Vanilla Cupcakes

I made these yummy cupcakes for my daughters daycare holiday party.  I decorated them like snowmen and in the process of frosting them some of the cake/frosting FELL into my mouth.  It was the weirdest thing.  I'll tell ya, it took a lot of restraint on my part to not eat ALL this frosting.  I kept telling myself "it's for the children.....and maybe they won't eat them all".  But they did. It's probably just as well.

My house smelled sooooo good while these were baking.  There is just something about the smell of vanilla that I adore.

I decorated the cupcakes with some marshmallows, the bottom one I squished down with the palm of my hand and also put it flat side out.  I used pretzel sticks as arms and orange jelly candy for the nose.  I used a tube of black decorators frosting for the details and I would have put Hershey kisses or York Peppermint Patty's on his head as a hat (if I had of remembered to buy some).  I also put a pretzel stick on the bottom marshmallow to stick into the top of the cupcake to keep them from tipping over.

I got the cupcake and frosting recipe from one of my favorite websites "Brown Eyed Baker" found here

Vanilla Cupcakes

Yields 12 cupcakes

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature
½ cup sour cream
1 large egg , room temperature
2 large egg yolks , room temperature
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Line a regular sized cupcake pan with paper liners.

In the bowl of your stand mixer add the butter, sour cream, egg and egg yolks and vanilla.  Blend on medium until smooth. In a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients and then slowly add them to the butter mixture.  The batter should look smooth when done.

Divide the batter evenly in the 12 cupcake pan and bake for 20-24 minutes.  The cupcakes will remain a pale color when done.  Use a toothpick to determine when they are done.

Cool on a wire rack until room temperature, then frost.
Vanilla Butter cream Frosting

Yields enough for 12 cupcakes
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Mix the butter in your stand mixer until smooth, slowly add the confectioners sugar on low speed until completely blended.  Add the vanilla extract and mix well.  Mix on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.