efficient and took 5 million times longer. 

All in all a good stepping stone. I will post the recipe soon....if I don't forget....what? I'm only human!

Oh and also I didn't do an MM post this week...midterm and no time....c'est la vie!

Happy Baking!