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| Happy 4th of July Cupcakes! |
I love using my King Arthur Flour cookbook for baking. I love the recipes and they have never steered me wrong. For today's cupcake, I decided that an easy White Cake recipe would be the best. I had never made this cake before, but I have to tell you: It is awesome! For the frosting, I used my go-to buttercream recipe.
The Cake:
Elegant White Cake (from the King Arthur Flour Cookbook)
1 stick of butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
5 large egg whites
2 3/4 cups flour
1 cup milk
Cream together the butter, shortening, baking powder, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat until everything is fluffy and light, about 5 minutes (From when everything first comes together, to the end of 5 minutes, the batter really transforms!)
Add in the egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add in 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix well. Add 1/2 the milk, 1/3 flour, 1/2 milk, 1/3 flour. Mix and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition.
Scoop the batter into lined cupcake tins. I made 24 cupcakes with this batter, and had just a tiny bit left over (not really enough for even 1 more cupcake). Be very careful not to overflow the tins. They should really only be about 2/3 full of batter.
Bake for 20 minutes in a 350* oven that has been preheated. Remove when baked, and cool on a rack. Once cool to the touch, transfer the cupcakes out of the tins and onto the racks to continue cooling.
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The Frosting:
Easy Buttercream (From the King Arthur Flour Cookbook)
1 stick of butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1/8 tsp salt
6 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
Beat together the butter, shortening, and salt until fluffy. Add in about 3 cups of the confectioners' sugar and beat slowly until well blended. Add about 1/4 cup of the milk and the vanilla and beat again until fluffy.
Continue mixing the remaining sugar and milk until they are fully incorporated and the frosting is light and fluffy. Note: I did not use all of the milk. I just kept adding the remaining 1/4 cup a little at a time until it was the desired consistency.
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For today's cupcakes, I needed 3 colors of frosting.
Split the frosting as evenly as possible into 3 bowls. Color the frostings to your choosing (clearly, for the 4th of July, I used red, white, and blue). I used 30 drops each of red and blue food coloring. NOTE: The liquid food coloring, which I used, can make the frosting a lot less stiff. So keep that in mind and add in a little extra confectioners' sugar if necessary).
Put the three colors of frosting into 3 separate piping bags (I used the clear disposable kind). Don't fill them up all the way, as they will make a big mess. Snip the tip of the bags, about 1/2". Put the 3 bags together into one large piping bag (I used a 16" piping bag), already fit with a star tip. Evenly squeeze the frosting down to the tip of the piping bag and use either paper towel or wax paper to pipe a design and make sure the three colors come out evenly.
About halfway through, I did need to refill the bag. If this also happens to you, just fold down the big piping bag, and open the smaller bags to refill with frosting. Squeeze down to the tip, and repeat the frosting process!!
ENJOY!!
