Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Despite today being Monday, I am not feeling the usual Monday blues because of the wonderful wedding of the weekend. There is something about weddings that just puts one in a very good mood. Or I might just be a romantic at heart and it's about time I stop denying it.

My friend's wedding was a beautiful fairytale; one of those you see in a chick flick movie. The bride is a country girl and throughout the planning we struggled to combine that with a simple/ elegant theme. At the end of the day, she pulled it off perfectly. She got married in the beautiful backyard grounds of her childhood, above a creek where she rode down to the ceremony in a horse and carriage. Yes, not kidding. Her mother surprised her with that. It was super awesome and was definitely a tear jerker. The reception and party were held in an elegantly decorated tent, studded with shades of purple (regency and wisteria to be exact) and hints of the couple's favorite pastime: fishing. We danced our (troubled) feet out till the wee hours celebrating the newlyweds. I am still recuperating from all the excitement and jello shots!

Ok, I'm sure you are not here for wedding details but for these decadent cupcakes. I made them for friends last weekend during my birthday celebrations. I called them dark chocolate salted caramel cupcakes but the consensus was "Mocha chocolate goodness" and I think that describes them perfectly. It's a moist dark chocolate cake that is topped with salted caramel buttercream.

I made homemade caramel sauce, using this recipe from Two Peas and their Pod, and used it in the frosting. The sauce is SO good on it's own and we have been drizzling it on everything from ice cream to cookies. Next time I make these cupcakes, I will fill them with the salted caramel sauce for some added oomph. You totally should if you would like added salted caramel flavor!

If you've ever had a salted caramel mocha drink at Starbucks, then this is it in a cupcake form. A very decadent chocolate cake with a sweet and salty topping! 

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Yield: ~12-15 cupcakes

Ingredients: 
For Chocolate Cupcakes:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup Cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli)

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg, at room temperature

1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature 
½ cups strong black coffee, hot

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

For Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue buttercream

5 egg whites, room temperature

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 ½ cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup homemade salted caramel sauce (recipe I used: here)

 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

For the Cake:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Sift together all the dry ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer.
3. In a medium bowl, combine all the wet ingredients using a whisk. 
4.  Mix the dry ingredients on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the mixer and add the wet ingredients. Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed and scrape the sides and bottom of bowl. Mix for additional minute on medium speed.
5. The batter will be thin. Divide evenly among the cupcake liners.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
7. Cool cupcakes on wire racks completely. Meanwhile you could start on the frosting. 

For Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue buttercream: 

1. Whisk together sugar and egg whites in a heatproof mixing bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Whisk until warm and sugar is dissolved (mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingers), 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg white mixture 5 minutes (using the whisk attachment). Increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form and meringue has cooled (test by feeling bottom of bowl), about 6 minutes.
3. Reduce speed to medium and switch to the paddle attachment. Add butter, one piece at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.  Mix the salted caramel into the buttercream.  
4. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in fridge for up to a week.

Hope you have a great start to the week!!

Brown Butter Peach Cupcakes {Brown Butter Week}

Brown butter week continues with these amazing brown butter peach cupcakes. But before we talk about cupcakes, let me share with you my favorite thing about brown butter. My favorite thing isn't the fact that it takes just 5 minutes or less to brown butter, but the aroma from the browned milk solids. It makes your house smell heavenly and that aroma is transferred to whatever recipe you are using it in. I wonder if Bath & Body Works makes this scent? If not they need to get on it because brown butter just beat their kitchen spice candle on my favorite list. 

On to the cupcakes please! I got these peaches from my trip to the farmers market and intended to use them in a peach cobbler. I even bought these cute little ramekins for the cobblers but I changed my mind when I thought of making brown butter cupcakes. So I made a brown butter peach cupcake and topped it with whipped brown butter buttercream. 

These fluffy cupcakes have a great nutty flavor from the brown butter that complements perfectly the ripe white peaches. You see the speckles in the frosting? That's the brown bits from browning the butter. When you brown your butter, you can choose to include the brown bits from the bottom of the pan in your recipe, which I did and totally encourage because you get a deeper flavor profile. 

Since I know Mr. J isn't a fan of peaches, I took all but two cupcakes to my local soup kitchen (I usually leave 6 for us if it is something he would enjoy). But by the time I came back home that Sunday, those cupcakes were ghosts and never to be found. I'm glad I had my taste earlier. Now he agrees he will eat peaches when paired with brown butter. (Trend alert: He hated broccoli before my existence and one day I paired it with parmesean cheese and he loved it. Now he eats it even without the cheese. I'm learning here)

I have more brown butter goodness this week so please come back! In the meantime, my bloggy friend Molly of Bakelette is celebrating her first blogiversary this week. Stop by and wish her and her lovely blog a happy birthday!

