I did a little bake and craft sale a few weeks ago for Valentine's Day, and made some small knitted things, candles, homemade Nutella (recipe coming soon!), and cupcakes. Now, normally when I need to make a lot of cupcakes I get pretty lazy and just do the boxed stuff. It's way easier when I'm short on time and need to make a lot. But I can't tell you how many people said these were the best cupcakes they've ever eaten! That's saying a lot for a boxed cupcake...
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| Our adorable table! |
The secret? THE FROSTING!
Typically the easiest frosting to make consists mostly of a crap-load of icing sugar (4 cups or more) and a bit of cream or milk. But I really hate frosting like that. It's way too sweet, and makes your teeth hurt afterwards.
This frosting is a buttercream, which is light and fluffy, not too sweet, and has amazing texture. And everyone will be raving about it. Although you need to be a bit more prepared with this recipe (as it takes quite a bit longer to make), you may never make another frosting again!
Whipped Vanilla Buttercream
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup butter, soft
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 - 2 cups icing sugar
Total Time: 1.5 hours
Yield: Frosting for around 25 cupcakes, or one 8- or 9-inch two layer cake
In a medium saucepan, whisk the milk and flour constantly until very thick. This will take several minutes to thicken, and you will want it to be almost like the consistency of porridge or a very thick soup. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cover and let cool to room temperature (at least an hour).
Once the flour mixture is cool, cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Whip until the butter and sugar are light and fluffy. Switch to the wire whisk attachment. Add the cooled flour mixture and whip on high speed until you achieve a whipped cream consistency.
Slow the mixer down to stir speed and slowly add icing sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. Taste after each addition until the mixture suits your liking. You can add as much sugar as you like. The original recipe that I adapted this from called for no icing sugar, but all I could taste was flour. It may also help to cream the butter with icing sugar instead, but it's entirely up to your taste.
For Valentine's Day, I coloured my frosting pink using a few drops of red food colouring until I reached the desired shade of pink. You could use any colour you like for holidays or themed cupcakes, but plain old white works great too.
