The Best Frosting. Ever.

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...

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.

Apple Spice Mini Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream

Ahhhh... tis my favourite season. The season of sweaters, colourful trees, and fall treats! Pumpkin, apple, and warm spices.

These mini cupcakes are a delicious, bite sized taste of autumn, and were a perfect addition to Sunday night Thanksgiving dinner that we had last night. Turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing! Yummm!

Apple Spice Mini Cupcakes

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups chopped Granny Smith apples (3-4 apples)
juice of half a lemon
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and line your mini muffin tins with paper liners, or grease well. This batter should get you at least 72 mini cupcakes (that's six 12-muffin tins). I made exactly 78 mini cupcakes, which was six full tins, and one half-tin. Remember to fill the empty cups half full with water to ensure the muffins bake evenly, if you need to.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, salt, soda, powder, and cinnamon. Set aside. Peel, core, and chop up your apples into very small pieces (remember, if you are making mini cupcakes, you want the pieces to be proportional to the size of the cupcake), and toss in a bowl with the lemon juice. This will keep the apples from turning brown. Also, make sure to remove any bruised parts of the apple and discard.

In a large bowl, or in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk the eggs, sugar, oil, milk, and vanilla. Make sure not to whisk too much. Add in the chopped apples, and stir well. Then, add in the flour mixture, and fold in with a wooden spoon or spatula. Be sure not to over mix the dry ingredients either. Stir until it is just incorporated and the batter is slightly lumpy.

Using a tablespoon (roughly the perfect amount of batter for the mini tins), spoon the batter into the paper liners, or until they are 2/3 full.

Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Make sure you are checking on them more frequently, as they will cook faster than normal sized cupcakes. If you are making regular cupcakes, bake for 25-30 minutes. It may also be a good idea to rotate the pans around the oven halfway through to ensure they are all baked through evenly. While they are baking you can prepare the frosting.

Cinnamon Buttercream

1 cup butter, soft
3 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons cream or milk

Mix all of the ingredients until the frosting is smooth and fluffy. To help get it fluffy, you may need to use a fork and whisk it quickly.

Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag with any decorative tip you like. I found that these mini cupcakes had great flavour, so you don't want to overpower that with too much icing. Just a little in the center to give it a little bit extra flavour is plenty!

Enjoy!

A peek into my baking corner, featuring The Big Apple,

where all my tasty creations are made!