Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

One of my favorite ladies celebrated a birthday last week and I made cupcakes to celebrate! I have a chocolate cupcake recipe that I love, but I don't have a white cake recipe that I can rely on every time! This recipe is from Sally's Baking Addiction and it's good, but it's sweet! I'm going to try reducing the sugar in it, but until then do any of you have a white/yellow cake recipe that you love? I would love any recommendations!

I frosted these cupcakes with my go-to chocolate frosting, you can find that recipe HERE. I baked the cupcakes in pink wrappers and topped them with pink sprinkles, but you could use whatever decorating scheme you like on these!

Start by beating 3/4 cup of softened butter and 1 3/4 cups of sugar together in a medium mixing bowl, with an electric mixer. This butter to sugar ratio was weird! I think I'm going to try reducing the sugar to 1 1/4 cup. I'm thinking this might make it easier to incorporate all of the sugar into the butter and it would definitely reduce the sweetness of these cupcakes!

Crack 2 eggs - the yolk should go right into the butter/sugar mixture but the egg white needs to be separated into a separate smaller mixing bowl. Beat the egg yolks into the butter/sugar mixture. then, beat the egg whites with the electric mixer until stiff peaks form and there is no liquid remaining. I have never done this to an egg before - it was a little strange (I don't love raw eggs) but very cool!

Use the electric mixer to beat 3 teaspoons of vanilla into the butter/sugar/egg yolk mixture then set both bowls aside while you combine the dry ingredients.

In a separate medium mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Then, alternate between adding a little of the flour mixture and 1 cup of milk. I did this by adding 1/3 cup of milk, stirring it in then adding about a third of the flour mixture and stirring that in. I continued this process until all of the dry ingredients were added and I had added the full cup of milk.

Switch to a spatula to fold in the beaten egg whites from earlier. This was one the weirdest things I have ever done in the kitchen - the consistency of the egg whites did not mesh well with the rest of the batter, but eventually it all mixed together. I was equal parts disturbed and fascinated by this whole egg white ordeal!

Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and fill each cup to be about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake the cupcakes for 18-21 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. My cupcakes were fully cooked after 20 minutes. I recommend using a knife or a toothpick to test the cupcakes.

I whipped up a half recipe of my favorite chocolate frosting - find the recipe HERE.

I used a large star shaped piping tip to frost the cupcakes, then sprinkled a few pink sprinkles on top and they were cute as can be!

*Note: the cupcakes should be completely cool before frosting them! You can speed this up by putting the bare cupcakes in the fridge!

YELLOW CUPCAKES
yield: 16-18 cupcakes 

ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, separated
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

directions

1. Combine the butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer.
2. Separate the egg, letting the egg white fall into a separate small mixing bowl, and the yolks in the mixing bowl with the butter and sugar. Mix in the egg yolks with the electric mixer. Then, use the electric mixer to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and no liquid remains. Set the egg whites aside.
3. Mix the vanilla into the butter/sugar/egg yolk mixture then set aside this mixture as well.
4. Combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt in a separate medium mixing bowl.
5. Alternate between adding a third of the milk and a third if the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mixing well between each addition.
6. When everything is well incorporated, fold the beaten egg whites in with a spatula.
7. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners and fill each cup to be 3/4 of the way full.
8. Bake the cupcakes for 18-21 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
9. Test the cupcakes with a knife or a toothpick when to make sure they are completely cooked. Allow them to cool completely before frosting them.


Let me know if you have questions!