If you love light fluffy cupcakes with a buttery flavour then this recipe if for you. These cupcakes will not weigh you down unlike eating one dense cupcake. I adapted my recipe from James Peterson's Baking cookbook. I paired the cup cakes with a delicate vanilla butter cream frosting.
BTW before I forget I made use of a kitchen aid stand mixer when I made these cupcakes. You can make them using a hand held mixer.
Warning! It's difficult to stop eating these unless you give them away!
For the cake:
Yields 20 - 21 cupcakes
1 1/4 cup cake flour
1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of cream of tartar, unless using a copper bowl
Directions:
Pre-heat over to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pans with cupcake tins. Set aside.
In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and wisk to combine.
Cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar with a heavy spoon, a handheld mixer, or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until the butter softens and switch to a whisk thereafter. Continue whisking for about 5 minutes. Add in egg yolks one at a time until the mixture is smooth. Alternately add the milk and vanilla and continue to whisk adding the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Add in the canola oil and continue mixing. Transfer the egg mixture to larger bowl to make folding egg whites easier later on.
Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Soft peaks would mean the peaks fall over when the wire whip is removed. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar until medium peaks form. Medium peaks would mean sharps peaks form when wire whip is removed but actually the whites are still soft and not stiff.
With a rubber spatula, fold 1/4 of the egg whites to the egg mixture prepared earlier to lighten the batter. Then gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Scoop 1/4 cup batter to each of the cupcakes tins. Bake the cupcakes from 15 - 20 minutes or when the cupcakes cool. Remember each oven works different so careful not to over cook or under cook. A good way to test the cupcakes is to insert a toothpick or a small steak knife in the middle cupcake and if it comes out clean then your cakes are cooked.
Set aside to cool.
Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting:
I adapted my recipe from James Peterson's but reduced the sugar 1/2 cup less.
For the icing:
1 1/2 cups sugar ( original recipe called for 2 cups)
2/3 cups water or more as needed
8 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 tsp good vanilla extract
a dash of salt (This is not in the original recipe but I added this to liven the sweetness of the frosting)
Food color (optional)
Directions:
In a small sauce pan, combine the sugar and water. Simmer over medium heat.
While syrup is cooking. In a stand mixer using a whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks until they quadrupled in volume and becomes very pale in color.
While egg yolks are beating check the syrup. It should be simmered to boil lightly into a 'soft ball' consistency. This means that if a small amount of syrup is added to a bowl of water the syrup actually forms into a (soft) ball that can be formed ( it should not harden). The consistency you are looking for is a medium think consistency. To the test of adding a small portion into water to achieve the soft ball stage.
When the syrup and yolks are ready, turn the mixer into high speed and pour the mixture into the yolks in between the the whisk and the sides of the bowl. It is important to keep the syrup from hitting the bowl or the whisk or else it will harden. Obviously this is unavoidable where a few drops may stick to it. But be careful when adding the syrup; we want it to blend into the egg mixture.
Turn down mixer to medium speed and add the a few pieces of butter until it gets incorporated into the frosting. If you want to add some color, just drop in a few liquid food color until you get the hint you are looking for. Continue beating for 10 more minutes until the frosting becomes light and fluffy.
Once the cupcakes have cooled. Pipe the icing into the cupcakes. Enjoy!
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