Here’s a sneak peek at how these vanilla cupcakes got decorated!  The decorating instructions can be found in the next post.

Yesterday was Kindra’s birthday (who is a good friend of my daughter Courtney) and Courtney asked if I would make a birthday cake for her and then I asked if I could make cupcakes because Bob gave me a new cookbook, “Hello, Cupcake!” by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson for Christmas and I wanted to try it out and Cort said that cupcakes would be fine.  So we asked Kindra what flavor she wanted and she said vanilla and this was the recipe for vanilla cupcakes in the new cookbook.  Can’t tell you how these taste because we sent them all over to Kindra’s for her birthday but they smelled great and they were a little denser than normal which is good for decorating.

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.  (I only got 23 cupcakes from the recipe.)

2  Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.  Combine milk, oil and vanilla in a 2 cup measuring cup or small bowl.

3  In a mixing bowl, on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

4  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture in batches, beginning and ending with flour and beating just until blended.

5  Spoon half the batter into a ziploc bag.  Snip a 1/4″ corner from bag and fill liners 2/3 full.  Repeat with remaining batter.  (I just used my large scoop, you could also use an ice cream scoop.)  Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 15 – 20 minutes.  Remove cupcakes from pan, place on wire rack and let cool completely.