I’m a huge fan of cupcakes and my ultimate favourite are vanilla cupcakes.

When we first moved in, I was thinking of baking some cupcakes and distributing it amongst our neighbours…just a simple gesture of introducing ourselves to the neighbourhood (we live in a little cul-de-sac) but J’s immediate response was : “Err..why don’t we get them a box of chocolates instead…” Yup..you guessed it…I’m not a good baker…I’ve tried! …I tried cupcakes/cakes/muffins but somehow… they just don’t turn out too great!

Therefore, when I came across this recipe on Saripartygirl’s blog, I thought I would give it one last shot…before I throw in my baking gloves (if there is such a thing) forever and declare myself a baking idiot…there are some things you can’t do and for me, it might just be that I…just…can’t…bake!

So I locked myself in the kitchen and tried it out.

Oh boy…am I glad I did! They turned out perfect! Soft and moist…with that light taste of vanilla with a rich creamy vanilla cream frosting. YUM! I was so proud of myself I was beaming from ear to ear all day. I’m not such a baking idiot after all!

Eventhough, the recipe was pretty much identical to the original, I tweaked it a little and this is my version:

Cupcake Ingredients:

2 cups milk

3 tsp vanilla extract

1.5 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

0.5 cups of French unsalted butter at room temperature

1 large whole egg

2 large egg whites

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180deg. Line 12-cupcake cases lightly with melted butter and set in cupcake tray.

2. Sift flour and combine with baking powder.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat butter until fluffy & gradually add sugar and eggs until well combined and fluffy.

4. Add in half flour mixture and fold. Add in milk and vanilla extract and remaining flour and fold. Do not fold too much. I only folded like 6-8 times.

5.Divide batter into cases and bake for 25 mins.

6. Once done, leave to cool for 1.5hours before frosting.

Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients

0.5 cup French unsalted butter

1.5 cups of icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

Directions

1. Beat butter until fluffy and gradually add icing sugar, milk & vanilla extract. Beat until fluffy but firm. Taste. If you want it sweeter, add more sugar.

There you have it! The simplest vanilla cupcake recipe I’ve tried which actually works! Now, if you’ll excuse me…I think it’s time for my afternoon tea…