Brown Butter Peach Cupcakes

Yield: About 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

¾ cup butter (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, browned and cooled

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¾ cup buttermilk, room temperature

½  cup fresh peaches, peeled and finely diced

Directions:

1.     To brown butter: Melt butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Start whisking butter once it begins to foam. Whisk constantly for a few minutes until the butter turns brown, fragrant and little brown bits form at the bottom of the pan. Remove immediately from heat and cool.

2.     Preheat oven to 350^oC. Line muffin pans with cupcake wrappers. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

3.     In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until well combined about 3-5 minutes.  

4.     Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down side of bowl as necessary. Mix in vanilla extract.

5.     With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 batches of buttermilk and beginning and ending with flour. Beat until just combined.

6.     Fold in peaches by hand with a rubber spatula until combined.

7.     Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling 2/3 to the top.

8.     Bake until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. About 20-25 minutes 

9.     Transfer pans to wire racks and let cool in pans for 2 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Whipped Brown Butter Frosting

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, browned and cooled to room temperature

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

3 cups sifted powdered confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

A pinch of salt

1.     To brown butter: Melt butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Start whisking butter once it begins to foam. Whisk constantly for a few minutes until the butter turns brown, fragrant and little brown bits form at the bottom of the pan. Remove immediately from heat and cool completely to room temperature.

2.     Whip softened butter for 4 minutes on medium speed using the paddle attachment of an electric mixer. The butter will become pale and creamy.

3.     Add the rest of the ingredients (including the brown butter) and mix on low speed for 1 minute. Then increase speed to medium and mix for 6 minutes until the frosting is very light, creamy and fluffy.

4.     Best used right away

(Some affiliate links included)

Funfetti Ice-Cream Cone Cupcakes

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Are ice-cream stand runs a part of your summer evenings? They sure are for us. We live close to a lake with beautiful walking paths. Normally, we walk the 4 mile path and sometimes at the end reward ourselves with ice-cream cones at the stand across from the park. Favorite treat! I shared this on Instagram recently.

I've wanted to make cupcakes in an ice-cream cone since it started warming up but I never found an occasion for it until my 12-year old niece was in town a few weekends ago for a softball tournament. She was staying with us and I figured we could make these together for her softball team and that's exactly what we ended up doing.

Despite being so excited to bake these, I did no research on how-to bake cupcakes in ice-cream cones and they were a technical nightmare I must admit. I made funfetti vanilla cupcake batter and baked them in mini ice-cream cones (mistake #1). I placed the cones in regular muffin pans (mistake #2) and they were very shaky and difficult to transfer in and out of the oven. Some of the cupcakes overflowed since the cones were so tiny and I had too much in there. I topped with whipped vanilla frosting and decorated with sprinkles.

In the end, I was very glad with how looked and the girls loved them. It was the best treat after a long weekend of softball games. The cake recipe is the same I used here and here and it is always a fluffy, moist vanilla cake and the confetti adds a crunchy layer as you bite into the cone. 

Even though I loved how these mini ice-cream cone cupcakes turned out, I learned a few lessons for the next time I make them (luckily you will learn from my mistakes):

• Use JUMBO ice-cream cones (unless you want mini cupcake cones)
• Bake in ice-cream cone cupcake pans like these from Kupcake Konz : they were made for this purpose and seems to be very easy for transportation too. A great tutorial here. (FYI: I was not paid for this...I just found them online and they seem like a great idea :) ).
• I found this cool trick that could have saved me some fallen cones. Simply wrap the cones with foil to hold the cones in place in the baking pans.
• Do not overfill or you will have an overflowing mess. 

Hope you will try these ice-cream cone cupcakes on your next summer get together! They are a fun project for kids as well :)

Bridal Shower Recap

Hey guys! As promised here are some pictures to recap the bridal shower this past weekend. To start with I am sorry for the sub-par photos...the table was in the darkest part of the room.

It all started a few months ago when my friend (&MOH) asked me to make 60 cupcakes for her sister's bridal shower. It was nerve racking and humbling at the same time because I have never done anything more than 24 cupcakes. Of course I said yes because the bride is like a sister to me and now I am a bridesmaid in the wedding!! As you can see I went beyond just cupcakes. I had a vision of setting up a dessert table and that's exactly what I did. I loved how it turned out!! What do you think?

