Monday, May 14, 2012

Hello World !

Allyson here! New to blogging although I've spent my fair share of hours searching the web for my favorite cooking, fashion, and diy blogs/tumblrs. So here is my attempt at one. Look around, comment, critique, or just stare at this adorable picture of this bug (never thought I would use adorable and bug in the same sentence).

Vanilla bean cupcakes with honey cinnamon frosting 

I love vanilla bean.
literally, anything vanilla bean flavored

So for my first post I figured I would start with something basic but delicious - with a twist of course. 

thanks to my friend for the cute cupcake holders too!

I just used a basic 'ol vanilla bean recipe for the cake from the lovely people over at My Baking Addiction.

For the vanilla bean cupcakes:


2 1/4 cups cake flour 
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk, room temperature (I used almond milk though)
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
seeds scraped from one vanilla bean
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. (I'm no scientist so I can't tell you why sifting makes any difference, but it sure is fun!)


3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites.


4. In another medium bowl, use a mixer to beat the butter, sugar and vanilla bean seeds on medium speed for 3 minutes, or until the butter and sugar are very light. 


As you can see, I don't have a fancy stand mixer so I've "made" my own.
Add in the vanilla extract and one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until well incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter fully incorporated and smooth, then add the last of the dry ingredients.


5. Once ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Using a large scoop (about 3 tablespoons), distribute the batter between 18 muffin wells, filling each well 2/3 full.

6. Bake for 18-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centers come out clean. (I ended up baking mine for about 19 minutes.)


I got the recipe (and idea, cause there's really no way I would've come up with this combination) for the frosting from Martha Stewart

For the honey cinnamon frosting:


  • 1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Now I'm not one of those people who really enjoys a mound of frosting on their cupcake (gasp! I know right) so I never make as mush frosting as the recipe says. Actually I just got out the ingredients and pretty much threw them in the mixer, guessing and tasting as I went along. I made a half batch and even that was too much.





Directions:


  1. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes.


I dare you not to lick the beaters. 

Let your cupcakes cool, frost them, and voila!

Now try not to eat them all in one day


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