Cupcakes

It's no secret. I'm a big fan of cupcakes. I don't like fancy, schmancy cupcakes. Just a plain vanilla cake with a little icing and I'm in heaven.


Wegman's has the most delicious bakery cupcakes (ignore those chocolate ones, blech!) in the history of the world. (Don't argue with me. I'm a die hard Wegman's fan). Since we don't get to Wegman's as often as when we lived in Jersey and they don't always have the four-pack of vanilla cupcakes (again, I don't like chocolate cupcakes... yes call me crazy, I don't like 'em), Kevin and I don't get to eat them very often (which is probably good for our waistlines).


A few weeks ago after we had some, Kevin challenged me to try my hand at making my own. Now, I'm not one of those foodie types that can eat something and magically recreate it. But my mom got me this book for X-mas and I figured that would be a good starting place. I opted for the classic vanilla cupcake recipe on page 2. I didn't like their icing options, so I searched around on the internet and found one that promised to be not too sweet (sickly sweet icing kills a cupcake in my opinion) and to taste like icing from a bakery.


After a quick trip to the store for supplies, I pulled out the stand mixer and got started. I didn't take pictures of the process because I needed to recharge my camera battery, but I got pictures of the results.



As you can see, I am not very proficient with a piping bag (or to be more accurate a ziplock bag with the corner cut off).



Here is a closeup without the wrapper. Looks pretty yummy!



Yum!! Delicious!!


I wanted to wait until Kevin got home to sample them together, but then I thought... if they are terrible, he'll have to pretend to like them. If I try it first, and it is terrible, I can throw them all in the trash and pretend I never baked. Thankfully, they are unbelievably delicious.


They are not a replica of the Wegman's cupcake. The icing is pretty damn close, but I could actually have used a touch less confectioner's sugar (by a touch, I mean half a cup to a cup less). The cake part is good, but not quite right. The texture is more crumbly like a corn muffin. It doesn't have the velvety-ness of a nice light cake. Again, it still tastes awesome, just a little off in the mouth feel.


I plan to keep experimenting (and exercising a whole lot more!!) If I eventually come up with something really awesome (that isn't stealing too much from someone else's recipe), I might consider sharing with my bloggy friends.


I swear... I going to go spend some time knitting right now. Pictures soon!