Cupcakes

Cupcake-mania! Kids love cupcakes. I decided to bake some for my daughter's birthday celebration at school. I found a very easy vanilla cupcake and frosting recipe from www.marthastewart.com (I am big fan of Martha!) I asked my daughter to throw some sprinkles on top and I finished the decoration with some initials and #3s I printed and cut them in circles. My daughter enjoyed decorating them and the kids ate them all!
I cut the recipes in half. I thought for mini size the full recipe would make so many.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to medium. Mix in 3 batches of flour mixture, alternating with 2 batches of milk. Raise speed to medium-high; mix until thoroughly blended, 10 to 20 seconds.
2. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Let cool in tin on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from tin; let cool completely. Line tin with muffin cups; repeat process with remaining batter.
www.marthastewart.com/recipe/vanilla-letter-cupcakes

Fluffly Vanilla Buttercream
Ingredients
Makes 5 1/4 cups
4 sticks (1 pound) unsalted butter, softened
6 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt

Directions
Put butter in bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium; add sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well, about 5 minutes total. Add vanilla and salt. Raise speed to medium-high; beat until smooth, about 1 minute more
www.marthastewart.com/recipe/fluffy-vanilla-buttercream