Mini Cupcakes

I've been baking a lot of cupcakes lately, so I decided to share this wonderful and versatile recipe with all of you. Sometimes you just need to keep it simple, to make it look and taste wonderful. This is a very easy and quick recipe. Just add some here and there and you can end up with amazing creations from it.



Ingredients:

- For the Cupcakes:

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract (I substituted for vanilla extract)


- For the Easy Vanilla Buttercream:

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/8 tspn. salt
2 tspn. vanilla extract
2 Tbspn. heavy cream



Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line your mini muffin pans with the mini cupcakes liners (The recipe makes about 60).

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the tough. Transfer the cupcakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then unmold them and let them cool completely.

In the mean time, start preparing the Buttercream icing.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds. Scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds. Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.



Source: Adapted from "Baking From My home to yours" by Dorie Greenspan (cupcakes)
"Annie's Eats" - Easy Vanilla Buttercream