Valastro's Vanilla Cupcakes

I watch Cake Boss religiously, and when I found out that there was going to be a Kitchen Boss I was pretty excited. I'd always wanted to try a recipe from a famous baker and wonder if the desserts are really as good as they look. Guess what? They are. This recipe was featured on the Valentine's Day special of Kitchen Boss, and I printed it out from the site. As soon as I baked and iced them for the first time, they were gone. For the next few days, all I heard from my family was the word "more". I want more cupcakes please! I hadn't really been successful in finding a creamy vanilla buttercream until this recipe, and I use this icing anytime I can. I made a half batch of these cupcakes, which usually make 12 cupcakes exactly. I wanted to test my icing tips, so I tried a yellow rose, using a rose tip, and a flower, using the same tip. The pink cupcake ended up being my favourite, because it looked exactly like a rose. Even my sister's boyfriend was impressed, which is saying something since boy's don't really notice things like that ;)

I really recommend these cupcakes because they are delicious, and so is the icing!

Here is the recipe:

• 1 1/4 Cup of All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Cup Butter, softened
• 3/4 Cup of Granulated Sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon fine Salt
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
• 1/4 Cup of Milk, room temperature
• 1/4 Cup of Buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla extract
• 1 Large Egg
• 1 Large Egg White, room temperature

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and put cupcake liners in a standard 12 hole muffin pan.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.

3. In another bowl, mix together the milk, buttermilk and vanilla.

4. In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium for 2-3 minutes. Add the whole egg, starting on low and increasing to medium until incorporated. Slow down to low again and add the egg white, increasing the speed to medium until it is also mixed in.

5. Add 1/3 of the dry mixture, and 1/3 of the wet mixture. Continue alternating until all ingredients are mixed, but not completely smooth.

6. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of batter.7. Bake 20-25 minutes until the cake tester or toothpick has come out clean.

Note-- These cupcakes will bake with a flat top, and will not end up dome or rounded shape.

Vanilla Buttercream:

• 1 cup of Butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups Icing Sugar
• 2 teaspoon of Milk
• Innards scraped from one vanilla bean (optional, but I highly recommend it)
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Preparation:

1. With the whip attachment on your stand mixer, beat the butter until fluffy.

2. Pour the icing sugar in, 1/4 of a cup at a time until all of it is mixed in.

3. Add milk, vanilla bean seeds and vanilla. Increase to medium-high and beat until the icing is very light and fluffy.

Babies, babies and more babies.

I made these cupcakes for my mom's best friend's sons baby shower. These were the first cupcakes that I decorated with fondant. I made this fondant by hand, buttercream this time instead of marshmallow. I coloured all of the fondant with gel food colouring from Michael's, and dusted the cheeks with red luster dust. My sister decorated the girls, other than the hair, which I did. For the eyes and mouths (of the boys), I used the tip of a #3 Wilton icing tip (eyes), and the bottom edge of the tip for the mouths. I was really happy with the result of these cupcakes, and not once did anyone peel off the fondant! These babies were just placed onto chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing.

Ice Cream Cake?

Hands down, this has been my favourite cake that I've made. My friend told me that she wanted an ice cream cake. After me asking multiple times, and her answering the exact same thing, I decided to make her what she wanted. Well.. kind of. On the inside, this is a normal chocolate cake, topped with chocolate buttercream icing. This cake was covered in chocolate fondant, yes, you read that right, chocolate fondant. I made the ice cream scoops and brand with regular white fondant from the store by rolling the fondant out and cutting the shapes with an exacto-knife. Not only did we all get a laugh out of this cake, the fondant tasted very good and was a hit with my friend, so I was very satisfied. :)

Canned Icing Cake

I made this cake for my sister's boyfriend, Kevin, as a going away cake. He was going away for field hockey training, so it only seemed fitting that I made a cake with his jersey on it. This cake wasn't homemade, so I decided to spice it up by using food colour to make grass and the jersey. I used a grass tip for the green, and just used a spatula for the white of the jersey. I ended up using one of the icings that come in a squeeze tube for the outline, the lines down the middle and the number. I was really happy with how this came out since it was my first time decorating a cake with icing, rather than just putting the icing on with a spatula and leaving it flat.

I was also really excited when I saw the look on Kevin's face when he realized that it was his jersey! :)

Second Fondant Cake

For this cake, I made the fondant. It was a marshmallow fondant, but it ended up being way too sweet, so once again it got peeled off. I tried to colour this fondant with purple food colouring, but because it was marshmallow, it was a bit harder to knead. I made a bow once again, and a thing ribbon around the bottom of the cake.

First Ever Fondant Cake!

This was my first attempt at a fondant cake. For this cake, I actually used boxed fondant from Michael's, which wasn't very tasty. I tried to make a bow, and a twisted rope on the bottom. My sister offered to paint it with food colouring and water, and this is the final product. Overall, the cake tasted great, but everyone peeled the fondant off because it wasn't very good.

I, Sarah, am a Newbie.

Hey there! My name is Sarah, and I'm 15 years old. I absolutely love baking, and try to bake as often as I can. With two sisters that both have boyfriends, and a mom and dad, I can always count on my food to be eaten, whether it's bad or good! I like to try new recipes, and would like to own my own bakery someday. Hopefully after I start posting recipes and some pictures, I will have a couple of followers. Even if I don't, I just like knowing that I have this creative outlet to showcase my baking. I've been reading several other baking blogs and have finally decided to start my own, so hopefully I will stick to it.

Thanks for reading,

Sarah :)