Cups of cake.

cupcakes.

these little jewels can be the death of the everyday baker. Mix batter. Frost. Decorate. Repeat. How about 450 of them? Piped icing and edible gold dust and a tiny star on the top.
torture.

only it's not so bad if you're enjoying yourself. which i did. turns out i'd be a pretty good pastry chef. i even decorated a cake. turns out milli vinilli's signature isn't easy to write in frosting. perhaps it's better if you don't ask.

oh. you're curious? well... i'll bite.

450 people. half of them dad's from the likes of wallstreet and the nfl, the other half screaming little girls ages 9 and up. oh, you think i'm kidding? that was my saturday.
and the cupcakes... well.. here we go.

CUPCAKES:
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp. salt

Butter Cream Icing (recipe below)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cups confectioner sugar
1 T vanilla
2 T milk

Cream butter and shortening well.
Add vanilla.
Gradually add powdered sugar.
Add milk.
Mix thoroughly. Tada! Icing.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (that's the dial right after 325 degrees on most ovens)
Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers or you can do minis if you want.
In a little combine the dry ingredients except the sugar and set them aside..
In a large bowl or Kitchenaid mixer at medium speed cream the butter until smooth and pasty. Add the sugar a little at a time. Beat this until it gets fluffy.. which will probably take you about 3-4 minutes. Resist the urge to sing "Beat It". Add vanilla.
In a seperate small bowl crack each egg to make sure it isn't a bad one... no feathers, blood, etc.
Add the eggs to your fluffy sugar mixture one at a time while beating. Do not over beat. We don't want to make wallpaper paste, folks. Add all your dry indredients and milk, mix well.
Now get yourself something to make sure you've gotten the mix all incorporated and get the mix out of the bowl with, preferably a rubber spatula... if you don't have anything your hand will work as long as it's clean and you don't mind getting dirty... or you could go next door to borrow something from your super cool neighbor..

Use a spoon to get the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 of the way full. Bake these babies for about 20–25 minutes.
Use a toothpick or wooden skewer or cake tester thingy to check the cake. If the thing you use comes out dry your cakes are done. If it pulls up a gooey mess, put it back in the oven!!
Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Ice these babies up good with that buttercream icing!!!

Enjoy. xo