The MOH decided on a wine-themed shower and since the bride's favorite color is purple, we went with it. I made chocolate red wine cupcakes (coming soon) to go with the theme. In addition, I made a batch of fluffy vanilla cupcakes with whipped vanilla frosting (recipe here). 

I made a batch of vanilla almond sugar cookies from Bake at 350 which I attempted to decorate. Clearly, cookie decorating is not one of my strong fortes but I loved how they turned out. It was also a fun activity to do with the MOH (who decorated the two cookies with "Tia" and was very proud of her creations). 

 

And finally I wanted a centerpiece, so I made a confetti cake (recipe coming soon) designed simply with dots. I made it for the groom because they always seem to be left out of the bridal shower celebrations but this way he had something too. 

For the decorations, I wanted a banner backdrop and a cake bunt. I found a simple tutorial that was very easy and planned on using it. But because I am a procrastinator, I waited till last minute and I didn't have time to make the bunt, banner and bake/decorate. So the hubby volunteered to make them the day before. I steered him towards this tutorial and he did a great job!! He is the best helper EVER.

In the end, I loved how everything came together. The table looked just as I had envisioned and most importantly the 'client' and bride loved it!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I have no words to describe these strawberry lemonade cupcakes. Not just because they leave you speechless and wanting for more after the first bite (which they totally do!), but because I am brain-dead (and coming from a neuroscientist-in-training this is inaccurate, but I will let it fly today because I am that exhausted).

I had two big presentations earlier this week and I spent the past week and a half just reading and reading and reading and juggling married life, family, friends and blogging with that just left me exhausted. Of course at some points my brain was resisting the urge to work leading to some serious procrastination like giant cookie bake-offs (I'll share soon), mall excursions in search of cute tea cups that were never procured and baking these perfect summer strawberry lemonade cupcakes (among other stress induced goodies) but with no time to blog about them.

Using up the rest of the strawberries from this cake, I made a light and airy lemon cake filled with fresh strawberry bites and I topped the cupcakes with fluffy whipped strawberry lemon buttercream. It is the perfect balance between sweet and tangy (I believe strawberry and lemons were made just for each other!).

These are now on top of my favorite cupcake list and will be making them again as the months get warmer. I suggest you find a friend with a pool and bring these cupcake as a bribe, along with some fresh strawberry lemonade for the perfect hot summer day pool party (ahemmm, Laura).

I am off to bake about 80 cupcakes, decorate cookies and a cake for my first bridal shower dessert table this Saturday! Because I am a procrastinator genius, I left everything to last minute. Wish me luck! I'll share the results (hopefully successful) with you next week.

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

(Adapted from Martha Stewart Cakes)

Yield: 3-4 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus ¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

1 ½  cups unsalted butter (2 ½ sticks), room temperature

2 ½ cups sugar

5 large eggs, room temperature

Zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 ¼ cups buttermilk, room temperature

½  cup fresh strawberry, hulled and diced finely

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350^oC. Line muffin tins with cupcake wrappers

2.     Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

3.     Combine buttermilk, vanilla extract and lemon extract. Set aside

4.     In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

5.     Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down side of bowl as necessary. Mix in zest.

6.     With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 batches of buttermilk mixture and beginning and ending with flour. Mix well to combine after each addition and scrape sides of bowl as needed. Fold in the strawberries by hand using a rubber spatula. 

7.     Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling 2/3 to the top.

8.     Bake until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. About 20-25 minutes  

9.     Transfer pans to wire racks and let cool in pans for 2 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Strawberry Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream

(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 ½ cups sugar

6 large egg whites, room temperature

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Juice of 1 lemon

½ cup fresh strawberry puree

1. Whisk together sugar and egg whites in a heatproof mixing bowl set over (not in] a pan of simmering water. Whisk until warm and sugar is dissolved (mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingers), 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg white mixture 5 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form and meringue has cooled (test by feeling bottom of bowl), about 6 minutes.

3. Reduce speed to medium. Add butter, one piece at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and lemon juice.  Mix the strawberry puree into the buttercream until combined.

4. Best if used immediately or store airtight in refrigerator for up to a week.

Notes:

- Cupcake liners from Bake it Pretty

- I enjoyed these cupcakes with a fresh batch of strawberry lemonade, found here (minus the mint).

