I'm always searching for the perfect yellow cupcake/cake recipe because I feel like it's something a good baker should have in their arsenal. I have a go-to that I use for cake requests because it's pretty close to my ideal of a yellow cake and easy to make. Needless to say Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes are not that exciting for me. When I saw that was the recipe that was up next in the book, I wasn't thrilled. But then I thought, maybe this will be my new go-to yellow cupcake/cake recipe! It's not. But, it's a close second, if not tied with my current favorite. Kudos to Martha.
I think my hand mixer is getting tired. It sounds that way when I turn it off after a round of mixing. This recipe certainly didn't give it a break. I probably could have busted out my stand mixer for this one, but I was already mid-mix when the thought crossed my mind. This recipe required a lot of mixing, after the addition of each egg in fact. Not only did my mixer get a work out, my right arm did as well. My large-sized Pyrex bowl was filled to the top with batter, and even though I filled the muffin cups 3/4 of the way full I still got 31 cupcakes... the recipe said I would get 36. Had I been a little less generous in filling the muffin tins and done a little less batter taste testing (it's my favorite part) prior to baking, I probably would have ended up with 36 cupcakes.
The cupcakes came out perfect with the suggested baking time of 20 minutes, and a rotation of the pan halfway through. Toothpick inserted came out clean! I did let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before removing them to finish cooling on a wire rack. Normally I disregard those instructions and take them out right away, but as we all know, I'm trying to follow the rules.
Martha's icing option for these cupcakes was Fluffy Vanilla Frosting and boy was it fluffy. I was concerned the recipe wouldn't yield enough frosting for all the cupcakes I had because it didn't look like much when I was done making it, but it was plenty. I even had some left over so if I had come out with 36 cupcakes, I definitely would have had enough frosting. Instead I just had a little extra so I could perform a thorough taste test. I actually controlled myself and didn't eat too much of it (surprising, I know). Bathing suit season is upon us! The frosting was very good and very fluffy... just like the recipe said it would be. It even has the potential to take the place of my current go-to vanilla frosting recipe. But, that's a big decision to make and I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to do so.
This was the first recipe where the cupcakes were decorated with sprinkles in the picture in the book. Martha chose pink and white sprinkles, my guess is for Valentine's Day. But, Valentine's Day has come and gone at this point and spring has sprung! For Christmas my mom got me a bunch of different sprinkles with different themes; candy canes, hearts, pumpkins for Halloween and there was a spring mix complete with chicks and bunnies! Although Easter has passed, I think baby chicks can still qualify as a spring-time sprinkle. Does anyone have a favorite kind of sprinkle? Or jimmies as my boyfriend calls them (I had never heard of jimmies until I met him, but apparently it's not just a boy's name... who knew?!?!?!).
