magnolia bakery cupcakes
during my time in new york, i visited the famous magnolia bakery. this bakery is known for their banana pudding and their cupcakes. the cupcakes especially stuck out to me because they all looked so beautiful. some of them had icing flowers piped on top, others were coated with sprinkles, and others had magnolia's signature icing swirl.
the goal was to try to re-create their swirl, but it turned out to be a little harder than i thought it would be. after a few attempts, i decided to try to re-create anther cupcake that i saw at the bakery. this one was a little easier to do. i'm really proud of how the cupcakes turned out, and i'm glad that i learned a fun, new way to frost cupcakes!
in the meantime, i'll be practicing that signature swirl :)
happy summer!
ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing pans
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pans
1 ½ cups self-rising flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
directions
preheat the oven to 350 degrees. line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers. mix the flours together in a bowl. in a glass measure, mix the milk and vanilla.
in a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy (about 3 minutes). add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk and the vanilla, beating well after each addition. spoon the batter into muffin cups about 3/4 full.
bake until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched, 20 to 22 minutes. remove cupcakes from the pans and cool on a rack before icing.
*see my notes at bottom
magnolia vanilla icing
recipe from nyt
4 1/4 cups (enough for 24 cupcakes)
ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
8 cups confectioners' sugar
½ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
food coloring (optional)
directions
place the butter in a large mixing bowl. add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla extract. beat until smooth and creamy. gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the icing is thick enough to spread. add a few drops of food coloring if desired. frost cupcakes. serve at room temperature. leftover icing freezes well for up to two months.
my notes
for the cake
i used all purpose flour and cake flour because i couldn't find any self rising flour. next time, I will definitely try the recipe with self rising flour and cake flour (to substitute for the all purpose flour) because i found that the cupcakes were a little dense. another alternative is to just use cake flour.
for the cupcakes
make sure to coat the sides of your cupcake with sprinkles right after you frost the them (or else the sprinkles won't stick).