Lemon Cupcakes

Tomorrow is the start of June so let's kick start the summer with some lemon cupcakes! These cupcakes are perfect for any weekend barbeque you are hosting or attending (be a nice guest and bring something delicious). 

For the full post and quick recipe, hop on over to Double Blessing Boutique where I am guest posting today!

Have a great weekend friends!

Peanut Butter High Hat Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes this weekend for a small surprise graduation party we were hosting at our place. The graduate didn't want a party but her mother and I threw her a small get-together anyway to celebrate her Master's Degree!!

A little bit about the graduate. She is one of my best friends and is the kindest, most self-less person I have ever met. We met four years ago at graduate school orientation when she was drawn to my yellow dress and I to her infectious smile!  These days, we are together almost every day on a coffee or bubble tea date.  As her graduation neared, I worried about how empty my afternoons would feel without her around at school.  I was so relieved and happy when she landed a job in a lab right down the road! I'm beyond proud of her and know that she will be very successful in all her future endeavors.

The cupcakes are a fluffy vanilla yellow cupcake topped with a creamy peanut butter marshmallow frosting and coated with dark chocolate. Yummmmmyyyy!!!

Actually, they were her idea like six months ago. She bookmarked all the cupcakes she would like me to make in this cookbook (Betty Crocker The Big Book of Cupcakes) and these were at the top of her list. Since it was her day, she got them!!

And I think she loved them. Hats off Lovey!!

Congratulations to Chrissa, Laura and Nicole as well!! PhD recipients as of yesterday. So proud of all you :) And I promise you will all get your treats at your defense parties!

Now for the recipe:

White Chocolate Rose Cupcakes

I bring you some white chocolate rose cupcakes today my friends. Are you familiar with rose water? It's OK if you are not, I wasn't aware of its existence until a couple of months ago when I stumbled onto these cupcakes and couldn't wait to experiment. I bought the extract a while ago and have been shying away from using it after I took a strong whiff that put me off.

As with most things, except chocolate, less is more with this flavor. Thanks to an inspiring Mother's Day week by Joy the Baker, I was excited to try my rose water. I started with a simple vanilla yellow cake, infused with rose water, and topped with a white chocolate swiss meringue buttercream with a dash of rose water as well!

The rose water gives these cupcakes more of a scent, than a flavor. A wonderful floral smell that just makes you very happy as you bite into the cake (well, it made me happy at least!). Oh did I mention there are white chocolate chunks in the cupcake? Yummm!

I used these floral cupcakes on Sunday to celebrate some of the wonderful mothers in my life. A small treat to show them how much I appreciate and love them!

Piña Colada Cupcakes

For those of us living in the North East, spring is not yet here. It was a miserable week with lake effect snow still coming down in April.

During all the snow brushing, it occurred to me that I haven't had mixed frozen drinks in 7 months!!! My last frozen drink was consumed on our honeymoon in Jamaica last September when I had 5 to 6 to 7 piña coladas a day (who was counting?). Needless to say piña coladas are my favorite frozen drink and it always bring back memories of paradise...which does not include snow.

These cupcakes were made to rectify that sad fact and wish this winter away. Positive thoughts is all it takes to keep the snow away, right?

I adapted a piña colada cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It's a pineapple-coconut cupcake with coconut cream cheese frosting. Yes, coconut again!! Clearly I have an issue when it comes to coconut...but it's so yummy and I can't help myself!

These cupcakes bring back lots of summer memories that I can now hold on to until spring arrives! Paired with my favorite frozen drink, any lingering winter blues will be washed away!

NOTES

• Cupcake liners: Wilton Color cups bought from Michael's

• Cake stands: Bed Bath & Beyond, TJ Maxx and Marshall's (respectively)

• Since this is a learning blog, I need to share the things that I struggle with. I had a lot of issues with photographing these cupcakes: sunlight was too much at some point, then it became cloudy really fast and I monkeyed with my camera settings and created the 'yellowish' hue you see in the pictures. Spent some time on Photoshop trying to fix them, but it didn't exactly work. I'm going to spend some time this week reading up on using Photoshop for edits and also find other alternatives.

Coconut Cupcakes {Bird Nest Cupcakes}

I am on a coconut kick lately. Last week, I made this coconut almond cake and I loved the flavor combination however, it wasn't coconut-y enough. So when my mother-in-law suggested I bring dessert to Easter dinner, my first thought was to make another coconut cake!

I started with a coconut cake recipe from Martha Stewart, grabbed some pastel speckled eggs and some sweetened coconut shavings. The recipe used cream of coconut, which is thicker than coconut milk and gives the cake a very coconut-y (Is that even a word?) flavor.

