500 Cupcakes - Vanilla Cupcakes

So, I decided to kick off the old baking blog with the basics. Basic vanilla cupcakes. Not only are they easy enough, and a good standard to master, but they really are my fav!

(I am a vanilla with vanilla frosting gal... I don't care who says it's boring!)

This recipe was pretty simple.

I was thrown for a bit of a loop when it called for "sweet butter". Since I am not the savviest baker, I wasn't sure if they really meant 'sweet butter' or if that's what they called regular butter!

Turns out, there really is such a thing! (right now, 2/$5.00 at Ralphs with club card!)

So, I learned from my days at Crate that spraying non-stick (like Pam) on non-stick bakeware/cookware (like Calphalon) is a huge No-No!

I am really liking the silicone baking cups. They still need to be sprayed, but that's ok. I like that they can be reused and used for quite a few different things (like chocolate cup molds, which I can't wait to try!).

Easy ingredients!

I ended up cutting this recipe in 1/2 cause I only had 1 cup of flour. The one thing I did leave the same (doubled) was Vanilla cause I truly believe you can never have enough vanilla!Batter came out thicker than it normally does with box cake.

Not bad or good... Just different...

20 minutes in the oven will do!

Yummy!

I was a bit worried cause my cupcakes didn't look like the picture (not that they need to look exactly the same)... but I was afraid they'd be as hard as a brick.

But they came out ok! They cooled on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then I transferred them to the cooling rack.

Threw a little powdered sugar on them...

Et Voila!

Hubby and I had one immediately after and they were yummy! He really liked them!

Took some to our Sis-in-Law and the kids and they really liked them too!

On the silicone cups, the cupcakes popped out easily and the cups were easy to clean!

It says you can throw them in the dishwasher (depending on how they are arranged) but I'd rather just wash by hand. I rinsed them with super hot water and they're all clean and ready to use again!

YAY! Success!

Next up: Classic Chocolate Buttercream Cupcakes (From 500 Cupcakes-p. 32)

:)