Vanilla Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream and Rainbow Sprinkles

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     For Christmas, my fantastic boyfriend and family got me a bunch of baking supplies to help me bake a variety of things for my blog: a new mixer, mixing bowls, silicone cupcake liners, a cupcake scooper, and piping bags. My all-time favorite thing to bake, though, are cupcakes. They're just so fun to make, bake, and decorate. Today, I decided to try my hand at baking vanilla cupcakes using my own recipe. I decided to decorate them with vanilla buttercream that I colored orange (my boyfriends and my favorite color) and then added fun, rainbow colored sprinkles so they pop. 


Caroline's Vanilla Cupcake Recipe: 

Ingredients: 

  1. 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  2. 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  3. 1/4 teaspoon salt
  4. 1/2 cup milk
  5. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  6. 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  7. 3/4 cup sugar
  8. 2 large eggs
Instructions: 

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12 cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners. I used silicone ones but normal paper cupcake liners work as well. 
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 
  3. In a medium sized bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy (about 2 to 3 minutes). 
  4. Once the butter and sugar is fluffy, beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth.  
  5. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and milk. Make sure to alternate the dry ingredients and milk, starting with and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir in the vanilla. 
  6. Using a cupcake scoop, scoop the batter into the cupcake pan and bake for 18-20 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes onto a wire rack. 
  7. While the cupcakes cool, start making the buttercream. 
  8. Make sure the cupcakes are cooled completely before frosting them or the buttercream will melt off.

Caroline's Vanilla Buttercream Recipe: 

Ingredients: 
  1. 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  2. 3 1/2 - 4 cups of powdered sugar
  3. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  4. 1-2 tablespoons milk
  5. Gel food coloring
  6. Sprinkles
Instructions: 
  1. In a medium bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. 
  2. Using low speed on your mixer, gradually add in 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar. Once sugar is incorporated, increase speed to medium-low until sugar and butter are combined. 
  3. Dropping the mixer speed back down to low, add the milk and vanilla. 
  4. Once the milk and vanilla are incorporated, bump the mixer speed back up to medium and whip it until smooth (this should take a few minutes). 
  5. Add the remaining sugar if you want the buttercream firmer. 
  6. **If you want to change the color of buttercream, like I did, use a gel food coloring. Only add a few drops of it because you don't want the buttercream to taste artificial. Mix in the color until combined. 
  7. **Directly after frosting a cupcake, add the sprinkles. You want to do it while the frosting is still soft so the sprinkles stick. 


    After letting the cupcakes cool and then icing them, I just had to try one! The one thing I love more than baking cupcakes is eating cupcakes! They were soft and vanilla-y, the perfect cupcake recipe for someone who wants to start off easy. The buttercream is soft and tasty and compliments the cupcakes perfectly. And it's always fun to add colors and make the cupcake your own fun creation!   

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