For the frosting, I made a coconut variation of my go-to SMB with an addition of coconut cream. I got two new cake stands this week (I have a problem, I know) and I was so excited to use them that I forgot to take the sticker off this one (whooops!).

 

To make the 'nest', I used Wilton tip 1M to pipe the frosting. Dusted with sweetened toasted flaked coconut and topped with the speckled 'eggs'. 

The cupcakes were very delicious and were a big hit at dinner. The frosting was a tad too sweet for me, so next time I might cut back on the coconut cream a bit or use unsweetened coconut flakes.

Happy Easter!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream

There have been lots of things happening in my blogging development this week. Since my experiments in lab are acting up, I am indulging more into baking!

First, I successfully made basic or 'American' buttercream. It has only four ingredients and should be very straight forward. But it is not. At least not in my hands. It comes out thin and UN-pipeable. After several tries, this recipe (below) did the trick.

My Momma in the US was coming up to visit this weekend and I wanted to make her some cupcakes to take back with her. She loves peanut butter and chocolate and that was exactly what I made. The chocolate cake and frosting recipes are from Krissy's Creations. The frosting was light, fluffy and extremely easy to pipe. Definitely a keeper!


The second accomplishment of the week was the start of a cake stand collection. I have always wanted pretty cake stands and so I went hunting this Friday for one at Marshalls/Home Goods where to my surprise the options were limitless.

  

I loved these white ones and had to get the set of three so I could use it as a cupcake stand too. Totally makes sense! And I had to get this pink one, the scalloped edge is just so beautiful.

At the end of the night, I ended up with 5 and I was in cake stand bliss. I told the hubby to consider getting me cake stands when he thinks I deserve flowers. I hope he listens because there are endles options at T.J. Maxx as well (rumor has it). 

And finally, I started experimenting on picture-taking techniques. Played around with some colored background and lighting  (even though it was a very cloudy day today). Loved the way the pictures turned out.

Valentine's Day {Baking Anniversary}

Love is in the air and it is all about hearts. Chocolate cookie hearts, red velvet hearts, red and pink hearts!! Cupid's symbol all over.

Here at Blahnik Baker, it is also my 'baking' anniversary. I baked my first cake ever a year ago in my friend Chrissa's kitchen, seen here. It was a small step at the time that now looks like a giant leap!

In honor of Valentine's day and this anniversary, I decided to recreate this cake again. The cake inspired this blog and I think it deserves a comeback. And because just baking a cake doesn't seem like a challenge anymore, I decided to make some cookies and decorate them!!

The red velvet cake is a recipe from Sprinkle Bakes. 

I used heart shaped pans this time and the heart came out looking like a heart lol! I decided not to do the crumb coat, just for something different.

For the cookies, I used this chocolate roll out cookie recipe from Glorious Treats since chocolate and Valentine's day seem to be synonymous.

Chocolate Cake {Super Bowl XLVII}

Be warned, this is not a post about football. It is about a chocolate cake. I just used the Superbowl as an excuse to bake and decorate a cake (like I need an occasion, right?)

My next project after these perfect vanilla cupcakes was to hunt for a good chocolate cake recipe. I don't care much for chocolate...yes I know it is insane, but it's just not my thing. However, I knew as a budding baker, I should have a go-to chocolate cake recipe under my belt.

Well, I am glad to say that I have found the one!

 

Mr. J and I just moved into a new apartment and our friends were so helpful on that cold January day. I wanted to send them some cupcakes along with our thank-you cards. And I also wanted to bake a football-themed cake.

I found this cake recipe from Ina Garten and I made a double batch.  I was able to get two 8' square cakes and 36 cupcakes, killing two birds with one stone.  I used my favorite go-to frosting; a Swiss Meringue buttercream, with a chocolate addition. This cake is moist, rich, fluffy and yet not too sweet.

 'It is the best chocolate I have ever had' - Mr J.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

After several weeks of trying vanilla cupcake recipes, I am happy to share that I have found the ONE. This recipe gives a flavorful vanilla cake that is moist but yet light and fluffy. It is simple and I love it. It will become my go-to vanilla cake. The recipe is from Glory of Glorious Treats.

I have been taking the Wilton decorating courses. In Course II, we are learning how to make flowers with royal icing and it is difficult. But I am sure with lots of practice I will get the hang of things.

Back to the star of this post, the vanilla cupcakes!! They are the best and I will be re-making them soon again.