Monday, April 16, 2012

Secret Recipe Club - Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

My 15 year old brother is a walking contradiction. He loves nothing more than a perfect lobster tail with drawn butter, a roasted beet salad, creamy tiramisu. But he equally loves instant ramen, Flamin' Hot Cheetos and Little Debbie Swiss rolls. He's skinny as a twig but eats a massive bowl of ice cream each night. 


Every time I come home he asks me to make him a cake. I say "Sure, what do you want?" "A box cake," he replies. I scowl, disgusted. "Ian, I'm not wasting my time making a box cake. You can make that yourself." This happens pretty frequently. Why doesn't he like real cake? Because I'm a people pleaser, I set out to make him something from scratch that he'd approve of. 


Since it happened to be Secret Recipe Club time, I found a great vanilla cake recipe on Jo-Anna's blog, A Pretty Life in the Suburbs. This is perhaps the best vanilla cake recipe I have found thus far. It's not dense and overly crumbly. Perhaps it has something to do with the procedure, which I haven't seen before (adding chunks of butter to the dry mixture instead of creaming it with the sugar). Instead of the cherry buttercream she made, I did raspberry. So, what did Ian think of the cupcakes? "Taste like a box cake." Mission accomplished. 


Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

1 cup cake flour
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out, save the pod for something!
3 eggs
  • Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
  • Add the butter in chunks, to the flour mix, then add 3/4 cup milk.  Beat on low for 1 minute.
  • Add eggs, and the remaining milk and vanilla.
  • Beat until smooth.
  • Pour the batter into approximately 20 muffin cups.
  • Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
  • Cool before frosting.
1/4 cup fresh raspberries
1 cup unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
  • Sift icing sugar.
  • In a mixer, beat butter until soft and fluffy.
  • Add sifted icing sugar, and mix until well combined.
  • Add vanilla and raspberries.
  • Then frost your cupcakes after they have cooled.






32 comments:

  1. Mmm... I am awfully close to licking my laptop screen right now. Oh, yum. Thanks for posting this. Love the buttercream rose.

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  2. when I finish to post my recipe and I saw the link I was in love with this recipe look absolutely nice and i think I have to make this recipe, is absolutely georgeous! you made a beauty work!!

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  3. Your icing is gorgeous and it sounds delicious too!

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  4. I'm so happy that you liked these! And I LOVE how you iced them! I can never get my icing to pipe on nice like this!
    Jo-Anna

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  5. These are gorgeous! I can't decorate cupcakes to save my life! My daughter totally wants me to make these.

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  6. Thanks to everyone for the awesome comments! I swear the frosting rose is super easy to do. Seriously. You need a big open star tip and a decorating bag. Just start in the center of the cupcake and keep circling around until you reach the edge. That's it!

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  7. That pink is such a pretty color - they're just beautiful!

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  8. Raspberry buttercream = YUM! I'm not sure if I'd be happy or offended that my cake tasted like a box mix, but I suppose if he was happy, that's what counts! Glad he approved :)

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  9. These are absolutely stunning. I am in love with the flavors and the beauty. Yummy! Great SRC contribution!

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  10. Hi Rebecca,
    Your cupcake is just beautiful, and the recipe looks delicious! It is fun cooking with you in the SRC!
    Miz Helen

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  11. Oh boys. Gotta love 'em :) Beautiful photos! I'm stopping by from SRC but be sure to stop by Seasonal Potluck this month. We have peas AND rhubarb link parties open! We'd love if you'd share any recipes you may have http://bit.ly/H9XJGB

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  12. These cupcakes are gorgeous! I'm glad your brother approved!

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  13. What a beautiful job on the frosting!

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  14. This has the wow factor! I'm always in pursuit of a moist cupcake recipe. LOVE that you used raspberries. Beautifully piped, as so many others have said. I'm definitely going to try this one, so I'm pinning it.

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  15. ok i wil try to make if you say is easy:) I really love thid rose xx

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  16. WOW! I admire anyone who can pipe frosting so beautifully!!! These cupcakes look amazing....brava!!!

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  17. That is one serious fancy-pants butter cream cupcake. Wow. Very nice.

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  18. These turned out so pretty, great job with the frosting!

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  19. holy moly what beautiful photographs! i suck at baking. and i really suck at using my pastry/piping bag. hahaha.... well done.


    Happy SRC reveal from a group D Member!

    ps. ask your brother what his secret is? ;)

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    Replies
    1. Cooking and baking are totally different ballgames, no worries! You should give these a try though, they're good and easy!

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  20. The frosting is beautiful! Love the color and the rose.

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  21. These look amazing! You did such an awesome job on the swirl, I am still working on that, I always lean one way or the other. Raspberry and vanilla is a delicious classic combo too. Wish I had one of these cupcakes here-yum!

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  22. There are people on the SRC Facebook fan page asking how you did the rose :) Would you mind stopping by and saying something?

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    1. ah dear I wanna make but let metell you this is the most beautiful post in this month LOL

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  23. wow the frosting looks really amazing!

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  24. When you say you use vanilla in your ingredients - is it Vanilla extract, vanilla bean or vanilla sugar?

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    Replies
    1. Oops! I used vanilla bean in this recipe. I will fix that. I don't bring my beans to school, so anything that has beans in it was probably made at home.

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  25. Such a pretty cupcake! Lovely. :)

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