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Vanilla Cupcakes and my first Blog Award!!

by - Saturday, March 10, 2012

 
  I made sprinkles a couple weeks ago. Now I needed a reason to use them! So I made simple Vanilla Cupcakes.
 This cupcake recipe is very basic and awfully easy to make. Also, these were the first cupcakes I'd ever baked, so they are a bit special to me. Everyone at home loves these, especially my mom! She wants them for her birthday, anniversary..you name it! She LOVES these, and I do too.




  There isn't anything in the world like a just-out-of-the-oven vanilla cupcake. Nothing tastes better right out of the oven. And it makes the house smell so good. These cupcakes are soft and fulfilling. what more could you ask for from a cupcake!?
 Vanilla and cinnamon is one of my favourite flavour combinations. I absolutely love cinnamon, with all its sweetness and that very slight heat. So, I thought of making a Cinnamon Frosting. You could never go wrong with this combo..it'll always be a hit. ALWAYS! :D
 Also, just about anything goes with vanilla. That leaves you with endless frosting options. At first, I thought I'd make an espresso frosting but then I was like 'Ooohh! Cinnamon!!', when I spotted it in the kitchen cabinet.
 Belated Happy Holi and Belated Happy International Women's Day!! I made a cupcake each for these occasions too. Same recipe, just used some colours
VANILLA CUPCAKES with CINNAMON BUTTERCREAM.

For the Cupcakes.

175 g all purpose flour
175 g powdered sugar
175 g butter
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
1/2 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp milk*
1/2 tsp salt

 Method

1) Preheat oven to 175 C (347 F) and line cupcake tray with liners.

2) Sift flour, baking powder and sugar together.

3) Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating well between each addition.

4) Add the vanilla extract and salt to the butter mixture.

5) Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Do not whisk too hard. You want the cupcake to be soft.

6) *Add the milk a tbsp at a time until a soft dropping consistency is reached. You may need more than I did or of course, lesser.

7) Pour cupcake batter into prepared cupcake tins and bake for 15-20 minutes or until  a toothpick, when inserted in the center of the cupcake, comes out clean.
Before going into the oven. 
And after they were done!
8) Leave them in the tins for about 10 minutes, then turn out and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

For the Cinnamon Frosting.

150 g butter
200 g sugar
4-5 tbsp cinnamon powder.
1-2 tbsp heavy cream*

1) Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. (Do not add all the sugar at once. Add about half of if first.)

2) Add the cinnamon powder. Add as much or as little as you like. It entirely depends upon your taste.

3) You want the frosting to be firm enough to pipe or spread. So beat the frosting until stiff peaks form. If you want a thicker icing add some more powdered sugar, alternately, *if you want to thin it out add some cream.

>> Pipe or spread the cinnamon buttercream onto the cupcakes only after they are completely cooled. Give the cupcakes a minimum of 45 minutes to cool completely. Decorate the frosting with homemade sprinkles!!

Here are the two special cupcakes!

  

    
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY & HAPPY HOLI!!
 And now, heres presenting *drum roll*
  An award from a fellow food blogger! Isn't that just so awesome!! 'Liebster' means 'Beloved' in German. :)

  I received the award from the lovely Charis at Culinary Storm. She is an amazing food blogger and she reviews restaurants as well. Go check her blog out! I promise, you won't be disappointed!

  The award has certain rules:
Copy and paste the award on your blog. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award.
Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers who deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.
Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.

Following the tradition, I give this award to the following blogs that I really like. All you guys are just so awesome! ( The following is not in order of preference)

Marsha from The Harried Cook.
  Marsha has some really good recipes. A well written and presented blog. One of the first blogs to find a place in my Google reader :D

Jeetendra from The Moody Foodie.
  Jeetendra's blog is where you head to if you're an experimental chef like him. Specializing in Indian food, I look forward to his blog post every weekend.

