Cupcake #12: New York Vanilla

Well, this is the final cupcake and wraps up the summer project of baking a new cupcake each week! This is a simple vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting. It isn't simple in flavor though! It is sweet and tasty and shows how great a cupcake can be even though it may sound plain :) I also topped it with white sprinkles and threw in a little blue (in case I serve them at my baby shower this weekend!)

Ingredients for the cupcake: ~1 c. unsalted butter, room temp. ~1 c. heavy cream ~4 eggs, room temp. and separated into whites and yolks ~1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract ~1/2 tsp. pure almond extract ~2 c. sugar ~1/4 tsp. cream of tartar ~3 c. cake flour ~1/2 tsp. salt ~2 1/2 tsp. baking powder ~2 Tbsp. potato starch To Make the Cupcakes: 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place ~20 paper liners in cupcake trays. 2. Cream butter and sugar together in electric mixer until fluffy; about 3-5 minutes. Add extracts. Beat 1 minute.

3. Add egg yolks to batter and beat another 2 minutes. 4. Whisk flour, potato starch, baking powder and salt. Add to batter.

5. Whip cream in cold bowl until soft peaks form, fold into batter. 6. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until bubbles appear, about 1-2 mins. It's better to underwhip than overwhip, because that will make the cake more moist. 7. Fold the egg whites into the batter.

8. Pour the batter into cupcake liners. Fill to the top (if desired) 9. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.

10. Cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to baking racks. Ingredients for Vanilla Buttercream: ~1 c. unsalted butter, softened ~2 1/2 c. powdered sugar ~2 tsp. vanilla extract To Make the Frosting: 1. Cream the butter with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 mins.

2. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth.

3. Frost cooled cupcakes, either with a frosting spatula or by piping frosting onto cupcakes.