Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I made cupcakes! They were for my mom's 3rd graders. I used Joy the Baker's Simple Vanilla Cupcakes recipe, with a couple of changes. For the icing, I used some horrible icing recipe that I found online. It really was pretty gross, but I kept adding things until it tasted good. I won't share the icing recipe, because I really don't know what or how much of anything that I added to make it decent.

These cupcakes are surprisingly dense and moist, and totally delicious. I made a triple batch, since a single batch only makes a dozen.

Vanilla Cupcakes
(adapted from Joy the Baker's Simple Vanilla Cupcakes)

Ingredients
1 1/3 C. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 stick margarine
1 C. sugar
2 eggs
2 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 C. whole milk

Method
- Place a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside.

- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.

- With an electric stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together for about 4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract until well incorporated.

- Add half of the flour mixture and beat on low until just incorporated. Add the milk and beat until blended. Add the rest of the flour mixture and beat until almost incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish stirring by hand, to avoid over-mixing. Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake liners.

- Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

- Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan for a few minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

- Once completely cool, frost and decorate!

They're sweet and vanilla-y and delicious. Kids and adults alike will love them. You can use any icing you want, and decorate them for any holiday or occasion. Totally a versatile recipe.

I had some extra cupcakes, so I played around with decoration. I had these adorable Easter sprinkles in my collection, and Mom got the bunny and egg toppers. Then I played around with decorating tips and techniques. One day, I WILL take a cake decorating class. Until then, I will keep trying to teach myself!

Enjoy!