DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Store frosted cupcakes airtight at room temperature.
These cupcakes are a delicious blank canvas: Enjoy them as the classic cupcakes they are, or dress them up with anything from fresh raspberries to edible flowers (see Icing on the Cupcake, page 133, for more ideas). Makes 12
Cupcakes
1⅓ cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup whole milk
3 large egg whites, room temperature
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
Frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
6 tablespoons (about) heavy whipping cream
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
CUPCAKES: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 standard (⅓-cup) muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Whisk milk, egg whites, sour cream, and vanilla in another medium bowl until sour creamis completely incorporated. Using hand-held electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until very light and fluffy, about 8 minutes. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in 2 additions alternately with milk mixture in 2 additions, beating on low speed until blended between additions. Divide batter equally among paper liners (about ⅓ cup each). Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool in pans on rack 5 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to rack to cool completely.
FROSTING: Beat powdered sugar, butter, 2 tablespoons cream, and vanilla in large bowl until blended. Continue beating, adding 1 tablespoon cream at a time, until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Using butter knife, spread frosting on cupcakes or, if desired, refrigerate frosting just until thick enough to pipe, then spoon frosting into pastry bag and pipe decoratively atop cupcakes.
DO AHEAD: Can be made and frosted 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.
These moist banana cupcakes with walnuts and chocolate chunks are a great bring-along for a potluck brunch. If you like, the frosting can be tinted with a couple of drops of food coloring for special occasions. Makes 12
Cupcakes
2½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large)
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup buttermilk
8 ounces high-quality milk chocolate (such as Lindt or Perugina), cut into small pieces
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 8-ounce package Philadelphia-brand cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
CUPCAKES: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 12 standard (⅓-cup) muffin cups with paper liners. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat both sugars, butter, and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in bananas (mixture may look broken). Beat in sour cream. Reduce speed to very low. Beat in half of dry ingredients, then buttermilk, then remaining dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate and walnuts. Divide batter among paper liners.
Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool.
FROSTING: Using electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl until smooth and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and beat in sugar and vanilla. Increase speed to high and beat until fluffy. Spread frosting thickly over cupcakes.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.Ingredient Tip: Storing Ripe BananasAfter you’ve ripened them at room temperature, bananas can be stored in the fridge. The peel will turn brown, but that’s okay. Just be sure to use the bananas within a couple of days.
These gorgeous lemon cupcakes are filled with dollops of raspberry jam. Half of the cupcakes have a pale yellow lemon glaze; the rest are topped with a pink raspberry-lemon glaze. They’re also delicious warm from the oven and simply dusted with powdered sugar. Makes 12
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar, divided
4 ½ teaspoons finely grated lemon peel, divided
2 large eggs
1¼ cups self-rising flour
¼ cup buttermilk
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
12 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon seedless raspberry jamFresh raspberries
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 standard (⅓-cup) muffin cups with paper liners. Using electric mixer, beat butter, 1½ cups sugar, and 3 teaspoons lemon peel in large bowl until fluffy and pale yellow. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in half of flour. Beat in buttermilk and 2 tablespoons lemon juice, then remaining flour.
Drop 1 rounded tablespoonful batter into each paper liner. Drop 1 teaspoon raspberry jam onto center of batter. Cover jam with remaining batter.
Bake cupcakes until tester inserted halfway into center comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan on rack.
Meanwhile, whisk remaining 1½ cups sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1½ teaspoons lemon peel in small bowl to blend for icing. Spoon half of icing over 6 cupcakes. Whisk 1 tablespoon raspberry jam into remaining icing. Spoon over remaining cupcakes. Let stand until icing sets, about 30 minutes. Garnish with raspberries.
Icing on the CupcakeDecorating cupcakes is the perfect chance to be truly creative and have fun. It’s also a great way to get kids involved in baking.WRAP IT UP: There are a number of pretty, whimsical, and even elegant foil and paper cupcake liners and wraparounds now available. Try baking supply stores for the biggest selection (see Online and Mail-Order Sources, page 632, for details).FROST WITH FLAIR: There are two ways to frost a cupcake. You can spread the frosting on with a knife or offset spatula, or you can pipe it on using a piping bag (see Techniques—The Basics, page 27) or a resealable plastic bag with the corner snipped off. Pipe dots all over the surface of the cupcake for a pretty effect, or draw lines from the edge of the cupcake to the center, all the way around the circumference. Place a candied violet or other decoration in the center.Create tinted frostings by dividing plain vanilla frosting among as many bowls as you want and adding drops of different food colorings to each. If using the piping method, use a different disposable pastry bag for each color.TOP IT OFF: There’s no end to the decorative elements that can go on top of a frosted cupcake. Try chocolate or colored sprinkles, colored sugar crystals, candied confetti, small or cut-up candies, candied or edible flowers, crystallized ginger, chocolate curls, candied orange peel, and whole berries (never use cut fruit; the juices will make the frosting run). For inspiration, play off the occasion, the time of year, or just the flavor of the cupcake when choosing your decorations. A dried banana chip would be clever atop a banana cupcake, for example, and appropriate holiday colors are always a good bet. If your supermarket doesn’t carry a variety of decorations, try a specialty baking store.TOPPING TIPS: Dip plain frosted cupcakes in sprinkles or colored sugar crystals (for a completely covered look), or sprinkle them by hand over the tops of the cupcakes (for a lighter look). Create geometric designs using colored candies. On chocolate frosting, use decorations in colors that will stand out against a dark background, such as candied flowers or fresh rose petals, pansies, or edible flowers (purple works especially well on chocolate). Gold leaf and glittery sprinkles in metallic colors are also stunning.Dip a spoon into melted chocolate (use white chocolate for chocolate frosting) and create zigzag patterns directly atop the cupcakes. Or drizzle the chocolate in thick, heavy irregular lines over a piece of foil; sprinkle with crystallized ginger, chopped nuts, or crushed toffee bits, if desired. Chill until the chocolate is set, then peel pieces off the foil and stand them on edge in the frosting.