Recipe - Simple Vanilla Cupcakes

Recipes

Simple Vanilla Cupcakes

This recipe makes 12 large vanilla cupcakes that are moist and have a generous amount of frosting on top!

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 175g butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 175g self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the buttercream:

• 100g butter or margarine
• 500g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50ml milk 

Method

1.  Pre-heat your oven to 160oc and line a cupcake baking tray with 12 cases.
2. Cream the butter and caster sugar together until smooth.
3. Add each egg one at a time, beating well as you do.
4. Add the vanilla extract and mix again.
5. Gradually add the self-raising flour until all completely combined.
6. Spoon the mixture equally into the cupcakes cases and cook in the oven for 22 minutes or until golden in colour.
7. Whilst the cupcakes are cooling cream the butter/margarine until soft and spreadable.
8. Gradually add the icing sugar and mix with the butter. As this gets harder to do, add a small drop of milk until you have a smooth buttercream that is thick enough to keep its shape but also soft enough to pipe.
9. Add the vanilla extract and give it on last mix.
10. Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag that has a large star nozzle. I've used a Wilton 2D but any open star nozzle will do.

Next I am going to shop you how to pipe a simple classic swirl with the buttercream.

To begin with pipe a small amount onto the very centre of the cupcake. This gives the swirl something to hold up with so you can get better height.

Start to pipe around the edge of the cupcake.

As you reach where you began piping continue on the next level and so forth until you reach the very top. Release pressure from the piping bag and pull it away from the cupcake to create a tip.

You should finish with something like this. 

You can now either leave them as they are or add some sprinkles or toppers to make them look extra special. We used  Dr Oekter Banoffe and Popping Candy sprinkles to top our cupcakes with.

I hope you enjoyed reading my little how-to and if you decide to make some vanilla cupcakes of your own I would love to see how you did in the comments below!

Thanks for reading :)