Happy New Year Everyone! The first week of the year is always busy for us, specially with Akira’s birthday. Our lil” cupcake just turned 2! It is a very special day for us and for Fancier’s World. This blog was started to capture our special memories and Akira’s first birthday was our first post. We hope to capture many such fond memories in the coming year!
To make this birthday memorable I baked these classic yellow cupcakes at home, the recipe adapted from my mom’s basic yellow cake recipe. Akira could not get enough of these yummy cupcakes. Once she had finished licking all the sprinkles and icing, she dashed for another one. Cannot blame her, this chocolate frosting is my favorite too. It is not cloyingly sweet but ooh so chocolaty! I made 3 batches of these cupcakes for her birthday celebration at school, and everybody loved them.
You can easily multiply the recipe for bigger batches, plus it is so simple to make that you will forget the store bought cupcakes. They are so much better and fresher than the ones bought at stores. Also, most of them are too sweet for me. These cupcakes are just perfect for me, with the cake like crust and buttery moist center. Top it with the chocolate frosting and it is totally irresistible! 🙂
Steps for making the Classic Yellow Cupcakes
- Prepare for baking
- Cream the butter with sugar and eggs
- Add the dry ingredients and milk
- Transfer batter into the muffin cups
- Bake in Oven
- Prepare the chocolate frosting
- Frost it!
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- Rainbow Sprinkles, for decoration
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-count muffin pan with cupcake liners. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.
- Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, around 3 minutes more. Add eggs one by one, and beat on medium-high speed until combined. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as required.
- With mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 iterations, alternating with milk, starting and ending with the flour mixture.Do not overmix.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups evenly.
- Place the pan into the oven; bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Cool cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, around 2 minutes. With mixer turned on low speed, gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Beat until combined, around 2 minutes. With mixer on medium speed, add vanilla and milk. Once combined, beat on high speed to get a creamy frosting, another 1 minute.
- Frost the cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles before the frosting dries.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-count muffin pan with cupcake liners. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside. The sifting helps in aerating the flour which creates a lighter cake.
Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Now the butter has become lighter and is ready to gel in with the sugar to create an airy mix. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, around 3 minutes more. Again, this helps in creating a light textured cake. Add eggs one by one, and beat on medium-high speed until combined. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as required.
To ensure a smooth creamy batter, do not add all the flour mix at once, as it creates lumps. With mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 iterations, alternating with milk, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix to combine after each iteration. Do not overmix, as it changes the gluten structure of the flour and makes the cake chewy.
Using a spoon or an ice-cream scoop transfer the batter equally into each muffin cup, so that they are around 3/4 full. I got around 2 spoonfuls of batter for each cup. Do not overfill the cups.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, around 20-25 minutes. The top of the cupcake should be springy by this time. Mine took around 21-22 minutes. Do not overbake as the cupcakes will dry out. Cool cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack for cooling completely before frosting.
Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, around 2 minutes. With mixer turned on low speed, gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Beat until combined, around 2 minutes. With mixer on medium speed, add vanilla and milk. Once combined, beat on high speed to get a creamy frosting, another 1 minute.
Most of the traditional American buttercream recipes use 3 cups of sugar, but I found that for this frosting 2 cups was enough and the cocoa powder helped in thickening the frosting as well. The result was a perfectly sweet and spreadable frosting. But if you like it sweeter or if you want the frosting to be thicker, then sure use 3 cups of the confectioner’s sugar instead of 2.
Frost the cupcakes using an offset spatula or a spoon. Decorate with sprinkles, before the frosting dries out to ensure that they stick.
If you want to get fancy, you can also use pipe the frosting using a pastry bag (if you can wait further to eat these cupcakes 😀 ). Personally I like the spooned frosting on these, as they give an inviting homemade look.
You don't need any occasion to bake these moist, fluffy and buttery cupcakes. Enjoy these homemade golden cupcakes with the finger-licking creamy milk chocolate frosting.
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Following are some tips for the super soft and moist cake:
1, Cream the butter alone before beating it with sugar or eggs.
2. Beat the butter to a light and fluffy consistency for smoot batter or frosting.
3. The cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container for upto 3-4 days. The frosted cupcakes should be consumed within 1 day.
4. The frosting can be stored in the refrigerator for upto 3-4 days. Before using, bring it to room temperature or microwave for 20 sec. The microwave settings differ, so adjust the time accordingly.
5. Use whole milk to get the rich and moist cupcake.