 Katrina from Warm Vanilla Sugar.
  This blog is one of my recent finds and it went right into my Google Reader as soon as I found it. An absolutely wonderful blog. I love your blog Katrina. :)

Deeps from Naughty Curry.
  Deeps' blog is one I came across while signing up for a Foodie Exchange (more about it soon!). I instantly knew this was a blog I would read. Authentic Indian recipes and other cuisines as well and good photography. This one won't disappoint.

Amy from Amy's Food Adventures.
  Amy's blog is my latest find. I love her blog. She has some truly amazing recipes and beautiful photography to boot. I still have a lot to read out here, but whatever I've read hasn't let me down.

  All of the above blogs tell me that I still have a lot to learn. Especially food photography. I enjoy reading each and every one of them (even though I'm a bit of a lurker..hehe)! Keep up the good work guys, you are awesome!!

Spread the love! :)
Happy Baking!
xoxo
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12 comments

  1. The Harried Cook11 March 2012 at 13:07

    Thank you so much for thinking of me for this award, Pratiksha! Totally appreciate it...

    Hooray on your first cupcakes! A warning - cupcake making can be addictive! LOL :) Here's to a lot more cupcakes from you! The multi-colored ones look really fun and the cinnamon frosting sounds delicious! Love cinnamon :)

    And I must mention that your homemade sprinkles look adorable on your cupcakes! Thanks for sharing this with us, and again, thanks for the award! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pratiksha11 March 2012 at 13:36

      I love making cupcakes! You couldn't be truer when you say that its addictive. There definitely will be more cupcakes soon!
      And you are totally worthy of the award!
      Thank you so much for your kind words :)

      Delete
  2. The Moody Foodie!!11 March 2012 at 14:15

    Thanks for the award Pittu!!, The cakes look yummy and sprinkles I am sure is a favorite of everyone at your place...
    Super cool post!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pratiksha11 March 2012 at 15:59

      Thank you Jeetu. You deserve it, every one of you'l actually.
      And yes, everyone loves these sprinkles! :D

      Delete
  3. Deeps @ Naughty Curry11 March 2012 at 15:51

    hey thanks a ton for the lovely award, but more so for the beautiful words :) i LOVE the rainbow cupcakes, so holi-ish :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pratiksha11 March 2012 at 16:04

      Anytime Deeps! You have what it takes to be a great blogger :D
      Thank you for the compliment! :)

      Delete
  4. La @ FoodSlice12 March 2012 at 15:59

    Hello there, found your blog recently and like it. Especially like that you made your own sprinkles! really?!
    And the cup cakes sound delicious. How did you get those colours in there?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pratiksha12 March 2012 at 19:41

      Hey!
      I hopped onto your blog and now I'm following you! Really like it.
      And making sprinkles is just so fun and easy. Who knew?!
      For the colourful cupcakes, you just spoon some batter into different bowls (depending on how many colours you want) and add a couple drops of food colour to each bowl. To assemble, you spoon the batter into the cupcake liners one tsp coloured batter at a time.
      For the Holi cupcakes you follow the steps above but now in stead of adding the colours one by one, you add the non-coloured batter then plop a little coloured batter and run a toothpick through it. Easy-peasy :)

      Delete
  5. charis13 March 2012 at 14:14

    Lovelllllyyyy cupcakes!! :) and the sprinkles just take it to the next level :)
    I will be making them soon :) Great post sweetie!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pratiksha13 March 2012 at 14:24

      Thank you Charis!:)
      Do let me know how the sprinkles turn out. Its gonna be so fun to make them! :D

      Delete
  6. www.mahaslovelyhome.com18 March 2012 at 19:03

    very eager 2 try this.looks just yumm.kids will enjoy this surely....loved the decoration part....perfectly done..congrats on the award......
    Maha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pratiksha19 March 2012 at 22:11

      Thank you Maha. Do let me know how the cupcakes turn out! :)

      Delete